Ugwuanyi & LGA: On the Verge of Legacy By Obori Adaka
It was Idowu Koyenikan author of Wealth for all, who rightly said that even though your time on the job is temporary, if you do a good enough job, your work there will last forever. In the same vain, one of the famous founding fathers of America, Benjamin Franklin added that if you don’t want to be forgotten as soon as you are dead, either write something worth reading or do something worth writing about. President Obama in his book, The Audacity of Hope added that every man is trying to live up to his father’s expectations or make up for his father’s mistakes.
Perhaps, the inspirational author, Shannon L. Alder put it more succintingly when she stated that she did not really care if people forgets her. Her legacy wasn’t about her rather it was about everything she could do for another. She admonished for you to carve your name on the hearts, not tombstones for legacy is etched into the minds of others and the stories they share about you.
Not unmindful of the above, His Excellency Rt. Hon. Ifeanyichukwu Lawrence Ugwuanyi the Executive Governor of Enugu State since 2015, who has crossed the rubicon of reelection with razor-sharp focus on his legacy, has not wavered to get it right. His phenomenal leadership style, his uncanny ability to bring varying factions and different groups together, his innovative approach to crime and security have combined to create rather a peace-saturated atmosphere in Enugu State. There is peace and there is security in Enugu State.
Ugwuanyi has lived up to his name GburuGburu by appointing both political friends and foes in various capacities in the Enugu State government. He did not abandon members of the opposition parties. He remembered and rewarded the old Igbo politicians as their children are prominent in his administration. He brought back political heavyweights who had left and united them under stronger PDP umbrella as he maintained unflinching loyalty to party leaders.
His Excellency retained the Office of Diaspora under a Special Adviser as promised and has extended appointments to members of the Diaspora community. The government of Enugu state is balanced with no semblance of zoning.
To cap it all and veering into uncharted territory in governance, he outsourced the appointment of his cabinet to the stakeholders of the local governments. This in effect is transfering the constitutionally granted executive power to form his cabinet to others in the quest to accommodate party leaders and stakeholders. His Excellency has done well and we urge him to do more, and to boldly and courageously do more, in the local government administration for the teaming poor in the rural Enugu State.
For a Governor who has bent over backward to carry everybody along for the past five years, perhaps, it is time and it is right for party leadership and membership to start paying back and returning favors as he sets to stamp his legacy in the local government administration of the state.
We cannot overemphasize the importance of effective local government administration to the economic development of the rural communities. However the successive leadership at the local level has not lived up to expectations. The failure in local government administration, made worse by corruption and extreme poverty calls for a change of direction in who we nominate and how we nominate the potential leaders.
There is no point rehashing to anybody the reasons for the failure in the local government administration since 1999. The facts are known but the good news is that the sanitization of local government from the federal to state can only be beneficial if you alter and change the influence of cabal in the nomination of the chairmanship candidates.
On this note, we propose to His Excellency Gov. Ugwuanyi, who is also the leader of the party PDP, the only viable party in Enugu State to nudge the party towards nominating credible candidates to take the mantle of leadership of the 17 local government areas in Enugu State. These nominees should be unencumbered and untied the aprons of cliques and cabals within the local government who drive successive chairmen into failure.
In addition such nominees should possess the ability to be creative and think outside the box. We need leaders who can plan, set goals and devise strategies to achieve the goals. We need leaders who can keep scorecard of achievement and bring real development to the rural communities not just around the local government headquarters.
Furthermore, the nominees we hope to turn things positive in the local government areas can only succeed if there is a template, sort of a broad guide. In a keynote address presented by Dr. Udeh at the Egede Economic Summit he mentioned a proposal about Town Government which has been presented to every Enugu State Governor since 1999.
The "Town Government" authored and proposed by Dr. M. O. Ene, is not new to Igbo communities . It is an independent geopolitical and socio-economic entity on democratic doctrine that is in alignment with the tested principle of Igbo republicanism. The essence is to deliver a wide range of services to all residents and to meet the challenges of modern living as they evolve and manifest.
Town Government requires no constitutional amendment rather it is guide to devolve power and send allocation to every community or town. If the Town Government is properly or even partially implemented, we will have effectively solved the problem of failed government, corruption, and extreme poverty as communities will be capable to provide social and welfare services to their own people, and at the same time, engage in infrastructural development within their domain.
In conclusion, legacy is said to be important in leadership and it is akin to leaving foot-marks on the sands of history. His Excellency is standing strong on the verge of extending his legacy in the realm of our local economy. We ask him to be bold and courageous with the unflinching support of the party. Change does not come easy but it’s worth the battle because legacy is very important. Despite Ugwuanyi’s 8 year term in office we want his work to last forever. We want Ugwuanyi to write a book and for books to be written about his legacy. We want Ugwuanyi to meet up the expectations of his father. And above all we want Ugwuanyi’s legacy to be about everything he could do for others and his name Ugwuanyi to be carved on the hearts of millions of rural poor who will benefit from the enthronement of quality leadership at local governments.
Dr. Obori Adaka of Obori Adaka Caucus, political and social commentator, writes from Enugu
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