Governor Orji and the BusinessDay States’ Competitiveness and Good Governance Awards

By Madubuko Hart

The Chief Press Secretary to the Governor of Abia State, Mr. Charles Ajunwa, has said that with the BusinessDay States’ Competitiveness and Good Governance Awards held recently at the EKO Hotels and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos, where his principal emerged as the best performing governor in education and youth empowerment in 2014, has further muffled the ill-conceived perception of the opposition against the governor.

Ajunwa added that for his boss to win the award for two consecutive times, back-to-back, has shown that the world was watching that the governor has been doing everything he could do to transform the wellbeing of the residents of the state and give the state a facelift. Ajunwa lamented that he was surprised that critics of the government due to their myopic lens, had refused to see that Governor Theodore Orji has built model primary and secondary schools across the 17 LGAs in the state, but the awards have sent a signal beyond the West End that the governor was committed to good governance.

According to the CPS, the newly built modern e-library in the state is a fact that has shown that the governor has education as one of his topmost priorities. Upon that, Ajunwa wondered why sentimental commentators of the government are so bad-mannered in realizing that the “Legacy Projects” of the governor are yielding results that people from far and near could see and recognize. The CPS further said that he has found it very hilarious the comment that Abia State under Ochendo needs a marshal plan.

However, he has argued that critics of the Ochendo government might not see beyond their programmed mind that is against the government, but well-meaning Nigerians and groups will stop at nothing to see the good works that the governor has been doing in the state and will not decline to recognize him as at when due.

He wondered the speculation making the rounds that the government was collecting money from potential job seekers in the state before they could be awarded job opportunities, saying that the news was unfounded and misleading, because the government has been empowering people in the state and BusinessDay recognized that and the governor was appreciated as the best youth empowerment governor.

Ajunwa said that there has never been any time that the governor or the state government was demanding for “200,000 thousand Naira from people, who were looking for work at Aba polytechnic”. He was reacting to an article that was published in nigeriaworld.com with the title, “Abia State needs a marshal plan, after years of criminal and corrupt leadership”.

According to the statement by the organizers of the award, Abia State Governor, Chief Theodore Orji won the BusinessDay States’ Competitiveness and Good Governance Awards as the best performing Governor in education and youth empowerment in 2014, making it the second time that the Abia State Governor will be winning the high-status awards.

According to the source, he was pronounced as the best performing governor in the country in Security and Health at the maiden edition of the awards in 2013. It was observable that the governor never lobbied for the BusinessDay States’ Competitiveness and Good Governance Awards; states were allocated the right to make entries.

It was after the assessors visited Abia State that they determined that the claims entered for Abia State were all on ground and Governor Orji won the esteemed awards, organized by the foremost business media organization in Nigeria: BusinessDay.

In appraising the governor the statement partly reads: 1. The Governor Theodore Orji-led administration in Abia State, understands the importance of the youth in the economic development of the State, which prompted him to introduce the “Youth Empowerment Programme,” geared towards creating strong dependable youths with high morals.

2. The State Government has continued to deepen this laudable and innovative programme, which has drastically improved the lives of so many youths and families in the State. Developing the education sector is top priority of the Governor Theodore Orji-led administration in Abia State and providing a conducive environment for learning is a commitment his administration owes to every school age child in the State.

3. The essence is to provide equal opportunity to citizens of the State to excel and contribute to the economic development of the State. This is already manifesting as Abia Students emerged second in the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) in 2013 and 2014.

.Hart writes from Lagos