Later this year when
Abia State turns 25 in August 27, stakeholders in retrospect
will reach the conclusion that Abia has moved from a state
of disorder to one of structured orderliness, and significant
number will agree that this feat was bolstered
by the developmental strides of the administration of Governor
Okezie Ikpeazu, which clocked a year on May 29.
Within this exciting period of
Governor Ikpeazu’s leadership, the Government in partnership with the State House
of Assembly has passed laws to setup key boards and agencies to
enhance good governance in some sectors such as transport, education, urban
development, etc. Also through Executive power, committees were setup for
intervention in critical sectors.
Take for instance, to
curb lawlessness and ensure the restoration of sanity on
the roads, Government created the Transport and Indiscipline Management Agency
of Abia State (TIMAAS) to enforce traffic laws and penalise defaulters.
The agency is empowered by law to also regulate parking in the
State and check unlawful activities of vehicle owners.
Before the coming of the
administration of Governor Ikpeazu the skyline of Abia State and public fences
were being defaced by all manner of advert billboards and posters. Now the
State has what is called Abia Signage and Advertising Agency (ABSAA), created
to regulate indiscriminate mounting of signboards and other signage in the
State for the purpose of restoring sanity.
In this era of decline in
the monthly federal allocation to States, necessitated by poor
returns in oil revenue, the importance of the passage of the Abia State
Solid Minerals Law No. 3 of 2016 cannot be overstated, the aim
of which is to change the operations and improve the revenue
accruable to the State Government from this sector. And to show
Government’s seriousness, the Governor recently approved the constitution of
the Abia State Mineral Resources and Environmental Management Committee
(MIREMCO) to assist the State in getting maximum value from the sector.
News of Governor Ikpeazu’s committed
engagement in turning around the fortunes of the city of Aba may have
travelled across the country and remains exhilarating but not many people know
of the role played by the creation of the Aba Urban Renewal
Agency with the responsibility of restoring sanity to Aba and ensure that the
distortion of the city-scape is halted.
Illegally constructed buildings are
being restored back to their original purposes, while make-shift and
unauthorised markets are being dismantled and houses built on
drainages pulled down to ensure longevity of infrastructure and
general order in the city of Aba. Prior to this time there
were talks of Aba being the “dirtiest city in Nigeria”, but not
anymore.
One of the reasons why Aba
was categorised “dirty” was due to the conditions of markets located in
the city. To address this, Government set up the Abia State Market
Development Committee for the purpose of “redesigning, remodelling and
reconstruction” of major markets, such as Government intends to do
with the Ariaria International Market. The committee’s mandate also
falls under the development of new markets in the State.
Right from his campaign days as the
candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party during the 2015 governorship election in
Abia State, Governor Ikpeazu has been a strong advocate for Made in Abia
products and has travelled within and outside Nigeria in search of
potential investors willing to stake their money, especially in the profitable
business climate that is Aba.
The Abia State Marketing and Quality
Assurance Board was set up and is saddled with the task of
certifying that products manufactured in the State is of high
quality, and also serving as a marketing board that will identify ready markets
for Abia products while working out modalities to purchase produce from farmers
in Abia State for export and larger markets.
Serious about encouraging investors
to take a more critical look at investing in the State as a whole,
the Abia State Investment Promotion Agency, a One Stop Investment Centre (OSIC)
was set up to serve as the first port of call to any company, group or
individual desirous of investing in Abia. The agency is solely responsible for
the coordination of government equity in private-driven companies and
negotiates on behalf of the State the terms of all Public Private
Partnerships between the Government and private investors.
In the area
of managing government properties for optimum use, the Abia
State Utilities Maintenance Agency was created to manage public utilities,
especially the maintenance of streetlights and sundry public utilities.
In all of these initiatives by the
Governor Ikpeazu administration, two stands out, and they are the Due Process
Office and Policy Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation Unit
(PIME). The Due Process Office is headed by a Special Adviser
and with the role to ensure that all government procurements go
through proper vetting channels. So far over 60 “Certificates of No
Objection” have been issued for projects in the State in the course
of which over one billion naira was saved for the Government in
amounts over-invoiced or wrongly scoped by prospective vendors and service
providers.
For the PIME which is also
headed by a Special Adviser, their duty is to monitor the rate of
implementation of the various policies of Government and
advises on necessary adjustments that need to be made.
The purpose of this is for a more efficient and effective
Government.
The above expatiated agencies,
boards and committees are but some of the structured initiatives that have been
embarked upon by the Government of Governor Ikpeazu to
reposition governance in Abia State. If this could be done
within a year and under difficult economic times, the remainder of his first
tenure as Governor promises to be a pleasant journey.
• Maduekwe
is the Special Assistant on Media to Governor Ikpeazu
Tags
Opinion