BEFORE PETER MBA’S TENURE PETERS OUT
That Barr. Peter Ndubuisi Mba, the Executive Governor of Enugu State is an indescribable, indiscernible, and inscrutable politician is clear even to political pundits. A man who, like his deputy , could easily be lost in a crowd, Mba is everything his predecessor is not. Unlike his predecessor, who is easily moved to tears, Mba betrays no emotion. In size, character and mien, Mba differs from his predecessor as water from fire While the former panders to the rave of the moment and is given to playing politics to pacify, the latter is firm, stoic stone-hearted and has zero tolerance for distractions. Mba demonstrated this immediately he came to office by shutting the door of his huge office against hangers-on and politicians who thronge government houses for luncheon or _nrashi_ , as his predecessor would say, preferring official communication to him through Zoom platform, an action that has not gone down well with sycophantic, professional and parasitic politicians who feed fat from government largesse while singing praises that don’t come from their hearts.
Mba, who escaped taciturnity by a whisker, also says what he means, means what he says and goes ahead to make good his speech, irrespective of whose ox is gored . On coming to Office, Mba also demonstrated this by not only drawing line along her boundaries and declaring Enugu State a no-go area for unknown gunmen, he went ahead to put a stop to the idiotic sit at home observed in the East more out of fear of dear life than volition.
Mba stands out, like a star among the galaxy as the hungriesst, among his predecessors for the development of the state. Courtesy of Mba, there is indisputably an unprecedented infrastructural revolution going on in Enugu State. Mba has turned Enugu into a very expansive project site, with many projects springing up simultaneously or underway. The smart schools, the Presidential Hotel, the International Conference Center, the dualization of Nsukka Ugwuogo Nike road, the Enugu Air, the Enugu rail project and other numerous projects that endear him to the people are testaments that Enugu is truly working under his sterling leadership.
Pehabs what separates Mba from his predecessor most is the character of his government as it relates to the poor, the low income earners, those socially referred as the masses, the voiceless, the hewers of wood . Unlike his predecessor, who thinks humanity before governance. Mba thinks governance before humamity. In his haste to develop the State, Mba has no patience with the poor. Perhaps no other governor has stepped on their toes, inflicted untold hardships on them, deprived many not only of their means of livelihood as Mba. Many traders and owners whose shops were demolished in Old park, Abakpa and Ogige Markets just for Mba to build motor parks are either counting their losses or are in their graves. Not a few have asked, must he bring down a market just to build motor park? Why not take the park to a new area to bring development there as happened in Imo and Ebonyi States? Why did the government refuse to compensate those who lost their means of livelihood?
The poor also bear the brunt of Mba’s aggressive and unaltruistic taxation. Keke riders, barrow pushers, mini bus drivers, small scale business owners groan daily over taxation. Yet, Mba has borrowed more than any Governor in the history of the state. With external debt profile of ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY EIGHTY BILLION, FOUR HUNDRED AND TWENTY ONE MILLION, ONE HUNDRED AND SIX THOUSAND, SEVEN HUNDRED AND THIRTY ONE NAIRA, TEN KOBO ( 188,421,106,731.10) as released by Debt Management Office, Enugu State ranks the 4th most indebted state in Nigeria and this excludes internal debts. While there is nothing wrong in borrowing to fund critical infrastructure, Mba should consider the plight of poor in his taxation policies. In UK where he studied, those who live below 12,000 pounds annually (about 24 million Naira) are exempt from taxes. Government should be there to protect the poor , the vulnerable, the weak and the vulnerable
Recently, Mba also banned commercial vehicles from plying some designated areas in Enugu. This action, no matter how well intentioned will adversely affect more the commercial vehicles owners, drivers, conductors and their passengers.
Mba should therefore demonstrate altruism by rescinding that policy or else, before his tenure peters out , there will not be the poor to enjoy his infrastructural projects.
Ike Abugu writes from UK
