By Mark Mbam Jnr.
The Holy Bible, in 1 Samuel chapter 17, from verse 1, recorded the battle between the Philistines and the Israelites. For the people of Israel, there was no hope of surviving the war as no one could confront the Philistine giant, Goliath. To them, it was a dreaded hill that King Saul feared greatly. He lamented and made huge promises to anyone who would fight the war. But in a dramatic appearance, a young shepherd, David, came and delivered the Israelites, defeated Goliath with just a sling. What a happy day!
Enugu State is not far from the symbolic war between the Israelites and the Philistines. The hills facing Enugu State are scattered all over the rural areas, the capital city and sub-towns within the state. The hills have for so many years posed threats to the welfare of the people of the state. These are in forms of infrastructural decay, lack of quality facilities in the schools and general economic degradation.
But on his arrival in May 2015 to answer the clarion call of the people of Enugu State, Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi was angered by the boast and threat of the infrastructural decay. Like Goliath, the symbolic hills might have said to Ugwuanyi: “Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not the poor road network, which has defied all efforts of the past administrations in this state? Am I not the Inyaba Bridge which has deprived the people of Amagunze the opportunity of crossing over to their neighbours for many years? I am the hill and whoever tries to climb me will not succeed.”
In answering this clarion call, Ugwuanyi said to the people of Enugu State “Let no one lose hope on account of all these hills (infrastructural challenges). Your servant will go and fight them.” The people believed him and no wonder they turned out en masse to vote for him in the 2015 Governorship election and today he is successfully climbing the hill.
Many have been asking the question, what is the secret to these tremendous achievements? The answer may not be far-fetched. Here is the man.
His first name is Ifeanyichukwu meaning – Nothing is above God. He is the son of Ugwuanyi meaning – One who cannot be threatened by any hill. His friends and associates nicknamed him “Gburugburu” – meaning, being everywhere. And when he came, as the governor of Enugu State, he relied on the words of David in 1st Samuel verse 17 when he was confronting Goliath. Thus David said, “You come against me with sword, spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the Armies of Israel whom you have defied”. In actualizing this, Ugwuanyi simply dedicated Enugu State to the hands of God. Hence, the popular slogan in Enugu, “Enugu State is in the hands of God”. This particular slogan is celebrated in every nook and cranny of Enugu State such that in all axis into the Enugu State capital, one would see a visible billboard bearing the aforesaid slogan.
Today, the hills of infrastructural decay can no longer boast before the governor, a man whose name is symbolic of the power of God (Ifeanyichukwu) and whose surname terrifies every hill.
Unless you are not from Nkanu East Local Government Area of Enugu State, you will not know that until the recent past, residents of over ten adjourning communities in that local government must travel through four local government areas before getting to their council headquarters at Amagunze. This was because there was another dangerous hill, the Inyiaba Bridge, which had posed a huge threat to the people of that area for several years.
The people of that area had lived in abject poverty and squalor because of lack of access road and the barrier created by the Inyiaba River. This became a nightmare to the people of that area.
Today, the people of that area are full of joy and their joy knows no bounds. This is because the said Inyiaba Bridge has been constructed by the Ugwuanyi administration.
Apart from this, the governor has embarked on the construction of rural roads across the 17 local government areas of the state. This does not include his recent donation of ICT equipment to all state schools in Enugu as well as regular and prompt payment of workers’ salary to ensure productivity in the state civil service.
The magnitude of his achievement is high but that is not the news. The news is his ability, in spite of the prevailing economic downturn ravaging the Nigerian nation, to achieve these in less than 800 days after the inauguration of his administration. That is simply magical!
Who will be wrong to say that Ugwuanyi is a man of destiny? His name is symbolic with the capital of the state, Enugu. Historically, the name of the state derives its capital city from Enu-ugwu, which means “the top of the hill or hilltop.”
Then it means that Ugwuanyi- (tireless hill climber) resides on Enu-ugwu (top of the hill). He sees everywhere. Perhaps that was why he was able to see the travails of those communities divided by Inyiaba Bridge in Nkanu East Local Government Area. No wonder that was how he stayed on top of the hill and he could see the need to develop more towns to decongest Enugu, the State capital. And he is not resting on his oars to achieve this.
Gburugburu, being everywhere, is touching all the sectors of the state. Some people believe that Ugwuanyi is the quiet type whose physical and mental disposition would have made him a better priest than a politician. But the governor is not just a politician; he’s also a servant of his people that has, within a short time, brought good governance to Enugu State.
Mbam, a journalist and public affairs analyst, writes from Enugu.