Can you let us know your take on a recent news report over the dispute between the Enugu State Government and Sujimoto?
Specifically, in a recent media intervention you made, you were quoted to have said, that “This should not be reduced to where a contractor comes from as some are trying to do. Enugu indigenes with credible companies, including ours, do projects in other states.
Commitment and capacity to deliver are what matters”. Can you expatiate?
What happened was that when that news of the Smart Schools Project broke and the revelation that the governor gave contract to a particular contractor who is Yoruba, some people from my state and part of the country began to complain that Enugu State Government under Governor Peter Mbah awarded 22 schools worth N11.4 billion to a non-Igbo and non-Enugu man and also paid the 50 per cent of the contract sum when we have other contractors from our place that could still have done the same jobs.
But to start with, remember that we are talking about 260 Smart Green Schools, which the administration is doing at once in all the political wards of Enugu State. At the same time, he is also doing 260 Type 2 Primary Healthcare Centres. That is a whole lot going on in a state that had never witnessed that level of development.
To start with, my company, CDV Properties and Development Limited was awarded a contract to construct 10 Smart Green Schools by the Enugu State government under Dr Mbah. I know other people from Enugu State that also got multiple or bulk sites. For instance, my brother, Ikeje Asogwa’s Intasog Limited got 12 sites. Surv. Ugo Chime’s company was awarded 10 sites and Chinedu Nwobodo’s company, Albond, got 10 sites. And they are all from Enugu. In fact, as I stated in that report, companies owned or being promoted by Enugu indigenes are handling at least 90 per cent of the Smart Green Schools projects.
Let us go back to the contract awards where it appears that Sujimoto is the only non-Igbo or non-Enugu that has benefited?
That is not true. For your information, out of the four Enugu State Transport Terminals recently commissioned by the Governor, Biodun Otunola of Planet Project built four of them – the Terminals 1 and 2 at Holy Ghost, the one at Garki, and the one at Abakpa. You do not need to go far to understand why the government chose Otunola’s company because he built terminals in Lagos. If you look at this construction and the contractor who got it properly, it will confirm what I said earlier that Governor Mbah’s major bother is how to utilise Enugu State people’s money judiciously. They go through competitive bidding and cronyism is not part of the consideration. If you show cause for the state government to award you a contract as a result of your pedigree and knowledge, regardless of where you come from, you get it.
The Enugu Command and Control Centre is a multibillion project. It is linked to ultramodern surveillance cameras across. But Governor Mbah entrusted it to a company owned by an indigene of Kano State. I think his name is Aminu, but I know that his company is Hajaraihsan. That is a multibillion naira project and you cannot fault him, because Aminu is in a world of his own in that sector. He is so good.
In fact, the software installation for the Enugu State’s over 150 Distress Response Squad, was handled by someone from Jigawa State. Again, when it was time to float an airline, that is the Enugu Air, he searched for the best in the industry to run it. Out of those that showed interest, he went for XEJET founded by Emmanuel Izah, a guru in the aviation sector, who is from Kogi State. One can go on and on. But you could see a broadminded and cosmopolitan leader, who is ensuring that every part of the country benefits so long as you have capacity and can offer value for money.
So, how does that help Enugu and the South East as you alluded earlier?
Let me tell you, Governor Mbah’s open arm approach is helping Igboland and Enugu State in particular. It is helping to change the wrong notion about our people. I am sure that you have heard other parts of the country, including their elites say that Ndigbo run a closed system; that if they are in a line of business, they do not let others in; that if you want to buy land in Igboland as a non-Igbo, they do not sell to you; and that Igbo government contracts are for Igbo people. Yet, we travel all over the country, making money from other people’s places. But in less than two and half years in office, Mbah has shattered those myths and misconceptions.
Today, no right-thinking Yoruba man or even a Fulani or Hausa man can say the same thing about Enugu State. This gives those of us in business the bragging rights as business people or citizens of Enugu State. Mbah’s inclusive and liberal approach is a game-changer and door-opener for Enugu people wherever they find themselves.
And it can only get better if he continues this way. And to be frank with you, it is only fair to position Enugu State that way.
Why do you think so?
Because other Enugu people and other Igbo people are also making money in other people’s lands, whether it is through government contracts or normal businesses. Come to think of it, did Mbah make his own money in Igbo land? He started Pinnacle Oil and Gas Limited from a small apartment in Lagos. Today, it is a multibillion-dollar business. He has the biggest products handling facility and he is a market leader. Perhaps , I should have even started from my humble self. Did I reach the heights I occupy in the real estate industry in Igboland? I do jobs in other states and for the federal government as well. In fact, how many of the Igbo billionaires made their money in Igbo land? Think about it.
Importantly, you cannot be talking about building Enugu State’s economy from N4.4 billion to $30 billion and still not open your place to people from other parts of the country and the world to participate and compete. How are you supposed to achieve a $30 billion economy without people coming from all over as investors, contractors, tourists, businessmen and women? That would be impossible.
Again, we should not forget who we really are as Ndigbo and the people of Enugu State. Enugu has always been a cosmopolitan state. Right from the time coal was discovered at Udi Ridge commercial in 1909, Enugu began to gradually draw people from all parts of the country. There are many people that were born here generations ago and the only place they can call home is Enugu State. Remember that it was in this same Enugu that Umaru Altine, an indigene of Sokoto State, won election as the first Mayor of Enugu Municipal Council in 1952 under the NCNC through Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe’s support. So, I think the governor is following in the footsteps of our legends and we cannot thank him enough. It is for our own good.
Again, the truth of the matter is that it is politicians who are politicising the good works going on in Enugu State, not that it is the ordinary Enugu man that is complaining that a contract was awarded to a Yoruba man. Our people are very hospitable and receptive of strangers and our brothers and sisters from other parts of the country. Furthermore, the ordinary Enugu man and the elites who can think out of the box know that we have a great asset in the governor. If we had allowed their attempt to politicise this Sujimoto matter to stick, our people elsewhere will lose tremendously. Our people are famous for making their wealth elsewhere and only few people stay back at home. The list is endless. In Yorubaland, Enugu people are in every nook and cranny of the region. In the north, they are everywhere making their decent and honest living from state governments and the people of the states. They collect contracts from governments there and repatriate their funds back home to build houses, help their kindred back here in Enugu State and contribute their quota to the state’s development.
So, Governor Peter Mbah is helping us to defrost all those assumptions about the Igbo man. We should thank him for this broad-mindedness because the moment other governors say their states are strictly for their own people, the greatest losers will be us, the Igbo.
Then, how come your people were complaining?
I think that they did not have enough information. And as usual, politicians wanted to politicise it. But as I stated in the report you referred to, it is not about where anyone comes from, whether he is from the South West or North East or anywhere else. It is about the capacity to deliver. One, if you have followed Governor Mbah’s leadership approach, one thing that stands out about him is his quest for and pedigree of excellence and inclusivity. To him, only the best is good enough.
Talking about inclusivity, Enugu State has 260 wards. You could see that his projects like Smart Green Schools, Farm Estates, and Type 2 Primary Healthcare Centres, are based in the 260 wards. Even though he is from Enugu East Zone, what that approach means is that Enugu North where I come from gets more of those infrastructural developmental projects because we have 102 of the 260 wards. You could also see some other major infrastructural projects like the ongoing dualization of the over 40km Enugu-Opi-Nsukka road.
Again, if you could recall, during the recently concluded Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Annual Conference in Enugu, Senator Dino Melaye praised the governor’s merit-based appointments. You have people from every part of the country and even three or four foreigners working for the Enugu State Government. And that is exactly why he is succeeding. You have people from the South West, you have someone from the North, one or two whites from the US and he equally appointed someone from Austria at some point. He just wants the best for every sector, irrespective of what part of the world or Nigeria you are from and also not minding what part of Enugu State you are from.
Before we let you go, what is your general assessment of the Governor Peter Mbah administration?
The facts speak for themselves. Mbah has surpassed expectations. The good thing is that he is touching every sector of the state at the same time. He is a machine. We are proud to say we are people of Enugu State.
