Where we are coming from as Ndi Abia

Abia State is one of the thirty-six (36) states that make up the west African mineral rich nation called Nigeria. It is located in the southeast geopolitical region with an estimated population of about seven million (7,000,000) people. Its commercial capital is Aba / Enyimba (Elephant) city while the administrative capital is Umuahia.

In the present political dispensation, it is the only state that is governed by Labour Party in Nigeria, which is the party on which Mr. Peter Obi is alleged to have won the 2023 presidential election.

The truth which we must all acknowledge from a place of sincerity and knowledge owing to what the reality of what the residents of the state have faced over these years is that the state can be said to have not been very fortunate in terms of the quality of its political leaders unlike what they have now.

Progress made so far as a state; the Orji Uzor Kalu era

Senator Orji Uzor Kalu was elected the governor of Abia State on the platform of the People’s democratic Party (PDP) in the year 1999. During his eight years tenure as the governor of the state which he spent the larger part on the platform of PDP, his achievements in terms of infrastructure, welfare of civil servants, optics of governance and other allied factors were just there as he could only do the best within the scope of the range of his ability.

When his political friction with the former Nigerian president deepened, he went on to form Progressive people’s alliance (PPA). That was the party he used to actively bring in his successor. Senator Orji Uzor Kalu hails from Igbere which is in Abia North senatorial district.

After his tenure, to remain politically relevant he negotiated his way to the Senate where he has been till date.

Senator Theodore Orji who took over from Senator Orji Uzor Kalu is famous for having won his governorship bid from detention. You may want to remember that Senator T.A Orji was the chief of staff of Senator Orji Uzor Kalu while he was the governor of the state.

The Theodore Ahamefula era

Senator T.A Orji who hails from Ibeku, Umuahia, is from the non Ngwa speaking section of Abia Central senatorial district. He is known to have seen to the neutralizing of a notorious kidnap kingpin who was a terror to Aba residents then called Osisi ka nkwụ. More so, Senator T. A Orji is judged to have performed woefully in terms of the infrastructural development and governance of the state.

It was during Senator T. A Orji’s tenures that Aba residents hauled sachet water at him as the governor then during a public function in Aba. In that era, Engr. Prince Arthur Eze is on record to have said at a public function that Aba stinks. That is where we are coming from as a people. T. A Orji finished his tenure on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and was daring enough to install a successor of his choice.

The Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu era

Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu as the one anointed by his predecessor emerged at the end of that election as the governor of the state. He had an eight years tenure during which he did the much that he was able to deliver in terms of governance to the Abia people. He hails from Obingwa which is under Abia South senatorial district of the state.

Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu was a leader who brought people who had no business being close to the corridors of power too close to him and this explains what contributed to him seeing to the full-scale decimation and destruction of the PDP in the state at the end of his tenure despite his efforts of the past eight years while he was the Governor to keep the party together.

Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu is popular for the media gaffes he severally got involved with during live media sessions which made a mess of his brand despite his great skills at oratory. It is on record that he is the first governor within the democratic dispensation in Abia state who could not install a successor nor “retire” to the Senate. This can be traced to his poor judgement of the men in his inner space at the time.

While we can firmly argue that there are some areas of the state that Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu delivered upon in terms of infrastructure, his inability to pay salaries and pension promptly made him loose so much credibility as a leader. Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe of the All-progressive grand alliance (APGA), the seventy (70) years old habitual Senate resident who has spent eighteen (18) years in the Senate so far, denied him the privilege of politically retiring at the Senate like his predecessors.

Dr. Alex Otti era

Dr. Alex Otti after a fierce election battle with the incumbent in the 2023 gubernatorial election won the election on the platform of Labour Party to the surprise of many despite being wholly in the opposition.

Some realities that were clear at the time was that the then opposition had succeeded in giving the PDP a terrible name which made hanging them at the polls very easy and seamless for the opposition. Dr. Alex Otti came to power without the godfather and stakeholder styled encumbrances.

The poor handling of the 2021 state PDP primaries by the party led to the exit of some political heavyweights from the party in the state. These were men and women who had been instrumental to their winning past elections over the years. The party paid direly for that error as they lost out massively in that election year. Abia PDP went into that election without their known commanders who had an established track record of delivering favourable election results over the years.

The result of the 2023 election year spoke to the reality of the impact of the exit of these known election theatre commanders.

So far when compared with his predecessors, Dr. Alex Otti, who rose to the rank of the CEO of a commercial bank in Nigeria, is being judged to have performed excellently so far. This assumption would be subjected to the critical scrutiny of data to establish it in the years to come.

More so, the achievements of Dr. Alex Otti is being attributed to the fact that unlike Senator T.A Orji and Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, who became governors through the active benevolence of their predecessors, Dr. Alex Otti is widely known to have won his election to become the governor on the strength of his strategy and alignment and not as a result of any godfather’s anointing/benevolence.

Kigali Convention Centre, the inspiration behind Enyimba Convention Centre

Sometime in 2004 a young architect named Arc. Roland Dieterle thought out an unusual design of a convention centre.  Mr. Roland Dieterle, as a chief architect of Siemens Engineering Co. Germany had travelled to Dubai in 2006 for an exhibition event where he met a Rwandan official who picked interest in his unique designs.

Thereafter the Rwandan embassy in Germany processed Mr. Roland’s papers with which he was to travel to Rwanda with the aim of seeing Rwanda in its raw nature and tailoring the architectural design of the then proposed convention centre to speak to the ethnic and religious realities of the Rwandan people.

The project duration spanned from 2009 till 2016 when it was completed. The Kigali Convention Centre is owned by Ultimate Concept Limited which is a Rwandan corporate investment company made up of Prime Holdings Limited (50% stake), Social Security Fund of Rwanda (25% stake), Rwanda Investment Group (25% stake). They pooled these investments in 2007 for the execution of this project.

The Kigali convention centre is made up of four (4) major components; A five-star hotel with two hundred and ninety-two (292) rooms on six (6) floors operated by Raddison Blu, a conference centre with a seating capacity of 2,600 participants, Kigali Information Technology Park and a museum on the ground floor.

The cost of this project is $300,000,000. The Kigali Convention Centre is just six (6) kilometres (km) away from Kigali International airport.

Looking at the descriptions above, it would dawn on any objective observer that such a massive project would not have been achieved in Rwanda without the support of President Paul Kegame.

Therefore, listening to Dr. Alex Otti speak about Enyimba Convention Centre, Aba, which is to be designed and built by Mr. Roland Dieterle and his team, if there is one thing, I would want to disabuse from the mind of our readers is that there should not be any form of pessimism towards this project as this would open a whole new paradigm to the city of Aba when executed as it pertains to commerce and being a choice destination for events. We must learn from Anambra State why their massive International Conference Centre, Awka, built by Chief. Willy Obiano is literarily lying fallow without many activities being held there many years after it was built.

Development of ambitious projects in Aba and its implication on the state economy.

Aba remains one of the major commercial powerhouses of the nation and overtime has been very unfortunate in terms of infrastructure that would inspire development. With the proposed development of Enyimba Convention Centre, there is the need to make sure that a well thought out and dedicated power supply is established for the center. One of the worst things that would befall this project is to rely majorly on alternative power sources from solar or generating set to power such a project.

It is also necessary that this project from inception is built and given to core professionals to manage. These conversations should even start before the project is kicked off so that they can define the specifications they would need in terms of delivering the project to avoid scenarios where what would be delivered would be short of the standard that is needed to make the best out of the facility.

The funding architecture of the construction of the Enyimba Convention Centre should follow international best practices in terms of transparency. We are excited for this project as it is a welcome one. The buck stops on the table of the executive governor to deliver the project timely and help do everything that would be needed to get such a facility operational in the shortest possible time.

Everything must be done to make sure that Enyimba Convention Centre is fully explored and offer a form of value that has never been anticipated before to ndi Abia. Remember that when President Paul Kagame was initiating the construction of the Kigali Convention Centre, naysayers never gave him a chance, but he was never deterred, nonetheless.

Today, Kigali is a global destination because of the quality the town offers in terms of infrastructure, and this must be one of the biggest encouragements we must look up to. All hands must be on deck to make the most out of this facility on behalf of the state. Remember that the word impossibility exists only in the world of those who believe in it and the time to start dreaming big for the Southeast region is now!

Conclusion

While look forward to the groundbreaking of this project, the state governor and his team must look around to understudy why other conventions centers in the region have not worked excellently, look at the ones that have worked and put in all that would ever be needed to get the most out of this project. The proposed Enyimba Convention Centre should comply with global best practices in terms of transparency of the processes. It would only take Africans to develop Africa.