My charge:
If
elected a member of the Abia State House of Assembly in the April 11, 2015 election, on the
platform of my party, the African Democratic Congress (ADC), my legislative
contributions to the process of governance in Abia State, southeastern Nigeria,
for the following four years, will be guided by a personal vision of mine for
Abia State called “Three Cities On A
Green Sea” or “3CONAGS”
(pronounced as three corners).
Geographically
and demographically, Abia State is majorly a rural province within a nearly
landlocked southeastern geopolitical region of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The state was carved out of the old Imo State in 1991 by the then Nigerian
central government under the leadership of General Ibrahim Babangida and his
military regime. Ever since then, it has been a state befallen by the
misfortune of poor governance which the population had hoped will be remedied
by the country’s return to democratically elected civilian rule, a hope that
has so far been completely dashed. Because the two civilian administrations
that have held sway so far in the state since the departure of military rule
and return to civilian governance in Nigeria from May 29, 1999, have not really
helped matters, to put it mildly. And if public opinion and outcries are anything
to go by, the outgoing People Democratic Party (PDP)’s Governor Theodore Ahamefula
Orji’s administration in Abia State, which wraps up its tenure by May 29, 2015,
took bad governance in Abia State to an unprecedented notorious height never
witnessed before by the population.
It
is the sense of great urgency associated with the present massive need for
competent hands to enter into government to launch and effectively guide the vital
repairs of the damages done by these past and outgoing administrations to the
state, as greatly pervading in the realm of Abia State; that has prompted an
individual like me to take a stand and add my name to the list for election
into government to ensure that such a great misfortune as brought upon the
state especially by the two most recent but very bad civilian administrations,
will never continue.
And
it is an election bid guided by a very deep personal conviction, a firm belief
in the superiority of ethics and values, and aspirations that borders heavily
on:
- Having in-depth and extensive knowledge of my constituency and further developing and advancing that knowledge.
- Being in the House of Assembly not for myself nor for my personal pocket, but for the people.
- Being honest and desiring to remain honest at the job.
- Harnessing international and local experiences and contacts to articulate, actuate and promote local development in and around the constituency.
- The fact that I can and will effectively fight youth unemployment in the area if given the opportunity to represent the constituency in the Abia State House of Assembly (ABSHA).
- The fact that I’m well trained for the job already and well versed in development issues; that I have the best understanding of these issues more than all the other aspirants contesting for the same seat.
- The fact that politically, I am a fresh breathe, untainted, incorruptible, steel willed, full of great vision and passionate for real change and development in the society; that I have a bent for creativity and innovation; and that I am well exposed, soundly educated and learned and open minded. And I deeply want the same for everybody and especially the young generation in the constituency.
Only slums and deserts:
Abia
State isn’t a place to be proud of at the moment. The state which was full of
promises at the time of its creation hasn’t lived up to much, despite its very
huge potential. And this is a problem that can be blamed squarely on failed
leaderships at the state government level. It has so far been a government
headed, one turn after another, by criminal minded individuals whose major
interests have been to {mis}appropriate the state’s collective resources,
particularly financial resources, unto converting them into their personal
estates. By so doing, the state, overall, has been repeatedly denied of the vital
revolutionary visions and funding for Development, making it a grossly
under-developed place that it pitifully is today.
For
example, despite its stupendous natural resource wealth and agricultural
potential including very fertile arable lands, stable and friendly rainforest
climate, nearly all year round rains, plentiful availability of freshwater
bodies, rivers and wetlands, zero extreme weather and natural disaster factors,
and moderate population that balances potential for adequate supply of human
labour for agriculture with an opportunity for less pressure on land resources
due to other uses; agricultural development, food production and the livelihood
of subsistence farmers and rural dwellers who make up the bulk of the
population in the state are still extremely very poor. Economy wise, Abia state
seems to be a desert much as it is for the rest of southeastern Nigeria.
Also
life for the rest of the Abia State population resident in the state’s only two
towns, namely Umuahia, the state’s political capital, and Aba, the state’s
commercial capital, is nothing to write home about. Slum and squalor best
describes the environment and living conditions that this urban population
mostly thrives in. Even the most basic amenities that an urban centre is known
for are either non-existent or dilapidated and dysfunctional in these places.
Abia towns are at best very filthy and chaotic that it would be very apt to
create a new social science to be called “Chao-filthology” to study them and
proffer solutions to the very bad problems they constitute presently.
Nutshell of the three cities on a
green sea proposal for Abia State:
The
very poor governance in Abia State is mostly gauged by the citizenry using the very
visible high level of decay and backwardness seen in its two principal towns of
Umuahia and Aba. It is also measured by the near total absence of genuine infrastructural
development and economic and social growth in the majority rural communities across
the state. Therefore, there is a role for improved urban planning, infrastructural
development and community investments across the state in cultivating better
perception and appreciation of the people for democratic governance. The
3CONAGS proposal is therefore an effort to spur effective delivery of genuine dividends
of democracy that would be truly beneficial, enduring and all-round-reaching in
Abia State for the people of the state and other citizens and residents of
Nigeria.
Modern
cities are well planned and well run places. Even ancient cities in history are
mostly places consciously or deliberately conceived, proposed and built,
targeting the best attainable monumental beauty and sophistication of the time.
However, what we mostly consider as ‘cities’ in sub-Saharan Africa and
especially in Nigeria, even in this 21st century, are amorphously
erupted and chaotic human settlements mainly lacking the novel, sophisticated organization,
decency, aesthetics and cutting-edge conveniences that forms the core
characteristics of true cities at any given point in time and that clearly
differentiates such real urban places from their surrounding hinterlands.
Itself
a product and foremost symbol of earliest human cultural/socio-economic revolutions
and civilization, especially the Neolithic revolution which ushered in settled
agriculture that compelled the world’s earliest population and societies of hunter-gatherers
to forgo nomadic lifestyle and embrace sedentary farming and permanent
settlements in close proximity with one another and which in turn prompted denser
human population and increased production of food per unit of land thereby creating
conditions suitable for city-like living; the cities have played enormous roles
in the evolution of education, science, the industrial revolution and the birth
of development as we know it today. Therefore when we talk about development or
where we must talk about development, cities are very important. Also very
important are the hinterland milieus that will form the surrounding regions for
the cities, as it is very well noted that for a true city to form, agricultural
activities are highly necessary while such a prospective city must have supply
sources of enough surplus of raw materials to support trade and relatively
large population, according to authors in urban studies like Paul Bairoch and
Vere Gordon Childe.
The
desirability and importance of cities can even be found in the Judeo-Christian
historical biblical accounts of the ancient Israelites, where it was stated,
for example, in 2nd Chronicles 14 v.6 - 7 that Asa the King of Judah, “built
fenced cities in Judah: for the land had rest, and he had no wars in those
years; because the LORD had given him rest. Therefore he said unto Judah, Let
us build these cities, and make about them walls, and towers, gates, and bars,
while the land is yet before us… So they built and prospered”.
Therefore
cities evolve or are built for a purpose. And just as it is in the ancient
times as the above quoted biblical text alluded, the purpose for cities even in
these modern or post-modern eras still includes promoting development and fostering
prosperity. And it is for this self-same purpose that this 3CONAGS proposal is
being put forward at this time in Abia State given that the already existent
but very poor quality and degrading urbanism in the state can be given a
makeover and a forward thrust so as to effectively and efficiently aid the actualization
of a good life and better place for the long suffering local population, a kind
of pursuit that forms the raison d’etre of the state. It is a proposition for
boosting development in Abia State through the promotion of world class qualitative
urbanism and peripheral optimization especially in the form of pursuing well-planned
de-pollution, re-development and expansion of the existing two urban areas of
Aba and Umuahia into decent international urban centers or cities and the
promotion of a new, third urban center for the state around the
Abiriba/Arochukwu axis and the subsequent up-building of this new urban place into
a decent international city as well; as against the low grade urbanism being
witnessed in Aba and Umuahia towns currently. It is also a proposition for
boosting development in the state through promoting innovative countryside investments
that would transform and advance the majority rural communities of Abia state
as green seas or centers of high agrarian productivity and sustainable
development with very ready markets for their products in these three cities of
the state and beyond.
The
3CONAGS therefore is not about re-inventing wheels. Rather it is about a high
necessity and urgent need for and very possible engagement in repair works on a
society that has been ran aground, truncated and thoroughly damaged by very bad
captains. This in essence encapsulates the platform of my candidacy and party
for this 2015 Abia State House of Assembly election which is summarized as a very
strong commitment to seriously attend to the urgent need of the Abia society
for massive works of restoration and advancement and for opposition to the now
mainstreamed political culture in Nigeria which shamelessly prescribes that the
best thing that can ever happen to government money and other resources is
their being wastefully used or stolen by government officials under whose
custody the resources have been placed.
It
is a template for a relentless pursuit of investments and development
engagements across the entire state that would be of tremendous benefits to the
people of Abia State and, in particular, of Bende South constituency which I’m
set for its seat in the Abia State House of Assembly. And the promotion of decent
and modern urbanism through genuine urban re-development and expansion as well
as new town development around the Umuahia/Uzuakoli and Abiriba/Arochukwu axis of
the state respectively, would be of a direct and huge developmental impact and
benefits to the Bende South constituents due to the very close proximity of
these centers to the Bende South constituency.
Overall,
this kind of investments and development engagements in the state would surely
empower the local communities in so many ways including creation of thousands
of new jobs, delivery of unprecedented avenues for community education and transforming
opportunities for enlightenment, knowledge acquisition, confidence-building and
sophistication in industriousness amongst the population, growth of local arts,
cultures and traditions especially through exposure to endogenous and exogenous
tourism, economic prosperity and social advancements, etc.
Across
the Bende South constituency, flows from the 3CONAGS will constitute a
trajectory for effectively preparing and equipping and actuating the local
population for optimization and efficient use of opportunities brought about by
a reinvigorated and seriously and competently pursued modern and decent urban
development and innovative rural community investments for sustainable
development. Because the full spectrum and elements of these development engagements
being put forward by 3CONAGS prescribes for competent legislations and initiatives
for development capacity building for the local population, democracy and good
governance advancement, inequality and gender gap bridging, access to quality
education and science, mobilization of social capital, community enterprises
and socio-economic development, environmentally-friendly industrialization such
as metal and plastic recycling plants, environmental conservation and
beautification such as afforestation and development of garden parks, better agricultural
productivity and rural livelihood promotions, sports and fitness promotions;
youth empowerment and employment; advancements in arts and cultural
productivities such as the introduction of the “Akankwa festival”; and many
more. It also prescribes pursuit of development partnerships with international
institutions as well as local civil society, non-governmental and commercial
private sector agencies. Even on an independent capacity, my office will seek
out such partnerships for the benefit of the constituency, if elected a member
of the Abia State parliament.
Below
is a further overview of some of the specific priority legislative pursuits
that would flow from the guidance of the 3CONAGS agenda:
1. EMPLOYMENT
AND JOBS, AGRICULTURE AND SMALL BUSINESSES.
With
an appropriate legislative bill, I will prod the Abia State government to make
it illegal to be economically jobless in Abia State, starting immediately I
assume office as member of the Abia State House of Assembly. Under the law, the
government shall periodically conduct unemployment and under-employment census
of the citizens and residents of Abia State and will assume more responsibility
for creating enabling environment for employment generation through the
undertaking of greater but still measured direct participation in job creation.
Massive jobs programme will be propagated particularly in the sector of modern
agriculture and agribusiness value chain which shall target to transform Abia State
into a net surplus producer and exporter of agricultural commodities and
agro-based manufactured products.
Enactment
of laws to make the government provide greater support to small businesses and
that offers incentives to private sector and non-state actors in order for them
to also provide support to disadvantaged individuals and communities will as
well be pursued by me. Specifically a strong legislative case will be made for
an “Abia State Enterprise Board” to cater particularly for the development,
sustenance and growth of start-ups and existing enterprises in the Micro-,
Small-, and Medium-scale Enterprises category in the state.
Transforming
the lives of peasants, artisans, petty traders and market women in the state
using appropriate legislative instruments will be a top-of-the-list priority
for my office if elected. The government will be made to pay more than
presently obtainable attention to upgrading and further development of our
traditional markets all across the state and especially in the rural areas, with
the view of making them truly and thoroughly modern places of business
activities that adds to the emancipation and uplifting of the intellect and
livelihoods of our local population that makes use of such places; as against
current situation where markets are tagged “ultra-modern” and yet remain places
unfit even for mad people and dead rats – the kind of thing that TA Orji’s
administration and the one before it were so dubiously good at doing.
When
established, the Abia State Enterprise Board will be of the mandate to
prioritize on assisting peasants, artisans, petty traders and entrepreneurs and
women-owned businesses to innovate and grow. A very broad legislation will be
articulated to ensure that such minute issues that are however very important
to these category of workers, such as, where to trade, money to get a shop, the
kind and quality of small shops available to people in the state, tenancy
rates, over taxation issues, etc.; will receive the right kind of attention
that will be helpful to the citizens concerned.
Other
aspects of the legislation will also make for aggressive pursuit of the
resuscitation of all moribund industries in the state and further
industrialization and commercial developments. This shall be pursued at macro
as well as micro levels with a very special emphasis on grassroots community
participation in jobs development, especially in form of community employment
and jobs initiatives, community enterprises and social economy. Legislations
aimed at making businesses to become more and more responsible and to act
accordingly with innovative and creative involvement with their local
communities, will also be accorded priority.
The
anti-Joblessness law will also be a weapon to target certain kind of individuals
in the state who currently are using the very ugly situation of high unemployment
in the country as an excuse to lazy and lousy around, constituting all manners
of nuisance across the state, especially in urban areas such as Aba. A case in
point is the need to curb touting all over the state especially in Aba and
Umuahia, an ugly occurrence that is mostly associated with road transportation.
The law will also feature new establishment or reinforcement of any existing anti-touting
and social miscreants’ office and office for discouraging street and highway
hawking, especially by children, in the state.
2. COMMUNITY
EDUCATION /DEVELOPMENT.
Promoting
the consciousness and pragmatism of the people in continuously demanding more
from their government and pushing to make the government incrementally more accountable
and transparent as well as fighting the culture of mediocrity, sycophancy and
ignorance amongst the public – a very bad reality that has now become a kind of
de-facto modus operandi in the Abia society and in Nigeria generally; will be a
key community education and development goal to be vigorously pursued with
strategic legislative instruments during my legislatorship.
Opening
up the population to community education and access to information will be at
the heart of this pursuit. Particularly, the very high incidence of what I call
“infoverishment” in southeastern
Nigeria due to the long existing very low access to the traditional media as
well as the slow and still low penetration of the new information technologies
and media in the region is a major concern to me. And this regional “infoverishment” is even greater in the
Bende south area of Abia State which I’m seeking to represent in the ABSHA,
being purely a rural constituency. However, I am very much prepared to take on
this challenge and push for it being effectively address head-on through availing
the state with innovative pieces of legislation. Among these legislations will
be one that will compel the government of the day to highly prioritize development
awareness-raising and education in the state. A specialist agency within the
appropriate ministry will be targeted for establishment in the state for this
purpose and staffed only with highly competent development professionals and
experts and nothing less.
Other
pieces of legislation will focus on greatly concerning the state government
with the active responsibility of facilitating speedier penetration of
information technology and further democratizing public access to information,
particularly in rural areas of the state. Thus, the incoming Abia State
government in 2015 must be very ICT-friendly and very much prepared to raise
the bar and lead other states of the federation in the articulation and
deployment of robust and revolutionary ICT policies which, for instance, will
see the state awash with digital hubs, hotspots, and rural community
multi-media centers that will spur the state’s largely rural population to tune
in effectively to the world of greater accessibility to development information
and universal acquisition of knowledge and critical development exposures.
Igboland
which makes up the entire southeast geopolitical region of Nigeria, with significant
spillovers into the surrounding north-central and south-central regions, used
to be a haven for grassroots community self-help initiatives, especially during
the pre-independence, post-independence/first republic, and early post-civil
war periods in Nigeria. Over the years, however, especially with the
intensification of corrupt governance at all levels in the country, the
people’s prowess in galvanizing this highly important resource has greatly waned.
This is as well very true in communities of Bende South constituency today.
Therefore my legislative agenda, especially as encompassed in the 3CONAGS, will
focus heavily on the revival and boosting of such self-help resourcefulness
across the communities of the constituency and of the state at large using
appropriate incentives from the government.
As
such, I will target to promote legislations that would require from every
autonomous community in Abia State to have a set of minimum development assets
that must be present in their domain as a basis for them to continue enjoying
that autonomous community status. Otherwise, autonomous communities without the
meeting of such a requirement would be re-merged with their “kit and kin
autonomous communities” that have met the requirement, or that are similarly
disadvantaged so that they can more collectively be able to meet such a
requirement. This minimum community asset requirement will include having a
well-functioning Community Development Council and Chest; a community
enterprise center; at least a well-equipped primary health center having a
well-functioning dispensary and at least a doctor and a nurse; a primary
school; a community science and multi-media center; a community library; among
others. Communities will therefore be encouraged to make efforts in raising
such assets within their domain, backed by appropriate and adequate
opportunities for government partnership and the force of a robust and
incentivizing Community Development legislation.
I
will also work to attract solid and legacy-enduring development projects in
each and every autonomous community in the constituency during my tenure at
ABSHA, especially projects that offer opportunity for dignifying jobs and
employment and innovation and growth of the local economy. This will include enterprises
that industrialize the rich tourism potential, the abundance of commodities and
raw materials, and the lucrative consumer market in the various localities in
the constituency.
I
will appoint a youth and older citizens committee, to be known as the State
Constituency Partnership Committee (SCPC) in each and every autonomous
community in the constituency to work with me throughout my tenure in ABSHA to
ensure optimal and effective representation and maximum delivery of dividends
of democracy. The SCPC will be incorporated as the Bende South State
Constituency Partnership (BESSCOP) that will be given funds to pursue major and
minor development projects across the constituency focusing especially on
employment/job creation, poverty eradication, health care, education and
science, youth-works and sports, etc.
Although
it has been enjoying a high profile representation in Nollywood since its
inception, given that leading actresses and actors like “Merit” Nnenna Nwabueze,
who was part of the very first Nigerian ‘home-video’ film, Living in Bondage,
that gave birth to Nollywood, and Mike Ezuruonye and Chinedum Ikedieze who are among
the current raves in the industry, to mention but a few names, are all
indigenes of the constituency; there can never be found today even the most
archaic cinema in the constituency. Therefore as part of optimizing the Bende
south constituency’s contribution to the now globally acclaimed Nollywood, my
office will pursue legislations and initiatives that would greatly encourage not
only government support but also private sector investments for the
establishment of key facilities such as film/music schools, well-functioning
modern cinemas, art galleries, book clubs and other arts and culture centers
and festivals in the constituency for the promotion of wealth creation for the
local population in tune with and in celebration of our abundant artistic
talents and deep roots in great artistry as evidenced by our great
contributions to literary, musical and visual arts, and as typified by the
likes and works of Pita Nwana, author of the great Igbo language novel,
Omenuko, that was heavily influenced by his long sojourn in the pioneer college
town of Uzuakoli in the Bende South constituency; Harcourt White, a great composer
and musical maestro also brought up in Uzuakoli; and our numerous Nollywood
icons – a clear case of abundance of talents more than as available in our
surrounding constituencies.
Other
legislations to be pursued with vigor by my office towards better local community
developments will also focus on reviewing and strengthening existing laws or
enacting new ones in the state for better training, welfare and allowances for
the traditional rulers; supporting existing laws that uphold and protect civil
liberty of the individual members of society, including the freedom of worship
and right to privacy; and promoting the establishment of good and productive relationship
between government and civil society and faith-based organizations in Abia State.
3. ABA
EMERGENCY AND OTHER URBAN DEVELOPMENTS.
I
will pursue legislations that will declare a state of emergency over the
present situation of the ‘city’ of Aba, which, it shall be the official views
of my legislative office, is an urban disaster zone at the moment. A special
state government commission as well as a private international corporation will
be proposed to be set up to ensure and carry through the determination of the
government in implementing a new vision for Aba especially as prescribed in my
3CONAGS, and to also ensure that the citizens and residents of the city as well
as the people of the world participated actively in the highly necessary
rebirth of Aba – the ‘Enyimba city’ once referred to as the “Japan of Africa”.
There
will be a bill sponsored for an “Aba Corporation” to be set up and used as a channel
for rallying foreign and domestic private investments for the modern
metropolitan development of Aba, while another “Abia State Metropolitan
Development Commission” bill will equally be sponsored in order to have a
government/public sector channel for galvanizing and coordinating
international, national and local (governmental, inter-governmental and
non-governmental) partnerships and investments for urban developments in the
state.
Also,
under this vision, Umuahia, the Abia State capital, which is currently a third
world township and was a former capital of the defunct Biafra republic, will experience
a merger with its immediate neighboring semi-urban locality of Uzuakoli and
environs within the Bende South constituency, as well as with neighboring parts
of Ikwuano and Isiala Ngwa constituencies and together be transformed into a
first world metropolis to be known as “Amoha” and that has a unique destiny.
While the extreme northern part of the state will also benefit from this urban
development drive with the planting of a functional urban centre in the
Abiriba/Arochukwu axis of the state, taking advantage of the already resort
townliness of the Abiriba locality.
4. TRANSFORMATION
OF THE WORKFORCE AND STRUCTURE OF THE ABIA STATE GOVERNMENT.
I
will sponsor bills for public administration and institutional reforms and mandatory
continuous capacity building for public and civil servants in Abia State. I
will pursue the enactment of legislation that will, in an abuse-proof, totally
non-discriminatory and zero confrontational manner, target to further reduce the
current size of the Abia State government workforce and overhead expenditures,
in order to release funds currently being ‘wasted’ in the name of supporting
overheads to a glaringly unproductive and yet primitively large personnel or in
the name of settling political liabilities. The remainder of the government workforce
after this exercise will be transformed into a well-motivated and
ultra-productive workforce while the disengaged percentage will be trained and retrained
and most productively engaged in other economic employment sectors in the
state, more especially in agricultural production. Without losing sight on how
extremely hard it might be, fraudulent bureaucracy and frivolous expenditures
especially on the part of the executive and legislative arms of the government
will be particularly targeted for legislative ambush by my office. Similarly
targeted will be red-tape and other poor quality service delivery practices in
the state that have ensured such public dissatisfaction with civil/public service
performances, like the ones responsible for recurring bitter complaints by Pensioners
in the state, etc.
Efforts
will be made to very innovatively restructure the state government to make it
updatedly modern, sophisticated, greatly efficient and productive far beyond
what is presently obtainable. New ministries, such as the Science, Technology
and Modernization (STAM) ministry with very robust departments such as the
department of development culture, will be proposed; while some existing
ministries will need to be merged or dropped entirely. And efforts will be made
to give legislative supports for needed modernization of infrastructures and
equipment that government activities need for its operations such as offices,
event centers, vehicles and other facilities.
Ethics
for working in government would be most particularly emphasized and
strengthened through appropriate legislations. Especially, I would target to
deliver on my goal to change the now deeply rooted perception in the society
that the best thing that could ever happen to government money is it being
stolen, pilfered or frittered away by those under whose charge and custody it
has been put and by everyone else who comes across it. As an individual,
especially a very responsible and prudent one, how do you expect your own money
to be treated? I bet the last thing we, as responsible individuals, would ever
want to happen to our hard earned money is it being handled just any how or by
an “any-how” kind of person. This same treatment that we would give our
personal money is what we should aim to give to government money and even
better. Because government money has got a lot of responsibilities on its
shoulder more than our personal monies could ever have.
Other
anti-corruption wars will be waged as well using a variety of legislative
instruments. Much attention will be paid by my office to “little” issues like
the culture of “extracting economic rent”, such as where award of contracts,
especially in construction, and paying out of monies are done without recourse
to due process or appropriate supervision of the contracts leading to delivery
of very poor jobs or to a case of non-execution of projects all together even
though funds have already been taken out of the system for their sake.
As
a state legislator, I will also be very actively engaged in delivering other
sophisticated and innovative contributions to the overall administration and
management of the Abia State government, economy and society in tune with very
much needed individual and collective efforts to create a good life and better
place for all in the state.
5. LAW
ENFORCEMENT, SECURITY AND PUBLIC SAFETY.
Legislations
for the reform of the state’s law enforcement and judiciary systems will also be
topmost on my agenda. The system should be given a complete overhauling and
alignment with international best practices. Corruption and impunity
particularly within the law enforcement and security agencies operational in
Abia State, most especially the police, the military, the para-military, the
court system and others, need to be addressed with appropriate legislative
proposals and pursuits on a zero tolerance basis. Road extortions, rights
violations, abuse of office, physical assaults on citizens, bribe taking,
willful breaking of the law or aiding and abating of crimes in order to make
money as very rampant amongst law enforcement and security officers will be fought
against with necessary vehemence, until they are totally eradicated in the
state or reduced to a tremendously great insignificance. There will be a
“SEABLES” proposed and instituted to monitor and checkmate all law enforcement
and security apparatuses of the federal government that are operational in the
state as well as all local ones.
With
appropriate cues taken from globally current policy and trends in HSE,
legislations will be enacted to ensure greater compliance with HSE best
practices and respect for public safety and health by private and public sector
concerns delivering services to the public in the state. For example, under
such legislations, an Abia State Road Safety and Traffic Management Agency will be
instituted with a mandate to amongst numerous other things checkmate sharp
practices by commercial motorists plying in the state, like over-loading of
passengers and goods in vehicles, unprofessional driving and “change-over” of
drivers, and short-changing of passengers with “destination short-reaching”
without due compensation, as commonly practiced by commercial motorists in Abia
State and especially by “Aba drivers”. Also curbing dangerous practices by
petty transport service operators, such as using the “Keke” tricycle to ply
highways and the persistent use of motorcycle without helmet despite existing
laws against such, etc., will also receive fresh legislative boost.
My
office will collaborate with appropriate sections of the Abia society and
government agencies to launch and produce a periodic Abia State Law and Order
Report (ABIA-LOR) and advocate for the development of an Abia State Community Register/Database
of indigenes/families, other residents, and fingerprints, as well of a Rural
and Urban Physical Address System.
6. HEALTHCARE AND WELFARE.
During
my legislatorship there will be a vigorous pursuit of a vision to have built in
Abia State what would be regarded as one of the best hospitals in the world and
making accessibility to this facility a guaranteed possibility for the poorest
of the poor in the state, at least. Also training of healthcare personnel in Abia
State will be given much attention by introducing legislations that encourages
the government and non-governmental/private sector to help provide quality
training institutions and financial support incentives that would make many
enough Abians to go into the healthcare profession backed up with genuine
guarantees for after training employment.
Under
the appropriate ministry, special departments for welfare, like the Destitution
Relief Unit, will be recommended as part of strengthening government’s
commitment to assisting her citizens in need.
7. PUBLIC HYGIENE, ENVIRONMENT AND CONSERVATION.
I
will support the introduction of more competent state legislations for domestic,
industrial and public sanitation and hygiene, to include the
institutionalization of a mandatory “Clean Village and Town (CVAT) Competition”
for all rural communities and urban districts. Trophies and cash prices of
different categories will be available for winning to encourage all and sundry
to participate.
Attention
will also be paid to enacting state edicts and institutions that will tame the disgusting
practice of openly defecating or urinating that’s still common place in some of
our towns and villages, as well as to discourage such awfully wrong little attitudes
of people as spitting out openly while in public gatherings, walking on the
road or in moving vehicles, which is carelessly exhibited most often in this
part of the world.
Existing
laws on combating pollution, especially plastic pollution, will be strengthened
with better legislations that will effectively address implementation
shortcomings and other issues surrounding this problem in the society.
Protecting
the environment from all manners of deliberate or indeliberate physical damages
as can be seen all over the state, will also form a top priority for me in
sponsoring legislative bills. In many parts of the state one can easily see
indiscriminate mining of sand by cutting into hillsides or digging of burrow pits
which are subsequently abandoned to erosional forces. It is a very bad reality that
there is nowhere now in Abia State that a virgin forest can still be found,
while secondary forests and bushes are constantly under threat of further deforestation
by bush fires during dry seasons, seasonal and fallow farming practices and other
unplanned land uses. Fresh water bodies and wetlands are also under various
degrees of misuse and abuse that requires legislative interventions.
Specifically,
I will be using my legislative position to promote a number of conservation, re-greening
and sustainable development projects around the constituency, including the
Achi-Oba and Evuleme Valley projects in Uzuakoli, the Eme-Nkpa and Ahha-Akoli
wetland areas projects in Umuimenyi, and others for purposes which includes enhancing
the tourism potential and economic productivity of the region.
8. EDUCATION
REVOLUTION, SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION.
My
legislative pursuit for an “Abia State Education Revolution Programme” will
focus on transforming the education system in the state by raising it to world
standards through the workings of various public-private and local and
international partnerships towards establishing and raising in the state some
of the best educational institutions in the world including a world class private
university to be named after the legendary Chinua Achebe.
My
office will also pursue legislations as well as independent projects and
development partnerships aimed at making it an official policy of the Abia State
government to make citizens and local communities prioritize on developing a ‘scientific
temper’ as well as strongly encouraging the younger generation in the state to
popularly pursue careers in science, technology and innovation through a
provision of early encouragement to these young citizens through well-equipped
community science centers in all autonomous communities in the state in
addition to well-equipped science primary and secondary schools. My office will
also pursue a plan to establish in the state what I call a “Young Scientists Park”
collaborating with an already on-going junior science education promotions initiative
called PRETAPS by a non-governmental organization that I’m associated with.
Through these legislative pushes that I will bring to bear on these issues, I
will also take up legislative and independent enterprise promotions for projects
across the state dedicated to the establishment and operation of standard
technology parks that can and would compete with their kinds anywhere in the
world.
9. INVESTMENT,
INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT AND INDUSTRIALIZATION.
Equitable
distribution of new and rehabilitation projects for roads, housing, water and
irrigation schemes, transportation terminals, power plants, electrification,
telephony, airports, etc., will be given priority attention during my
legislatorship, with a due bias for my constituency.
Of
special legislative interest will be the elimination of substandard dwelling
places and promoting strict minimum residential accommodation and other housing standards for people
both in the rural and urban areas, e.g., making sure that no residential house is built
without proper plumbing works and pipe borne water connection for running water
supply and toilet sanitation. This will entail paying a more than sizable
attention to the promotion of mortgage financing in the state and accessibility
to it for the grassroots population.
As
boreholes are very expensive and beyond the reach of most people forcing the
majority of the population to still go distances to get clean water for
domestic use, revisiting, reactivating and expanding regional water schemes,
like the Uzuakoli Water Works, which has long been abandoned in the state, and
making borehole owners to pay heavy taxes to discourage people from dependence
on that source of water supply which has its environmental hazards, will be
given a strong legislative push by me.
The
current fall in oil prices globally presents an opportunity for the Nigerian government
at all levels to walk the now age old and almost tired-out talk on diversification
of the Nigerian economy. As part of my 3CONAGS proposal, my legislative office
will be made very useful in supporting, urging and nudging the Abia State
Government to be more creative and innovative in attracting, facilitating and
retaining international and local investments and in deploying the scarce
financial resources accruable to the state from all available sources and
especially from federal allocations. House resolutions, bills, public symposia,
public protests, constructive critical media expressions, and independent
partnerships and entrepreneurial establishments will be some of the tools that
will be deployed by my office to achieve this goal.
10. IGBO
CULTURAL RESURGENCE AND ADVANCEMENT PROGRAMME.
Legislations
targeting the institution of a Better Abia/Igboland Project will deal with the
whole spectrum of cultural and social characters and characteristics of the
Abia and Igbo societies, working to rid society of those bad and repulsive
characters and to enthrone the needed and highly necessary changes, norms and
values that are a must have for society for the sake of betterness and progress.
The
Igbo language is most shamefully in a pretty bad shape at the moment. Most
painful is the fact that the various Igbo state governments, despite the great
autonomy they have on this matter, have not been doing what they ought to have
been doing to help out. A very broad legislation will be articulated and
sponsored by me to help move the Abia State government and the rest of Igbo society
in the direction of greatly remedying this situation and bringing back the Igbo
language, arts and cultures to a pride of place that they truly deserves and to
global prominence.
11.ABIA
STATE LEGISLATIVE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME.
I
will sponsor and strongly support bills and other legislative activities aimed
at growing and deepening the expertise and democratic characters of the individual
membership and corporate body of the Abia State House of Assembly in all
businesses for which it should be concerned and have been established; to
ensure that matters are attended to in line with global best practices and in
actual faithfulness to the appellation of “Honourable” with which each member
and entire body of the House of Assembly is so proudly addressed.
12. THE
IGBO DEVOLUTION AND AUTONOMY.
One
of the three cities visualized in the 3CONAGS proposal is a dreamed future national
capital and seat of regional government for a restored, homogenous and truly and
fully autonomous region for the Igbo nation of eastern Nigeria. This is my
grand political mission within Nigeria for which I’m taking this entry steps
for an elective political office and public service career. All matters pertaining
to the total overhauling and restructuring of Nigeria, sustained fostering of
development across West Africa and the emancipation and advancement of the
African continent are of great interest and importance to me. My vision is to
have an African continent totally blueprinted only by Africans and run
according to the best enlightened and most intelligent dictates of Africans
towards restoring the African dignity and primeness all over the world. I will
be working on this mission through a number of planks including INPAC and CIDRAN.
The
great enactment and unfolding of the “Revolution Made Simple” which is the central
slogan of my current political campaign will indeed be interesting. You’re
therefore welcome to join me if you are truly worth the life you have. As the
great Martin Luther King Jnr once said, “I submit to you that if a man hasn't
discovered something he will die for, he isn't fit to live”.
May
the Most High, Almighty, Supreme God see me through. Amen.
Thank
you.
Ugochukwu
Ogbonnaya.
African Democratic Congress Candidate for the Bende South Constituency Seat of the Abia State House of Assembly, in the 2015 general elections.
