Right years ago, I started my public service experience under the leadership of Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, PhD and today I am pulling out with him with a grateful heart to God and the people of Abia State for the opportunity to serve them in various positions.
We thank God for all that we achieved and even for those we couldn’t achieve. As an individual, I am happy to share in the accolades for the achievements of the administration and also take flaks for the things we could have done better. Any which way, I take responsibility in the hope that lessons learned will be helpful tomorrow.
Of course, we can all beat our chest and say that we are leaving government in Abia State better than we met it as both local and international independent data have confirmed. The recent report on multi-dimensional poverty index rated IKPEAZU’S Abia State as the 3rd best in the entire federation; public school enrollment improved under our watch from about 150,000 pupils to more than 650,000; infant and maternal mortality was reduced by 71% while attendance to primary health care centers improved by 35%.
Under Ikpeazu’s watch, our state became the SME capital of Nigeria,; over 150 young persons were awarded foreign scholarship; and our dear state was rated best performing state in West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), back to back for 4 years. Our state owned university, ABSU, witnessed improvement in rating among Nigerian universities, from 97th position when Ikpeazu assumed office to its current 26th and became the second best state owned university in Nigeria with her Law and Medical Sciences graduates besting their peers in both national and international examinations.
In addition, at least 4 new private tertiary institutions were established under our watch while the state owned university established new campuses in Umuahia and Aba.
Similarly, we constructed lots of socio-economically important infrastructure including the first flyover in the state, and some roads that had remained untouched for decades. We also delivered other critical infrastructure like the Investment House, multi-specialist hospital, two factories to serve the garment and the leather industries and completed some other noble projects started by our predecessors like the new government house, Ochendo International Conference Center, ASUBEB, ASOPADEC Headquarters etc.
We gave new impetus to trade and commerce by opening access to our major markets and investing in modernization of some of our market structures. We also attracted appreciable foreign direct investments (FDI) that placed us as the 3rd most preferred destination in Nigeria for investors behind only Lagos and Abuja. This was in addition to reinvigorating our SMEs, importing IGR and ease of doing business
Yet, by far, our most critical achievement is delivering relative peace and security to the people of Abia State at a time the rest of the country faced major challenges. We focused on protecting lives and property of Abians to the exclusion of some other considerations, and as we leave today, we are happy to say that we do not have anyone’s blood on our hands.
To God be the Glory for those and many more I am not ready to go into at this time. There will be enough time for historians to review and pass judgement but whichever that goes I was part of it and won’t shy away from the judgment of history knowing that we did our best but couldn’t do everything. Of course, no government can do everything!
There were much more to do that we couldn’t do and as we leave today, we pray that God will grant the incoming administration the enablement to achieve much more than we did for the benefit of Abia State. My personal call is for all Abians to make whatever necessary sacrifice for the new administration to succeed. No two administrations are the same or will meet same challenges, hence, the support of the people will always be required to successfully navigate the challenges that must surely come by. It is not about party, religion or place of origin but all about Ndi Abia, their security, welfare and happiness.
Since this is a democracy, also find the courage to shout when things appear to be going south but please do so without abusing anyone or lying against innocent people for any reason at all.
Permit me this moment to, in addition to God as the foremost, also thank all those I came across in the course of my work that helped me to learn, grow and give my best. From Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, through his wife Dr Nkechi Ikpeazu, our Deputy Governor, Dr Ude Oko Chukwu, Speaker Chinedum Orji, Senator T A Orji, Chief Mba Ukariwo, members of the state executive council, members of the state house of assembly, aides of the Governor, members of the judiciary, traditional rulers, civil servants, journalists, traders, leaders and members of PDP,, civil society groups, clergymen, my personal staff and many more time and space won’t permit me to mention here. Of special note should also be my personal constituency, young people of Abia State, who gave me good reasons to work hard daily in the hope and belief that our future is guaranteed to be better. I am most grateful!
My family paid the most price this past 8 years and I thank them even though I hope I didn’t disappoint them too much. My personal friends within and outside government including those who held my hand at critical moments, prayed daily for us and those who are die-hard believers in what we set out to achieve: I thank you all immensely.
Nwandugbom needs rest but must thank you before taking that break to reappear like a bad coin. I sincerely hope posterity will review our work and acknowledge that we gave it our best shot to the best of our abilities without ever looking to hurt anyone.
I make this exit knowing that our hands are free of innocent blood and we proved that nobody needs to engage in idol worship to survive in government. God led us through it all and we return the glory to Him alone.
Thank you so much.
God bless Abia as we pull out to give way to a new era.
-Nwandugbom JOK
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