“The South East, and by extension the politically hyped Development Commissions do not need those unnecessary conferences, summits, and committees by either Ohaneze Ndigbo or some socio-politically influenced groups to come up with development strategies to transform the region, it only needs to look back and think how did Abia appears to be on the right track”
The soul of the Late Dr. Michael Iheonukara Okpara (M.I Power), South East iconic political figure resurrects and looms large, over what have been widely accepted and described as the New Abia under the leadership of the governor Alex Otti of the Labour Party. A technocrat in politics at quite a young age but with foresight and capacity to rise above the common primitive pursuit of vanities and ego trip prevalent among African politician of his time.
I have been around for over a time and remembered the time of M.I. Okpara as a kid in the defunct Imo State that comprises of the three states of the South East named Ebonyi, Abia and Imo, under three separate governors today.
One man held sway in the height of a political system that defines political power as ‘absolute.’
In the Yoruba folklore, the man who holds the sole ‘absolute’ authority under heaven is highly revered as ‘ igba keji Orisa’ – his powers second only to the Chukwu Okike, the Supreme God. And this is where the trouble and all the problem begins with the state and the man elected or appointed to make our environment a home for family, industry and commerce and build economic prosperity for all concerned.
He can chose to make it a heaven on earth governed by discipline and order or he can chose to make it a hell on earth as it appears in Nigeria today where the average citizen is on the run to escape a man made hell of the place we call home.
Across the South East states, only in Abia I found a full statue of ‘M.I Power’ standing tall across the entrance to his homeland Umuahia, where the imposing effigy continue to loom large over the old Abia of decay, filth and total abandon of the great legacies the man left in the care of every leader from the region either elected or appointed until the emergence of the Governor Alex Otti led Labour Party government.
Otti literally cleaned up and revisited the memory of Late Dr. Michael Okpara of blessed memory, he paid homage by reconstructing the road leading to the Michael Okpara Square in Umuahia, that has been abandoned for decades while the effigy gathers dirt, He redecorated the square with a functional fountain, neatly paved the roads welcoming every visitor to the remodeled Umuahia and most importantly, Otti revisited the working document of the model politician and technocrat who laid the foundation of a once functional and economically viable South Eastern States, famed for its Administrative discipline, Industry and regional infrastructural development
.These are the cardinal points of the template of that once famed functional and economically viable South Eastern state under ‘M.I. Power’, it was a template characterized by Discipline, Merit and inclusiveness and regional infrastructure development whose idea was carved from the book ‘Renascent Africa’ by the Late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, a documented account that prioritized the Eastern Development agenda based on these classic principles.
In Abia State, we have seen government come and go, active in first tenure or in the early days of its first administration then inactive or completely comatose as the days unfold. The result is not farfetched, they do not or never bothered to produce a working document of reference that is sustaining. This is what the Otti’s led administration did differently, a replicate of the working principles of ‘Renascent Africa.’
The book ‘Renascent Africa’ gave birth to what is referred to as ‘Okparanomics.’ In that era, the Late Dr. Michael Okpara has taken over from the Late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe as Premier of the South Eastern region and he went to work by carefully implementing the demands of those cardinal points found in ‘Renascent Africa.’
it is over 50 years and counting, and we have waited endlessly in fruitless search for that sane politician of the South East Stock that will call to mind these great ideas and revive the collapsing engine house of Nigeria’s economy and for the past two decades of our journey into this political experiment of accidental leadership, it never happened until the emergence of Governor Alex Otti of the Labour Party in Abia State in 2023.
The Otti’s led Labour party government may not have achieved ultimate delivery of the demands of the ‘Okparanomics’ template but it did reinvented it, perhaps 85% of a developmental model abandoned by various political leaders of South East Stock. It is evident in his published template distributed during our campaign rallies and published online too.
During the first tenure of previous administration before Otti, I had visited what the former governor had put together as its ‘Economic Team’ in the course of our meeting, I asked for a template or a working document that should guide the anticipated investment model and developmental progression, the leader of the team, a little set aback, asked; “Do the government of Abia has any template as requested and one of them responded, the only template in the archive was the one done in 1978 by the late Dr. Sam Mbakwe, they all laughed heartily at such deliberate act of negligence, widening a loophole for an endless retrogression cycle and administrative confusion. I wasn’t impressed at all and I made offer for what we call ‘ remapping of an entire region for specific and an all round development, However, the meeting never repeated for reasons best known to that government and I never visited again until the exit of that infamous government”.
Now when you follow up what Gov Otti has done in its first tenure in office, beginning from its early days, you will see a clear reflection of the four cardinal points of ‘Okparanomics’ beginning from the set up of the Transition Council that submitted a guide book that will see to the implementation of the resurrected ‘Okparanomics.’
Unlike the somersaulting policies of the previous administrations, Otti had his job cut out by the thought process of the members of the Transitional Council.
Matter of fact; The South East, and by extension the politically hyped Development Commissions do not need those unnecessary conferences, summits, and committees by either Ohaneze Ndigbo or some socio-politically influenced groups to come up with development strategies to transform the region.
Taking a cue from Otti’s approach; there was only one named ‘Transitional Council led by seasoned technocrats who has sat on the board of internationally acclaimed corporate organizations where the systems are programmed to function and achieve measurable quality results, WTO DG, Dr. Okonjo Iweala was among the top 100 including Mrs Arunma Otteh, the former DG of Nigeria Securities and Exchange Commission and many other global leaders. This is not the job of politicians from Abuja but the sheer responsibilities of men and women genuinely committed to the discipline of development irrespective of political nor socio-cultural affiliation
The second council in like manner was the Abia State Global Economic Advisory Council led by the Emir of Kano and former Governor of Central bank, Emir Muhammadu Sanusi II. At the end of the gathering of these world best brains, put together to guide the implementation of the template of the Otti’s led government, a regional functional government modeled in line with the teachings of the ‘Okparanomics’ has been rebirth.
Abia was remapped into regional development models giving rise to the establishment of the three regional development agencies of Umuahia Capital Development Authority, (UCDA), Greater Aba Development Authority (GADA) and Greater Ohafia Development Authority (GODA) and the reconstruction of about 200 Primary Healthcare Centers across the 17 LGA’s, the reconstruction of regional road connecting to the cities and improving road construction to upgrade the environmental features of Aba, the commercial center, the recruitment of over 4,000 teachers to boost the education of the coming generation, the training of over 3000 young people on technology skills through the Otti’s ‘Techrise Programme’ the acquisition and revival of many of the moribund industries initially built by the ‘Okparanomics economic model but deliberately neglected and abandoned to rot by previous administrations including the Star Paper Mill, Aba, Afro Beverages, Enyimba and Abia Hotels and many more that were allegedly neglected or deliberately liquidated by previous agents of government in their bloated greed and ignorance.
With the opening up of the New Abia, visitors from across the world and Businesses began to give Abia a special consideration for relocation and repatriation of businesses
Put politics aside, the Otti’s model of mapping out regional structures to grow the regional economy, no doubt may pose a political challenge namely the suspension of career politicians for technocrats and individuals committed to what is referred to as pragmatic socialism, this is what marked out the Transition Council that developed the guidebook of the implementation of the Otti’s template, however, politics and the participation of career politicians cannot be overruled. In as much as the governing template requires skilled people genuinely committed to the rebuilding of South East center of commerce, the politicians are needed to provide political platforms that are not only people oriented but holds the doctrine of social democratic principles in high esteem and that is where Labour Party stands out.
Njoku Jerry Ajike is the Acting State Publicity Secretary of Labour Party, Abia
