Enugu breaks jinx of projects, abandoned enterprises

SIR: There is no gainsaying the fact that abandonment of public projects and enterprises retards economic growth and development in Nigeria. At both the national and sub-national levels, public projects and enterprises are indiscriminately dumped after billions of Naira have been spent on them by respective governments. In some cases, the projects were left fallow for years in spite of the huge public funds they gulped.

The socio-economic consequences of the abandonment of projects include wastage of public resources, reduction in employment opportunities, and decrease in government revenue. Abandoning projects also discourage foreign direct investments (FDIs) and slows down the tempo of economic activities. Members of the public are equally disappointed, disillusioned and disenchanted.     

At the national level, examples abound. They include the National Library Project in Abuja, Abuja CCT project, the Dredging of the River Niger, the Ajaokuta Steel Company in Kogi State and the Mambilla Hydro Electric Power Plant in Taraba State. Recently, the Punch Newspaper quoted a board member of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Tony Okocha as saying that a total of 953 abandoned projects of the commission are littered across Rivers State.

At the sub-national level, the examples are countless across the 36 states. In the same Rivers State for instance, there is the abandoned Port Harcourt Mono Rail Project started in 2012 by the then Governor, Rotimi Ameachi, but he could not complete the project before leaving office in 2015. The mono rail project received no attention from Ameachi’s successor, Nyesom Wike. Ironically, Wike who is currently the minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, last May commissioned the Abuja Light Rail, which was initiated and almost completed by the previous administration in Nigeria’s capital city.

In Ebonyi State, South East Nigeria, the 10-storey World Trade Centre started by the administration of Senator Dr. Sam Ominyi Egwu, remains an uncompleted project till date. Egwu’s successor, Chief Martins Elechi and Dave Umahi, did not touch the project. What about the Anambra State Governor’s Office, which was abandoned for more than 25 years before the administration of Governor Charles Soludo eventually revisited it? However, it is not yet certain how soon that the Soludo government would complete the project.

In Enugu State, the story was almost the same before the assumption of office of Governor Peter Mba in May last year. Interestingly, the Mba government is offering succour to projects that were abandoned by its predecessors.  As of the time of writing this article, work has recommenced on some abandoned critical projects, along with ongoing resuscitation of moribund state owned enterprises.

For instance, the hitherto abandoned International Conference Centre (ICC) in Enugu is now taking shape. The gigantic project was started by the administration of Dr. Chimaroke Nnamani but it could not be completed before Nnamani left office in 2007. The conference centre which is the biggest in the South East, has a 3000 capacity auditorium, 1,500 secondary event venue and a dome with a 500-seat capacity. The centre also has a shopping facility, a food court, and a recreational centre with an amusement park.    

Unfortunately, Nnamani’s successor, Sullivan Chime, did not take even a trip of sand to the ICC throughout the eight years he was in power as the Executive Governor of Enugu State from 2007 to 2015. Although Chime’s successor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, promised to complete the ICC while campaigning for his first and second terms in 2015 and 2019, nothing tangible was done at the site until he left office in May 2023, after spending eight years in office.

But under the Mba administration, the pace of work at the conference centre has increased rapidly. In addition, the governor in May this year laid the foundation stone for a five-star International Conference Centre Hotel to service the ICC. The hotel under construction contains all the necessary facilities expected of a hotel of its class, including 335 rooms (224 single rooms and 64 business suites) and presidential suites.

Besides ICC, serious efforts are equally being made by the government of the day in Enugu State to revamp the moribund Hotel Presidential Enugu. The hotel was once the pride of the entire South Eastern Nigeria. The gigantic 100-room facility was built after Nigeria’s Independence as part of the defunct Eastern Nigeria Government’s industrialisation plan under the administration of Dr. M. I. Okpara as the Premier of the Region. It operated successfully and yielded enormous revenue for the Eastern Region (now defunct), and later, East Central States and old Anambra State.  Enugu State inherited the hotel when the state was created in 1991 from old Anambra State.       

Although Presidential Hotel survived the prolonged era of the military, things started getting awry at the place as soon as the civilians returned to power in 1999. Corruption, unwarranted political interference, mismanagement and poor maintenance culture, adversely affected its operations. Things took a dive in the hotel before the Chime administration eventually buried it totally. Just like the case of ICC, Ugwuanyi who replaced Chime, did not make any effort to revamp the hotel.

But, thankfully, the Mba administration through the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, has commenced restoration work at Presidential Hotel, to bring it back to its glorious days, after wallowing in disuse for more than 12 years. At the time of the hotel’s abandonment, its contemporaries like Premier Hotel Ibadan and Hotel Presidential Port Harcourt were still active in business.

According to information in public domain, N4 billion has been earmarked by the state government for the ongoing revamping of the Hotel Presidential and the completion of the ICC. The two projects are being executed in line with the resolve of the current administration in Enugu State to re-activate all moribund state assets.

The benefits of the projects are unquantifiable. Besides boosting job opportunities in the state’s tourism sector, the hotel and ICC when functional, would make Enugu State a destination for national, continental and international conferences and other events, thereby enhancing tremendously, the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the State.

Hence, the government of the day in Enugu State deserves commendation for breaking the jinx of abandoning public projects and enterprises. One therefore expects other states in the South East and Nigeria at large, to take a cue from Enugu State. Nigeria is seriously economically distressed. The country can no longer afford reckless wastage of public funds on projects, only to abandon them halfway.

Nonetheless, there is still a lot more to be done in Enugu State. The government under a public private partnership (PPP) should turnaround the moribund Adarice Production Limited, another abandoned legacy of the administration of Dr. Okpara in the days of the Eastern Region. The Adarice farm, the flagship rice farm in South East Nigeria, initially belonged to the Uzo-Uwani farm settlements.

Finally, the government under the same PPP arrangement should also resuscitate moribund industries, such as the Premier Cashew Industry, Ohebe Dim Aluminum industry, Niger Gas, Niger Steel and the Vegetable Oil Industry at Nachi. The resuscitation of these industries will unleash job opportunities for the teeming unemployed youths and bolster the economic potential of the state.

But for all these to happen, there must be enabling environment for the private sector to thrive, including adequate security and an appreciable improvement in the ease of doing business in the state.   

 Dr Chekwube Nzomiwu is the director of Media and Publicity, Development Communication Research Association of Nigeria (DECRAN).