Recent visitors to the Coal-City state of Enugu are impressed with the new look of Enugu capital territory, particularly, in the area of road reconstruction. Almost every part of the state is currently experiencing the presence of Barrister Sullivan Chime’s administration in this sub-sector. Road infrastructure is one of the four-point agenda of Chime government. The three others include economic expansion and employment, rural development, service delivery and good governance. (Pictures down right and left show Chime with a visiting Nigeria Head of Service, Pepple and his taxi cabs (transport scheme)Just two months back, precisely, on February 5 this year, Chime’s government awarded contracts for the construction of four inter-local government roads covering more than 182 kilometers across various rural communities in the state. The road contract was awarded to two reputable contractors, Hajaik Construction Company and Ferotex Company Ltd. The project is a collaboration between Chime’s government and the affected six council areas, with the contract being funded on the ratio of seventy and thirty percent. The collaborating councils include Udi, Ezeagu, Nsukka, Igbo Eze North, Enugu South and Awgu.
Testifying to this seeming feat, Chime’s colleague from Kano state, Mallam Ibrahim Shakerau, during a recent visit to the state, remarked that he (Chime) has transformed Enugu into a beautiful city. Governor Shakerau, therefore, urged people of the state and government functionaries to continue to give Chime their support and cooperation.
It is on record that apart from roads, Chime government recently introduced a transport scheme. The government thus procured 400 taxi cabs and over twenty luxury buses to ease transportation difficulties across the state. Apart from officials of his government and those of the local governments across the state, Governor Chime, the magazine learnt, is about to invest N2 billion in procuring Chevrolet cars for the over 300 traditional rulers in Enugu state.
Perhaps, it was because of these perceived achievements that Engineer Vita Abbah-led faction of the state chapter of People’s Democratic Party (PDP), last month, endorsed Chime for a second term in office. If this endorsement is anything to go by, Chime would govern the state till the year 2015.
Abbah faction said it relied on the performance of Governor Chime so far, the peace that had prevailed in the state under his administration, as well as his contributions to the growth of the party in the state while taking the decision.
But the opposition to Chime’s government certainly thinks otherwise, that is, that Chime is not as saintly as he is portrayed, and that he has not performed superlatively in the past two years of his administration of the state.
In the vanguard of this opposition is Alliance of Political Parties of Enugu state (APPES). APPES maintains that Governor Chime has bad practices which make him unfit as a candidate for 2011. Rather than celebrate Chime’s achievements so far, APPES accuses his government of official corruption.
James Nweke, spokesman of the Alliance, in an interview, says the government awarded a contract for installation of street lights in Enugu metropolis last year to one Kannel Nigeria Limited for N600 million. The contract sum was reportedly paid upfront, but APPES alleged that nothing tangible was recorded in its execution so far.
"Payment of the contract sum upfront for a job not done clearly speaks volumes of Governor Chime's belief and commitment to due process”, APPES asserted.
And the group, vowing to blow the lid off alleged fraudulent contracts in the state soon, threatens to drag Chime’s government before anti-corruption agencies, including the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices Commission and other Related Crimes, as well as the Code of Conduct Bureau.
APPES regrets that Chime has, for inexplicable reasons, severally snubbed motions of the state House of Assembly, an action it perceives as impeachable. The Alliance which sees this as one of the bad practices of the administration, specifically, recalls that Governor Chime ignored the House directives for him to suspend the commissioner in charge of local government matters, Professor Frank Asogwa, and the former works commissioner, Chief Luke Mammel from office. The body posits
that this snobbish attitude of the governor is an impeachable one.But a more acerbic assessment of Chime’s government comes from the camp of Ebeano, the political structure that single-handedly installed him governor of the state in 2007.
Assessing Chime’s two years of administration, Barrister Ray Nnaji, spokesman of Ebeano and factional chairman of PDP in the state, says: “If the two years are anything to go by, Chime can only be said to have done something in the area of road rehabilitation within Enugu city. But we find out that most of the caterpillars and other materials bought for the road projects are all refurbished. The caterpillars are not genuine. They have been refurbished and most of them have already broken down even before getting to their destinations. So, these are issues they have actually used to siphon funds. Other purchases they have made have the same problems. Like the graders have broken down. There is no reason why Chime should not have gone for quality materials. Taking into consideration the kind of money the government was getting, Chime’s performance cannot be said to be optimum. In the last two years, I score Chime’s government 40 percent which is, of course, a weak pass. Road rehabilitation is not the only indicator of good government; there are other areas like education, health, sports-all other sectors. I don’t think he has measured well in them”.
Nnaji, former national auditor of the party, insists that it is only in the sub-sector of road reconstruction that Chime made a slight achievement. In the area of sports, Nnaji said Chime performed woefully, regretting that the state came last in the southeast by scoring 27th position in the whole federation which, he says, is the worst ever result achieved. Rangers International Football Club is, also, according to Nnaji, not doing well under Chime. The Ebeano mouthpiece adds that there is, also, nothing to write home about, maintaining that teachers in the state, as a result, had to go on strike.
Nnaji did not stop at this assessment, but went beyond that to forecast Chime’s remaining the two years. Arguing that Chime is able to score any point in road rehabilitation, Nnaji quips it was because of the huge funds at his disposal.
“But I must have to tell you that he was doing that when the oil price was 140, 145 dollars a barrel. He had a lot of money and excess crude. Now, there is no more excess crude except the one they are going to share soon, and the oil price is now down to about 40 dollars. It is going to be difficult…So, I don’t see how he is going to continue with the project as there won’t be such huge funds as in the past. If that is taken into consideration, the next two years will be a total disaster”.
Remonstrating that Chime’s government blows its achievements out of proportion to its simplicity, Nnaji says further: “The government is running a four-point agenda, but only one point has been taken care of in the past two years. If that is anything to go by, you find out that for him to complete one of the four-points with this kind of allocation coming down, it will be a herculean task. At the end of the day, one over four is failure”.
Nnaji regrets that the state has, under Chime’s administration, gone into debts running into billions of naira. The debts, he claims, were procured by Chime to secure a favorable judgment at the court of appeal last year. He scored Chime zero over his relationship with the people he governs.
“Chime’s PR is completely zero because he is highly incommunicado. You really can’t see him. He doesn’t even attend functions, but that has been Sullivan Chime for you. That was his character from day one. Everybody knows that he does not want to mix up with people’, Nnaji submits. It was as result of this that, according to Nnaji, Chime runs the state by proxy.
Nnaji, similarly, dismisses the Abbah faction of PDP’s endorsement of Chime for second term in office, saying he (Chime) does not have any structure to realize such an ambition. He maintains that Total Mandate which was formed on behalf of Chime does not have the followership to make him governor again.
Nnaji regrets Ebeano’s installation of Chime as governor, saying: “Installing Chime governor is a decision we took in Ebeano that we actually find to be a very bad one, and a terrible miscalculation. Our prayer is that we avoid making such mistakes in future”.
The views of the opposition notwithstanding, Chime’s government scored self highin the past three years. The government recently reviewed and took stock of its performance in the implementation of its campaign promises to the people as contained in its 4-point Agenda. The review was with a view to identifying areas where government excelled and other areas that needed some improvement. Reviewed were issues of employment generation, agriculture, infrastructural development, water, health and education among others. What this review means, however, is that the government has a greater number of projects to tackle in the remaining two years than it had undertaken in the past.
Incidentally, to partly agree with the opposition, Martin Ilo, Secretary to State Government (SSG), admits, in a subsequent media briefing, that the better part of Chime’s administration’s first one year in office was spent on retreats to streamline work plans and strategies for the execution of government's programs and projects.
Be it as it may, the people of Enugu state expect the Chime administration to embark on more developmental projects in the state, as to transform their living conditions by the end of this political dispensation.
Culled from THEWEEK magazine.
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