Re: HAS GOV. IKPEAZU PERFORMED ?
Posted by Factnews | 7 years ago | 4,938 times
The problem of our reading elites appear to be comprehension and right sourcing of information.
Nnenna Agbai (or whoever chose that name) premised her article on one paragraph I will quote and then explain that she actually owes the governor an apology for arriving at a wrong conclusion based on wrong sourcing of information and her inability to comprehend what was written or said.
"In case you feel the government is being unjustly criticised, kindly give answers to these few worrying questions. What has happened to Aba River (Water side), Enyimba Hotel, and Enyimba International Stadium? What is the present condition of the roads commissioned by Governor Ikpeazu? How far about the over 100 roads, flagged off and under construction in Abia State? What about the Ifeobara basin project? What is holding our almighty Osisioma flyover? Where are the foreign investors? What happened to the school feeding programme, and the 1013 cooks employed? What prevented clearing of salaries by July 2017? Please, before you use litigation or Court cases as an excuse, kindly tell us the reason(s) for his Court cases."-Nnenna Agbai (?)
Obviously that paragraph summarized the basis of her conclusions and hence I will focus on that instead of reviewing the other wrong assertions she made as a result of the answers she gave to her own questions in that paragraph.
At no time did the Governor of Abia State or Abia State government claim that they were dredging waterside with a view to joining it to another river.
Only Nnenna know which beer parlor she got that information from. And that is the number one problem; many source information from social media fake news sources and then internalize them as something true or from Government. From that premise they go ahead to (mis)analyze issues until they begin to believe their own lies.
For the avoidance of doubt, what happened at waterside in 2015 was that it was partially dredged and cleaned up to enable it flow freely and consequently receive more storm water from the drainage pipes at Aba.
If the author had lived at Aba he-she would have known that around waterside bridge area the water was no longer flowing freely for many reasons including the activities of butchers. Meanwhile Governor Ikpeazu was desilting gutters and major drainage ways at Aba. Storm water from those newly desilted drainage ways will naturally flow to waterside and if waterside is not flowing freely the consequence will be flooding of our streets.
Governor Ikpeazu partially dredged waterside to ensure that the water flows freely and hence able to receive more storm water from the streets of Aba.
If that work was not done in 2015 Aba would have suffered greatly from the record rainfall of 2016. To that extent the knowledge and action of Governor Ikpeazu saved Aba and also preserved the newly reconstructed roads.
Of course when waterside floods the streets with water one of the effects is that the water destroys newly re-asphalted or reconstructed roads. Water is not only a Universal solvent that dissolves everything on its path, it also moves with destructive force as recently witnessed in Texas and Benue.
On Enyimba Hotel, the project belongs to Aba Chamber of
commerce that bought the hotel from Orji Uzor Kalu. Apparently, when the members of the chamber got wind of the fact that Governor Ikpeazu was preparing to revoke the sale of the hotel to them as a result of non performance on the agreed terms, they quickly rushed to the Governor and presented a Swiss Hotel group they claimed as their foreign partners that are ready to commence redevelopment of the hotel. They presented their 3D designs for the new hotel and invited the Governor to flag off the reconstruction.
Graciously, the Governor accepted and attended the event. At all times the program was advertised as an event by Aba Chambers of Commerce. It was not Governor Ikpeazu or ABSG that is responsible for the emergence of reconstructed Enyimba hotel. It was Aba Chamber of Commerce and folks should direct questions and enquiries to them.
Folks can also demand that their government take over Enyimba hotel and reconstruct it if they feel Aba Chamber of Commerce has failed in her promise to reconstruct the hotel with their Swiss investors.
Call out Aba Chamber of Commerce and ask them if they deceived Abians and the govt of Abia state. Demand that they hand over the hotel back to govt, if you are convinced, as against playing opposition politics.
With regards to Enyimba Stadium, I invite Nnenna Agbai (?) to visit the stadium complex today and report what is going on inside the field.
Work was delayed till now because our Governor likes doing a great job of every work he handles. He decided to import Astro-turf, similar to what you see at Chelsea and other stadia in Europe, for Enyimba stadium. Unfortunately the initial plan got caught up in the forex madness of late 2015 and 2016 and adjustments had to be made in project delivery timing.
All the imported materials are now at the stadium and actively being deployed. Let Nnenna go and see. Journalists should also go and see.
Even the car park area of the stadium and other structures will ultimately be modified to deliver a befitting stadium to the most successful Club in Nigeria, Enyimba FC of Aba. But the playing pitch is the priority now and it should be ready latest December 2017 for the use of our beloved team.
Nnenna asked about roads Commissioned by the Governor. The answer is that our people are using the Commissioned roads. Go to Ehere, Umuola, Kamalu, Echefu, Ibadan/Emejiaka, Tonimas etc and use the roads. Over 26 of them have been commissioned for use and are currently in use by our people.
Work is almost completed at Ifeobara basin as planned. May be Nnenna does not know that the Ifeobara work is tied to the Ariaria-Faulks road project that she side stepped.
Nnenna, go and visit and report back to the people what Faulks road now looks like. The work is not even completed yet but please go and take pictures and videos then run them alongside the old videos and pictures in your archives. I will offer you only one shot to show you Faulks road (Ariaria) road and then inform you that Setraco has laid pipes from Ifeobara to waterside.
The planned work at Ifeobara is 80% completed and continuing even today.
The implication is that the water that used to flood Faulks (Ariaria) road will now travel straight to waterside Aba, as storm water, using the newly laid pipes from Ifeobara to waterside through brass street.
As a smart person, who can write good grammar, I expect you to now see why it was necessary to partially dredge waterside to enable it take more storm water and flow freely. Waterside is receiving more storm water that previously would have accumulated on our streets and destroy our roads quickly.
Have you seen that Governor Ikpeazu thinks his projects through and every action he takes is linked to greater good of Abians?
There is no past Governor of Abia State that didn't do roads at Aba. The problem was that those roads failed quickly because water was not channeled properly.
Governor Ikpeazu is not just channeling water well, he is also introducing Rigid Pavement (cement) Technology to fix some roads at Aba, to ensure longevity. Some new roads done by the Governor are expected to last a minimum of 30 years.
For the roads Governor Ikpeazu flagged off for reconstruction, work is ongoing at all the sites. What you may have been worrying about is the slower pace as a result of the very heavy rains we are experiencing .
Nnenna, good managers learn from experience.
Last 2 years (2015) the Governor worked on roads during the rains, because of the cries of our people, and that actually presented issues of contract cost variations as a result of rains washing off laid asphalts and destroying gutter-works and even flooding excavated roads.
Governor Ikpeazu learned from that experience and hence decided that during the rains the level of construction work should be reduced to only drainage construction and desilting works as the rains will help in marking out the water ways.
Nnenna Agbai, all the contractors will be fully active on site as the rains abate. For now they are doing those things that will not be affected by heavy rains. Prepare for massive caterpillar attack during the dry season and please don't join those will wail that too much construction work is affecting movement.
Meanwhile your mentioning Osisioma Flyover confirms that you actually haven't visited Aba recently but sourcing information from social media beer parlors.
My dear sister Nnenna, Osisioma Flyover is actually moving ahead of schedule. At the current rate and tempo, by second quarter of 2018 you will drive through the first ever interchange (Flyover) in Abia State, to the glory of God and courtesy of the hard work of Governor Okezie Ikpeazu.
Your question on foreign investors betrayed the ignorant narratives of ill informed political opposition in Abia state.
I don't know what you do for a living or your life experience but feel free to ask others how long a typical foreign direct investment (FDI) will take to materialize. To get an idea, approach our own Uche Ogah and ask him how long it has taken him to get to the point where he is with his Uturu factory. To the best of my knowledge he started that project sometime in 2012 and today he is yet to complete the project. Note that he is not a foreigner but rather a local who enjoyed enormous government and communal patronage and yet it has taken 5 years and counting for him to fully realize the project.
Now tell me how long you think
It will take a foreigner from China or
Turkey to realize a shoe factory at Aba that is more than 10 times what our brother Uche is commendably trying to set up at Uturu.
Nnenna, the foreign investors are coming. They are being processed and relevant initial work are being done. In due course you will see them.
The school feeding program is still ongoing. May be you didn't know that schools are currently on vacation in Abia. Please where are you writing from? Nigeria or abroad?
Anyway, schools will reopen next week and the free school feeding program continues. Abia is one of only 9 odd states where even the federal govt acknowledged that the program is working well. You should be proud of your state and even send a thank you note to the wife of Governor Ikpeazu who is working very hard to keep the program running.
Are you aware that Mrs Nkechi Ikpeazu got private folks to collaborate with her and deliver more than 3000 pairs of made in Aba shoes to our school children? That is in addition to the school feeding program.
The cooks employed for the feeding program are even undergoing additional training as I type this response to you. Are you aware of that?
On salaries, the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor of our state, Mr Enyinnaya Appolos, explained clearly where we are on salaries and the challenges.
Did you read his article? Was it too long for you to read and digest? Sadly he might not be able to explain in 14 words, as with twitter and Facebook beer parlor rooms, but those wishing to criticize and write long articles should learn to read detailed articles from those they wish to attack in future.
The summary of what he wrote was that MDAs that make up more than 70% of our civil service have received 100% of their salaries including July salaries, as at the time he wrote in August, but due to cash flow challenges there are still about 30% of Abia state workers that are owed between 2 and 4 months salaries. He also stated that while revenue yielding parastatals like ABSU are up to date in salaries and not owing, others like
Abia state polytechnic are still owing up to 6 months even with the revenue they made from students as school Fees and subventions received from government.
On the whole, Nnenna Agbai, things are not as bad as painted by social media beer parlors, with regards to salaries. Your state, unlike some neighboring states, did not sack any worker or reduce salaries to wade through the national economic challenges of the past 2 years. Whereas others are paying 50-70% salaries and yet owing months of outstanding your state has continued to pay 100% to workers and only 30% have 2-6 months outstanding. Another state that produces oil is owing teachers 15 Months and workers 9 months. Quietly check the salary situation in most states and it will dawn on you that while your state is not where it should be, we are doing better than 85% of other states in Nigeria, with regards to salaries and pensions.
Naturally, the Governor will like to pay salaries as at when due and he will ultimately arrive at that point.
The best route to regular salary payment will be the IGR route and for that route to yield we will need to improve infrastructure in the state to support our farmers and business men to make more money and pay more money. That is exactly why the Governor is doing a lot of work at Aba, including flagging off the reconstruction of PH road into a 6-lane marvel with BRT Lane. He is also working with the federal govt to fix Aba-Ikot Ekpene highway.
Due to the slow pace of work by the federal Government contractor handling Aba-Ikot Ekpene highway, your Governor, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu, has gone ahead to create 2 new roads that will lead to Akwa Ibom through Obingwa. Expect the roads to be fully realized in December 2017 but travelers are already using them.
With IGR level at or above N2.5b monthly, salary payment challenges will end in Abia state. At the moment our IGR is fluctuating around N700m, after hitting a high of N1b last December.
To get to the minimum of N2.5b monthly IGR point you will need to develop infrastructure, secure our people and promote our businesses. Can you now see why the Governor is seriously promoting Made in Aba brands while rolling out caterpillars everywhere in Abia?
I have good news for you Nnenna. Governor Ikpeazu has acquired 6
Brand new earthmoving equipment for all year round road maintenance efforts in the state. Please send anyone you know at Umuahia to the
Government house to confirm the arrival of the new CAT brand equipment. I can only offer one
Picture.
Governor Ikpeazu is actually not
Interested in making the case of litigation distractions. He considered such distractions normal in a democracy operated with some participants who might be DESPERATE for power for various reasons. He continued to
Work for Abians even while dealing deadly legal blows on all his desperate opponents that have all bitten the political dust of serial defeats.
What common Abians consider distraction is when politicians who lost to the Governor engage in active sabotage against the people and government.
It is wrong and inherently evil for an Abia politician to be going round federal offices and granting media interviews to try to stop the $200m infrastructure development facility from AfDB simply because he believes that with the implementation of associated projects it will be impossible to defeat the Governor in 2019.
Such a man is not just distracting the Governor, he is also distracting and sabotaging Abians. He is working to make sure that we don't even reach the IGR point that will make salary payments routine.
In other climes it is called evil politicking but since you have already used the word distraction permit me to inform you I personally consider such activities as real distractions that folks like you should stand up and fight against. After all you are still praising late
Governor Sam Mbakwe for the work he did with borrowed foreign loans. Why should anyone try to stop our $200m facility if not for evil political purposes?
If your interest is the growth and development of our state, against working for the same politician orchestrating the distraction, I expect you to condemn his sabotage and subterfuge against the good of Ndi Abia.
Finally my sister(?) Nnenna Agbai, the key issues you raised betrayed weak sources of information and possibly issues of comprehension. Permit me to suggest that you focus on what the Governor, Chief Press Secretary, Commissioner for information and others empowered to communicate officially for government say in reporting and attributing things to the Governor and government. Social
Media is a community and as a community we have beer parlors where people say what they know and what they don't know. Running off with information obtained from
Social media beer parlors will misinform and possibly "deform" you.
Thanks a million for taking time to write something about our state. I hope I have responded factually to the major posers you raised and convinced you that indeed, based on verifiable facts, the Governor has performed very well, especially judging by the markers you laid out yourself. The challenge you had was your source of information on the activities of the government and of course comprehension challenges. Those are not mortal sins and so you should be forgiven.
I invite you to verify my response to you and write another article with the title: "I was wrong about Ikpeazu's performance".
God bless you Nnenna Agbai nwannem (?). Please do not say Abia State Government or Governor ikpeazu replied you. It is your fellow
Citizen that replied and signed for
Himself alone.
Thank you.
John Okiyi Kalu
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