Governor Mbah of Enugu State Wholy Driven by Transcendental Values

By Reuben Onyishi 

(Ugoachataberu )

"Newton's third law of motion states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. The "action" and "reaction" refer to forces; if Object A exerts a force on Object B, then Object B exerts an equal amount of force on Object A in the opposite direction." This is a confirmation that for every action, there is a driving force. This is in the physical realm. There is yet the driving force unseen. It could be in the form of a spirit nonavailable to the optical vision or ideals that drive those committed to them.

When this natural law is kept in view of the actions of Governor Peter Ndubuisi Mbah of Enugu State within one and a half years, one would want to know what force propels Mbah to unleash unheard-of developmental projects in all nooks and crannies of Enugu State. What exactly is his motivation? What does Mbah want to achieve? Is it personally benefiting or altruistic?

 Mbah did not mince words about what he wanted to achieve. He had revealed it to the people of Enugu State when, in October 2022, he unveiled his manifesto before the people of Enugu State at the Peter Mbah Auditorium of the Law Faculty of Godfery Okoye University, Enugu. For two hours, Mbah spoke extempore while dissecting the Enugu economy, the challenges thereof, profiling the solution to reduce poverty headcount index of the state to zero per cent. Mbah held the audience spellbound with his inspiring speech, which evidently pointed to his clear knowledge of the whys and wherefors of the Enugu economy and issues governance.

Besides the dramatic theatrics and oratorical rhetorics with which he delivered his message to the people, Mbah sounded firm and convincing as he spoke the core language of economic development and true governance, providing pragmatic solutions to identified challenges.  By the time he was through, the crowd that filled the auditorium to the brim, spilling to overflow, erupted in paroxysmal applause, ululations, and shouts of joy and praises. Amid the shouts and ululations, someone sitting close to me quiped in my hearing that if Mbah could do one-third of what he had promised that Enugu would actually rank one of the best states in Nigeria.

I sensed a note of trust deficit in his tone. Perhaps, he justifiably spoke the mind of the ululating audience. It is conventional in Nigeria for the audience to hail political speeches and the candidate involved, yet utterly disbelieve him. They would shout 'ijebego', and sing, "we shall follow you wherever you go," "on your mandate we stand," then eat, drink, dance and share the political money; smack their buttocks and go away. Nobody calls to question the fulfilment of the promises made because they knew abintio it was all empty. At least, they had cut their own share of the cake, if you like, upfront, and would wait for another season of campaigns to have another faint taste of the flagon. 

But there was something different about Mbah's, which was actually captured in the statement of the man seated close to me. He actually meant that Mbah had said more than enough to be believed and trusted. He captured the compelling conviction in Mbah's speech, and then came to the understanding that should he do even the minutest part of the promise, Enugu would have been shot to limelight as one of the top subnational economies in Nigeria.

In less than two years Mbah ascended the throne, the man who sat beside me at the Peter Mbah Law Faculty Auditorium of Godfrey Okoye University, if we were to gather again at the auditorium to assess  Mbah's performance in line with his manifesto, would himself shout, caper and dance in celebration of promise made, promise fulfilled 100 per cent. Enugu has seen more than enough multisectoral disruptive innovations and remarkable development plans unleashed.

Within this short while, Mbah has over 1000 projects being executed in the state, some of which are already completed. The upstream level of Enugu water management sector was first to receive Mbah's Midas touch, revving daily water production up to 120 million litres, 50 million litres above the 70 million litres water need of Enugu metropolis which had suffer agelong water scarcity as 2 to 3 million litres were oscillatinly generated before the advent of the Mbah Administration. To deal with the downstream level, Mbah attracted &100 million  foreign direct investment to the downstream water management system from WANDE Nexus of Austria billed to take water to the last mile in Enugu. That was in December 2024, and work has already begun in that direction.

The social services sector of the Enugu economy received the highest boost of its life when Mbah in the 2024 budget of N521.5 billion slated 33 per cent to education alone. That budget did 100 per cent in performance, and education and health fared better for it as 260 smart schools and 260 type 2 hospitals were awarded for construction. President Tinubu, in January 2025, commissioned a good chunk of the smart schools and type 2 hospitals. All the type 2 hospitals in the 260 wards are to be completed by the end of April 2025, while the 260 smart schools shall be ready for students in September 2025. It takes over N1.2 billion to get each of the smart schools completed and equipped, meaning that over N300 billion is being spent on the smart schools a model that catches the Enugu child young at the age of three(feom cretch to JS3), imbue them with free world-class experiential learning, cutting across Artificial Intelligence, mechatronics, virtual reality, augmented reality ICT skills and all known main currents in the 21st Century education.

Mbah also demonstrated his compassionate disposition to the lives and property of the Enugu citizenry. As a matter of fact, security is Mbah's special forte as it goes to the heart of his governance objective of revving up the GDP of the state to &30 billion through a private-sector-driven economy. The idea is to make Enugu the first choice of investment destination by enhanced ease of doing business, part of which is enhanced security architecture that would assure investors. Investors do not take security risks, as they may take commercial, financial and other risks. Mbah, therefore, set up the Distress Respond Squad, built Command and Control Centre from where the entire Enugu State is monitored realtme with analytic AI-embedded cameras installed in strategic nooks and crannies of the state to aid surveillance, speedy communication and effective policing. The DRS, operating with over 200 vehicles installed with the some some AI-embedded cameras with facial and plate number recognition, patrols the length and breadth of the state, combating crimes. 

Mbah had in the first week of his inauguration ended the Monday sit-at-home declared by nonstate actors, something that was observed in the entire Southeast, following the fear and killings that resulted from noncompliance. The said sit-at-home had rendered the economy of Enugu parlous, and for a government whose policy thrust anchors on economic development, sit-at-home was the big elephant in the room that needed to be escorted out. It would take courage to defy the deadly perpetrators of the heinous declaration. But Mbah did and contained the raging beast with ease, something that rubbed off on the other Southeast states. For this, Mbah won the New Telegraph Newspaper's Governor of the Year Award for what the paper called his courage in leadership. Mbah has effectively combated crime in the state, leveraging huge investment in security technology. Little wonder Enugu arguably is today the most peaceful and secure state in Nigeria.

As clearly stated in his manifesto, Mbah promised to construct 10,000 kilometres of roads in four to eight years of his administration. The plan is to construct 1,250 kilometres of roads every year. The governor also said there would be no mud road in Enugu State in eight years of his administration. This is quite ambitious, ans to some, it is not possible. Some even claimed that the entire Enugu State was not up to 10,000 kilometres innpanoramic view without consideration to individual stretches within the circumference. Today, in less than two years Mbah has flagged off the paving of over 300 roads in Enugu State. On January 4 2025 President Tinubu commissioned 90 of the paved roads. Sometime last year Mbah flagged off 161 roads in the state, 20 of which were in rural areas covering the three senatorial zones in the state. The governor is connecting the senatorial zones and that is why he flagged off the construction of Amechi Idodo-Owo-Amankanu-Ubahu-Isi-Uzo-Obollo-Afor dual-carriage way, another economic gateway to the north which also connects Enugu East to Enugu North; Ama-Olo-Ezeagu-Umulokpa Road, connecting Enugu West to Enugu North. Last month, Mbah flagged off the paving141 roads in Enugu metropolis, compassionately reaching out to some places that had yet to experience government presence since man was put on earth, as can be seen at Emene, Abakpa, Ugwuaji Ologo and so on, bring succour and freshness to the inhabitants.

Driven by the same transcendental values, Mbah has revamped all the moribund assets of the state, ranging from the United Palm Products Limited(UPPL) into which he attracted an investment of N100 billion; Nigeria Gas, Sunrise Flour Mills; Hotel Presidential; International Conference Centre; Enugu International Hospital; to mention no more.

To free the state from congestion, Mbah is building the world-class New Enugu Smart City that compares to any known city in all the world. This would boost tourism and enhance the living standard of the people as well as attract both local and foreign investors.

This piece is not a compendium of the over 1000 projects the Mbah Administration embarked on since its inauguration in less than two years. It is rather an escort into the compassionate driven administration of Governor Mbah. What Mbah has done in less than two years, without exaggeration, is far more than what any other governor in Nigeria, past and present, could have done in eight years. Governor Mbah came to succour the people; give them beauty for ashes and the oil of gladness for their mourning; to lift from the deogeon of poverty a people so impoverished in the midst of plenty. Nigeria is such a place where people live in the ocean of wealth and yet wash their hands with saliva of poverty. Mbah, impatient with this ugly situation, iched for governance that he might right the wrong. This is exactly what he is doing in Enugu State.

Looking at the two budgets of the Mbah administration, recurrent expenditure got paltry 21 per cent and 14 per cent respectively. For a big ticket budget of N971.8 billion of the 2025 budget of Enugu State, the allocation of 14 per cent to recurrent expenditure and 86 per cent to capital expenditure points to the direction of governance for which the administration is headed.  Mbah said it: that it would be business unusual; no more sharing of money; that a situation where government officials luxuriate in balmy riches at the expense of the people shall no more be tolerated. Today, development is all the rage.It is for the people. Mbah has, by the development trajectories unleashed, returned power to the people of Enugu State to whom power rightly belongs in a democracy. No government does that whose motivation is not altruistic. Indeed, Governor Peter Ndubuisi Mbah of Enugu State is utterly driven by transcendental values.