Long convoys of men with large egos
I agree with Senator Ben Bruce on the
need to reduce the length of executive
convoys and I am happy Governor
Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State voluntarily reduced his own since
assuming office last month.
If you cost the typical Governor's
convoy in Nigeria you will have at least
N200m moving from place to place
because of one man. Even when a governor is moving within the capital
city of his state we see all manner of
exotic and expensive cars in tow with
siren blaring to scare the fearful. Each
of those vehicles cost at least N10m to
tax payers. Add the cost of fuel and sundry allowances to the protocol/
security team and you will get a sad
picture.
There is no need mentioning that
outside Nigeria you don't see such
rubbish. I once saw a British PM moving in his country with only the
car he was in and another small
security vehicle behind. In fact a friend
had to point out to me that the man in
the car was the PM. That the Queen of
England still flies British Airways to wherever she is going is a well known
fact. But here in Nigeria every state
governor wants to fly private jet to
common Abuja to attend
unproductive meetings. If only you
know what it cost to park an aircraft per day, talk less of cost of the aircraft,
insurance, aviation fuel and crew
salaries you will slap your private jet
owning Governor. (If you slap am and
his security men fire you....OYO)
I don't see any compelling reason for a governor or even the President to
have more than 4 vehicles in his
convoy. Pilot car with security men,
Governor's car, aides car and
ambulance should be enough for inter
town movements. Worst case, you add media agents vehicle. Don't tell me
about protecting the Governor
because I know for a fact that ex-
Governor Peter Obi used to have the
smallest convoy and yet governed for
more than 8 years without anyone shooting him. He was even carrying
his own bag to board commercial
flights to Abuja and yet had time to
unleash revolutionary leadership in
his state. Anambra is still number 1 in
education because of his efforts and yet you call them "illiterate traders"?
(Satan is playing ludo with your brain)
It appears to me that the size of a
governor's convoy is as big as his ego.
That also reflects on the Governor's
choice of cars in the convoy. Governor Okezie Ikpeazu practically dropped his
official SUV less than a week into his
governorship and started joining a
bus to work. Don't laugh at this: his
reason for preferring the bus, I heard
from "reliable sources", is that his official car has tinted glasses and he
wants to be seeing his people and
waving them when necessary. On one
particular trip through a village he saw
some folks waving him in the evening
(around 6pm) and came down and joined them. He sat briefly on the
bench with them and drank what they
were drinking after exchanging local
banters. One old man even had the
"effrontery" to put his hands around
his neck to whisper something to him and I couldn't help smile at the speed
with which his security detail rushed
to remove the man's hand. The funny
part is that I didn't hear "His
Excellency" or "Governor" from the
small crowd. They were all saying "Okenzie...." (My Ngwa brothers
pronounce his name as o k e n z i i e).
Then I understood why he preferred
Hiace bus to state of technology
Landcruiser SUV.
There are very small things our leaders can do to reduce cost and all of them
must begin to do them. If you cut out
little costs like that of long convoys
and wasting money on expensive
food and parties you will have money
to do more roads and provide more jobs. I was shocked the day I went to
Anambra State Government house
under Mr Obi and there was no
generator buzzing whereas there was
no power from "NEPA". The official I
was visiting within the premises told me the governor was out and hence
no need to waste diesel money. I
swung my head on one side, did the
math and realized that the state must
have saved some cool cash.
Again, I continue to wonder what the retinue of security agents are doing
around the governors. Do you really
need more than 4 security agents to
protect a governor if we have a
functional security system that
protects the masses? This particular issue endeared me to former Governor
Amaechi before he started carrying
broom of anger everywhere. A high
profile technology company made
presentations to him on how he can
use technology to protect himself and key members of his administration in
those days of kidnapping and criminal
brigandage in the Niger Delta.
Amaechi listened attentively to them
and then calmly told them to develop
the system to protect all Rivers people first because one day he will leave
power and be one of them. He also
lectured the wide eyed expert on how
his security really depended on the
security of the people because both
are linked. In my head I clapped for him and thanked God for giving him
wisdom. That was the essential
Amaechi of 2007-2011 and frankly he
was a good administrator with a
wonderful team that included
incorruptible gentleman Magnus Abe (SSG) alongside cerebral and youthful
Sampson Parker. Governor Nyesom
Wike was also part of that team as
Chief of Staff. Amaechi's
"transformation" started much later
when he forgot the people and clinged to the media to fight his
personal wars. I still wonder if
Amaechi completed 3 projects
between 2012 and 2014. He
apparently spent his second term
playing full time politics to the detriment of administering his state.
(Una see how market dey now)
If the police stations are working and
have good communication equipment
they can actually appear at emergency
locations within 2 minutes of distress calls. Give them functional digital
radios and vehicles then train and pay
them well and you will see them
perform wonders. Oyibo police no dey
carry juju do their work. Just good
communication systems with full integration for operational efficiency.
With improved power supplies you
can add CCTVs at flash points to
observe 247 and prevent crimes. Most
importantly, create jobs for our youths
through the deployment of home grown skill acquisition schemes. The
money saved from long convoys and wasteful life styles can create as much 5000 jobs and remove 5000 potential criminals from our prisons and criminal justice system. Change is not only about doing big
things, sloganeering or decreeing
"CHANJI" but rather, in my view, about changing little things like the size of a Governor's convoy to save cost.

When I heard about Okezie Ikpeazu's humility towards d people who voted against him because they believed he was T.A Orji 's puppet, then I remembered my mum always told me that it wasn't were u expect to fall d falling would come from. Sai Ikpeazu

Boyoboy9:

You don run grab first seat.. Oya tell us about ur state via the matter..

Stancity:
You don run grab first seat.. Oya tell us about ur state via the matter..

Amaechi had an almost perfect govt but must be probed for his total neglect during his personal and broom waving second tenure. Sai Wike

Boyoboy9:
When I heard about Okezie Ikpeazu's humility towards d people who voted against him because they believed he was T.A Orji 's puppet, then I remembered my mum always told me that it wasn't were u expect to fall d falling would come from. Sai Ikpeazu

hahaha


Are u from Abia?

Stancity:
hahaha

Are u from Abia?

No, am from Rivers but live in Abia

Boyoboy9:
No, am from Rivers but live in Abia

Ok na.