Leaders and stakeholders of Enugu North Senatorial District, otherwise known as Nsukka Zone, have praised Governor Peter Mbah’s inclusive governance, and charged him not to deviate from the path appreciated by Nigerians.

They also lauded the governor’s remarkable progress in various sectors, especially education, politics and security, stressing that the 102 wards within the senatorial zone had been well treated in his administration
They stated this during a maiden Dialogue Series 1, which was organised under the auspices of the Enugu State Coalition for Progress, Enugu North Senatorial Zone Branch, at Adada House in Nsukka.

The event, themed, ‘Dr. Peter Mbah administration – the journey so far (education, politics and security),’ was meant to track the impact of Mbah’s administration on Nsukka Zone in his first two years in office.
It also afforded the stakeholders the opportunity to bring to the governor’s attention their own peculiar challenges.

A former Economic Adviser to the President, Prof. Osita Ogbu, praised the governor for turning the state from a civil servants state to an entrepreneurial zone by building structures and industries that would bring about the transformation.

Ogbu also said that Mbah has put plans in motion to strengthen the state’s economic base so that it would not rely heavily on federal allocation.
He likened Mbah to world leaders like former Chinese, Malaysian and Israeli leaders who dutifully transformed their country without looking at hindrances and obstacles.

Ogbu said that Mbah, in his developmental transformation of the state, does not discriminate against those that voted for him and those that did not because he saw Enugu State as his constituency.
“We are among the three states in the country that can say bye bye to Federal Allocation,” Ogbu said.

A Special Adviser adviser to the Governor on Education, Chinyere Onyeisi, hailed Mbah for disrupting the major developmental challenges facing the state.

She said, “Before now, Enugu had high rate of out of school children with an alarming statistics. We also had the challenge of poor dearth of teachers and poor capacity building of the existing ones as well as lack of curriculum update. The most essential of all the challenges was the inadequate infrastructure.

“But now, Enugu State Smart Green Schools came into sight and disrupted all these challenges.

“Governor Mbah started from providing solutions to the problems of basic education and when brought ended the out of school children number with the school feeding programme and the Smart Green Schools, which is free with free books and school uniforms. As you can see, the schools are in all the 260 wards in Enugu State. Most importantly, the skills the children are gaining from the experiential learning cannot be underestimated”.

Also speaking, a retired Major General in the Nigerian Army, Victor Ezeugwu, expressed happiness that the governor has started doing most of the things some retired stakeholders in the security sector from Enugu North proposed to him.

He described Mbah as “a governor with a listening ear,” noting that he has promised to increase the salaries of some local security operators like vigilante, among others.

He assured that a lot is being done to address issues in Uzo Uwani and Isi Uzo local government areas and urged the local government chairmen not to leave security to the governor alone but to do their own bit in order to ensure that the state is secured.

The Coordinator of the Enugu North Senatorial Zone Branch of the Coalition for Progress, Dr. Chinedu Onuh, noted that the era of politics was over and now is the era of development and the zone was determined to join hands with the governor in his development strategy.

“We have decided as a people to play developmental politics. Nsukka are united in our loyalty. When he came with the mantra, Tomorrow is Here, we did not understand it but today we understand it,” he said.
Onuh states that the dialogue would be sustained, adding that it was also meant to enable Stakeholders in the district contribute to support the Mbah administration in the state.

Other speakers such as the House of Representative member representing Udenu/Igboeze North federal constituency, Dennis Agbo; Chairman, Enugu State Council of Traditional Rulers, Igwe Samuel Asadu; and the Deputy Speaker, Enugu House of Assembly, Ezenwata Ezenta; all praised the transformation taking place in the state under the Mbah administration.