...Quit the stage while the ovation is loudest

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Oil industry player, Emperor Baywood Ibe, has faulted the proposed plan of former Deputy Senate President, Chief Ike Ekweremadu, to contest for governorship in Enugu State in 2023, urging him to quit the stage while the ovation is loudest.

His words: “I read an article about a meeting Chief Ekweremadu convened at an Enugu hotel and declared his intention to run for governorship in Enugu State in 2023, and went on to catalogue what he has done for the state.

 “That was sour to me as an individual and a bit nauseating that Chief Ekweremadu is gloating about what he had done for Enugu State to warrant him to rule the state.

 “I will urge Ekweremadu to quit while the ovation is loudest. He should know that grace taken too far could turn into disgrace. He has had God’s grace for long. He is not the messiah Enugu is waiting for now because he has held power for long. He has been in the Senate for over 20 years, rising to be become the deputy president. He was ex-chief of staff in Enugu State. I had long before now admonished him right in my house on what he is not doing for Enugu.

“But now, he wants to be governor, he is telling us how he wants to turn Enugu to Japan and the Asian Tigers. Why did he not use his power as a three-time Senate deputy president to turn around the fortunes of Enugu State as a prelude to what his trying to aspire to?

“I advised to allow people to grow, to aspire, politically, but he insisted on being in control, deciding who should aspire even for the smallest positions in Enugu West. He believes nobody from Old Agwu Division can be anything. That is moral bankruptcy.

“I was more appalled when he was talking about the youths. Over 12 years ago when I began campaigning and empowering youths in the Old Agwu, Chief Ekweremadu was not talking about the youths and even now until he found out that that might be a selling point. That is playing to the gallery.

“He, like the average politician, has found out too soon the place of the youths in the system and is now wooing them, playing on their psyche and making them to believe he is pro-youths. All of them propagating youth agenda at this point in time are very deceitful.”

…Orders road contractor back to site

”No other administration has made this type of investment in IMT” - Council Chairman

Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State, on Thursday, inaugurated multiple legacy infrastructural projects in the state-owned Institute of Management and Technology (IMT) Enugu executed by his administration in furtherance of its concerted efforts to reposition the institution by addressing the challenges of decayed infrastructure and inadequate human resources.

Some of the landmark projects inaugurated by Gov. Ugwuanyi were block of 15 ultra-modern classrooms on two suspended floors with seating capacity of 1,224 students; block of ultra-modern offices for Registry Division (Exams and Records) with accommodation for a minimum of 75 staff; block of fully furnished ultra-modern Academic Staff Office complex comprising 60 offices with intercom facility; and a world-class Medical Centre with all necessary appurtenances for provision of quality medical services to staff and students of IMT Enugu.

Inaugurating the projects, Gov. Ugwuanyi disclosed that the intervention became imperative to provide the needed infrastructural transformation in IMT as well as save the institute from total collapse and full withdrawal of its accreditation.

The governor, who directed the Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Engr. Greg Nnaji to summon the contractor handling the rehabilitation of internal roads in the Institute to return to site immediately to complete the project, said: “Our administration has supported the Institute to achieve full accreditation of all academic programmes including the institution’s accreditation while continuing the improvement in the overall infrastructural health of the Institute”.

He lauded the Council and Management of IMT for providing the leadership that enabled the clinical delivery of the vision, strategy, plan and projects, urging the staff and students to put the newly inaugurated infrastructure to judicious use.

In her welcome address, the Chairman of IMT Governing Council, Chief (Dr.) Mrs. Ifeoma Nwobodo, on behalf of the entire community of the Institute, thanked Gov. Ugwuanyi for “the wholesome support we have received from the state government”.

Mrs. Nwobodo revealed that “apart from the initial buildings erected in 1973 when the Institute commenced, no other administration has made this type of impact or investment in IMT”, saying: “So I make bold to say that it is a day of fulfillment! A day of showing forth a vision turned into reality!”.

The Council Chairman added that Gov. Ugwuanyi has brought his visionary leadership to bear on the governance of Enugu State in general and IMT in particular, disclosing that IMT which ranked 27th position in the national ranking of Polytechnics when the present Council was reconstituted, today, through the governor’s excellent support now ranks No. 7 in the country and the 2nd best state-owned Polytechnic, after the Polytechnic, Ibadan.

She stressed that the inauguration of the legacy projects, “otherwise called IMT Citadel Projects” was an eloquent testimony to the governor’s quality leadership “that has not just impacted and reformed IMT, but has stood the Institute out particularly in infrastructure amongst Polytechnics in Nigeria”.

Mrs. Nwobodo who stated that the Council and Management of IMT have kept faith with mandates given to them by Gov. Ugwuanyi, when the Governing Council was reconstituted, to raise the standard of teaching and learning in the Institute and restore it to its original premium position amongst the comity of Nigerian Polytechnics, etc, disclosed that “at the point the Council was inaugurated, IMT had less than six decent buildings, and most of them were funded by Tetfund”.

“The rest were decayed and decaying old buildings that had sorely come under the vagaries of weather and neglect over so many years.

“Today, Your Excellency (Ugwuanyi) will be commissioning the following projects (listed earlier) as envisioned in the Council’s Blueprint Document and made possible by a State Chief Executive whose love for education is unparalleled, and whose support for infrastructural reformation in IMT has not so far been equaled.

“The mandate to make IMT a degree-awarding Institute also got a lot of mileage. Today, the Institute is in affiliation with the premier University in the country – University of Nigeria – and we are offering degree programmes in eight courses”.

In his opening remarks, the Rector of IMT, Prof. Austin Nweze, who recounted the numerous intervention projects of Gov. Ugwuanyi’s administration in the Institute, stated that the governor has been releasing the monthly subventions of the school which translates to about 75 percent of the monthly wage bills.

Prof. Nweze further stated that the governor on some occasions releases special grants to the Institute for the purpose of meeting up with its personnel costs, adding that “In 2017 and 2021, His Excellency, with the approval of the State Executive Council, magnanimously approved and released large sums of money with which we successfully embarked on NBTE re-accreditation Visitations”.

Nweze added: “Permit us to note that the two exercises were quite successful as 18 programmes plus Institutional Accreditation were carried out in 2017 and 40 programmes were done in 2021. These were landmark achievements”.

The Speaker of the Enugu State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Edward Ubosi, the Chairman House of Assembly Committee on Education, Rt. Hon. James Akadu, the member representing Igbo-Eze North II Constituency, Hon. Innocent Ugwu, Commissioner for Education, Prof. Uche Eze, Commissioner for Environment, Hon. Chijioke Edeoga, the Chaplain, St. Augustine Chaplaincy, IMT, Enugu, Rev. Fr. Ikechukwu Ani and Chief Evarest Nnaji, were among the dignitaries at the event.

The leadership of the Organized Labour in Enugu State has expressed gratitude to Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi for the special attention his administration has paid to the welfare of the workers, declaring that civil servants are the greatest beneficiaries of good governance in the state.

Speaking during the annual workers’ prayer rally, held at the State Secretariat, GRA, Enugu, to formally mark the resumption of work after the Yuletide, the Chairman of the Joint Public Service Negotiating Council (JPSNC), Enugu State, Comrade Ezekiel Omeh, disclosed that the workers of Enugu State have enjoyed peace and good governance under Gov. Ugwuanyi’s administration.

Comrade Omeh thanked God for his blessings, stressing that Gov. Ugwuanyi has entrenched peace in Enugu State and also ensured that workers’ welfare and other incentives are taken adequate care of in spite of paucity of funds and other challenges confronting the nation.

According to him, “The core of this prayer is good governance and we want to thank God that we have prayed and the story of Enugu State is that good governance has been sustained for the past six years and beyond.

“It has been so and all of you came because God gave us a good governor, in the person of Rt. Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi who envisioned this good governance, placed Enugu State in the hands of God, and has already generated policies and programmes that transformed that dream into reality.

“So today, in Enugu State, we have good governance; we have peace and that peace is to the credit of the governor who God has used to put smiles on the faces of the citizens of Enugu State.

“I want to say thank God because we the civil servants are the greatest beneficiaries of this good governance in Enugu State. We also thank Gov. Ugwuanyi for what he promised workers and citizens of Enugu State, he has fulfilled in spite of numerous challenges bordering on economy, security and health. We are equally appealing to God to continue to support our governor to sustain this good governance for the remaining part of his tenure.

“We assert that while many other states in the country are in chaos, Enugu State has remained peaceful. That is the product of good governance. We are telling Nigerians that our governor is a product of peace and ever willing to sustain peace at all times”.

In his goodwill message, Gov. Ugwuanyi reiterated his administration’s commitment to the sustenance of the existing cordial relationship between the state government and the Labour.

Represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Simon Uchenna Ortuanya, Gov. Ugwuanyi maintained that in spite of the prevailing harsh economic realities in the country, his administration has continued to fulfill its obligations to the workers of the state.

His words: “In 2015 when this government came into power in Enugu State, our administration handed Enugu State in the hands of God. I am proud to tell you that six years down the line our God has been faithful to us all.

“I want to assure every worker in this state that we are partners in progress. I want to recall that in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic and the global lockdown of 2020, this present administration in Enugu State continued to pay salaries of workers.

“I want to say also that Enugu State is one of the very few states in this country that is still paying the national minimum wage. The present administration has taken capacity building to a new height and you may recall that just before Christmas, Enugu State government sponsored 52 senior management staff to the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies in Kuru, Plateau State. We are aware that the promotion results for our civil servants for 2019 as well as 2020 have been released. Government has also lifted embargo on conversion and advancement”.

The governor went further to recount other areas the state government has demonstrated good incentives to the workers adding: “More importantly the Enugu State government has built a new Secretariat Annex at Nsukka to provide comfort and enabling environment for workers who were previously at the makeshift structures of the zonal offices”.

Dignitaries at the prayer rally include the State Head of Service, Ken Chukwuegbo, member of the State Executive Council (EXCO), the State Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Virginus Nwobodo, his Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) counterpart, Comrade Benneth Asogwa, the Chairman of Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), Bishop Dr. Godwin Madu, representatives of the Catholic Bishop of Enugu Diocese and Methodist Church Nigeria, other Clergymen and top government functionaries.