During the course of the week, one of the evenings while I was doing my laundry, I took my time to stream a YouTube video I had downloaded the previous week.
In other to put this conversation in the appropriate context, the video in question, was that of Harvard Business School class of 2025, who were in Kenya on a study visit.
The Kenyan President William Ruto hosted these August visitors and had an extensive interaction with them, in the company of the American Ambassador to Kenya.
What was more amazing to me was that the Professor who led these ivy league scholars to Nairobi, Kenya for that trip is a Nigerian man married to a Ghanian woman, in the person of Prof. Hakeem Bello (one of the major investors in the old United Bank for Africa).
These scholars would be spending quality time in four (4) countries in Africa being Kenya, Rwanda, Morocco and Ghana as part of their fulfilment for the Global Immersion Course at Harvard Business School.
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Nigeria with a bulging population obviously is conspicuously absent on the list of nations to be toured by these Harvard scholars.
The reason why I had to bring in the above narrative is to inform you my dear reader, that we would be sick to not acknowledge the reality which clearly states that in the Nigerian media space at the moment, the most loved and admired Nigerian politician is Dr. Alex Otti, the Governor of Abia State just as Kenya seems to be the beautiful bride to many foreign visitors from outside the continent.
Just a week ago, the President of Kenya was in Washington for a State visit on the request of the United States Government. The hosting of the Kenyan president was elaborate.
While the reason for the sudden love for Kenya by the West, remains very debatable and suspicious to our team, which we must not venture into with this article at this moment, the quick pick here remains that irrespective of party leanings, the Kenyan people must deliberately explore the gains of such seeming interest of the world to transact with Kenya and make the most out of it.
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This is the reason why we must also admit, that at this time, Abia State is on the news for the right reasons.
The citizens are being fed with what they love to hear and see on the media about our State, which should directly translate to massive business interest in the State.
Irrespective of our political leanings, I feel that we must come together to support the Governor and his team while clearly pointing them in the direction we are convinced that they have not done well and as such must ramp up their performance in such sectors.
Politics in Nigeria is overly complicated, and one needs to understand this, to make meaningful contribution to the Nigerian developmental conversation.
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The Nigerian reality has always been that the State Governors go out of their way to always be in full control of all other arms of government. Abia State is not different from this established practise.
This is one of the reasons why we must as citizens, step up to checkmate the excesses of those in power since the legislature has lost such authority.
It is now our responsibility as citizens, whose resources are being administered to commend the leadership in the State when they do well and also criticise firmly when we notice the spin of governance, going off the expected tangent of excellence.
From our analysis of the performance of Governor Alex Otti in office so far, it would be more of a manipulative attempt to insinuate that he is intentionally trying to neglect a particular section of the State.
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We believe strongly that such conversations should not be elevated in the first place, for any reason.
Knowing that we have a Governor who is deliberate about being in charge of governance in the State and not outsourcing it, leaves citizens with a good feeling.
This he has done quite excellently by being in good control of his political appointees, aides, associates and those with unrestricted access to him.
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We cannot forget so soon in the course of our democracy, when certain men and women who had unrestricted access to the then Governors, reigned supreme as demi gods.
In some cases, these self-acclaimed demi gods spoke publicly on issues they should have at best, kept their bias and opinion to themselves.
The promise about clearing arrears of pensions, technically can be said to have been largely addressed, although there are still a few grey areas seeking attention.
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We are also excited to know that this singular act of paying off these debts has played a critical role in extending the life span of most of these pensioners and civil servants, thus boosting citizens confidence in the State leadership.
Innovation remains key for political office holders that need to deliver on their mandate.
Our team is impressed to see that the Governor and his team, were very smart and strategic to move the activities of the praise singing public, online instead of defacing the State with all manners of “sycophancy toned posters” and publications.
There is a firm demand from the citizens that the leadership of the State innovate further on how to disclose the real cost & full scope of projects done in the State at all times, how to celebrate landmark projects in the State in a more cost-effective manner while achieving the needed publicity.
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Abia State must synthesize new approach to birthing impact driven education, improved healthcare for all, improved & sustainable agricultural practices to feed ourselves and improved waste management systems.
The Governor can be said to have deliberately carried out his religious activities in a manner that foster unity among the Christian population in the State, without preference to any religious sect/denomination.
This here is what governance should be and such should be appreciated, to say the least.
Beyond all the big wins of this government in Abia State which we all, despite political leanings are excited about, there are a few more areas the government must deliberately consider to actively improve upon, so as not to make a mess of the relatively excellent work that is being done.
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While we assume that some of your appointed media aides may have, “attacking any supposed dissenting voice in the media as part of their KPI’s”, we owe you the real truth, not minding how much of emotions it may stir in you, as fellow citizens of Abia State.
We would appreciate if the contract bidding & procurement processes, cost of projects are made more accessible. The citizens must at all times know what the cost of fixing any part of the State is.
Picking up waste quite promptly round the cities is already a success as it is at the moment, owing to what we see when we visit Umuahia and Aba.
The real work now lies in consolidating on the gains made so far and finding innovative ways to segregate this waste and use such for whatever would be in the interest of the State, the people and the environment.
These are relatively low hanging fruits that can be birthed and exploited by strategic partnerships.
Waste recycling plants in Singapore supplies the nation energy to power their homes, just to let us know.
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Having listened to your very recent broadcast where you alluded to being compliant to the “Abuja 15% health budget allocation”, permit us to say that this is yet to be felt in the State.
More so, we would be needing more communication from the people in charge of the Health Ministry, to feed us real time with the many innovations being brought into that space.
The health insurance scheme needs to be looked at and made fit for purpose for ndi Abia.
We must seek out ways to engage the Health Maintenance Organisations (HMO) that are willing to do business in the State and engage them on how they can serve our people more efficiently.
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Vaccination against Hepatitis B, Cervical cancer and a whole lot of other diseases would be another way to protect our people from some avoidable diseases.
As a State, it would be worthwhile if the health sector looks at ways to make these very important pharmaceutical products available, while making sure that they are accessed easily at affordable costs while they are still potent.
Our women and children deserve better also in terms of healthcare.
We must find ways to collaborate with private owned health institutions located where we do not have functional government hospital presence, with the aim of providing health care for our people with the support of government.
For Abia State to be a formidable multi sectoral investment destination State, you must follow up on Geometric Power and other investors, who have interest in power generation in the State.
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The judiciary must be optimized to fully and promptly deliver on their mandate.
They must ensure that matters are dispensed off with, speedily and appropriately.
Permit me to take a bit of break on health-related issues as we can go on nonstop in this space, being that it is one of the areas of our core interest.
Just to remind your government Dr. Alex Otti that in 2023’s ranking of the best ten performing (10) States in terms of budgeting for health care and its implementation, no South Eastern State made it to that list.
We would be pleased at the end of this financial year, to see that we were able to make it to the first ten in terms of healthcare budgetary provision and its implementation.
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Wherefore, as I close Dear Governor, it is our wish that as a way to further boost the confidence of ndi Abia to use the medical facilities provided by government for the people, that you personally subscribe alongside your appointees to routinely using these State-owned institutions.
You have all it takes Dr. Alex Otti to massively drive the acceptance of the national health insurance scheme among our people.
Kindly drive this process with your team, as it would ensure more health coverage for ndi Abia, improve private investment in the sector and help in the provision of resources for the acquisition of state-of-the-art medical facilities for use in such hospitals, while empowering these institutions to employ more professionals who would be rewarded handsomely for their services to such institutions.
Finally, Dr. Alex Otti we all want you to succeed and that is why we must point you to directions we believe you can do better in, compared to what we have now.
Remember that you once promised that you would conduct the Local Government elections. We are yet to experience that. It is just one year; we know this but put in more energy and resources into the second year to double or quadruple your output as a leader.