Last month, President Olusegun Obasanjo was in the state, the second in two years. At the end of the four hour visit, the people of the state were elated when the president exclaimed that “Enugu is working indeed.”

When he mounted the saddle in 1999, he had a clear vision of his programmes for the state. Hopelessness, accompanied by despair held the state in their arms. Infrastructures were begging for attention. Health care was comatose and morale of workers was at the bottom of the ladder. “I can tell you that before Chimaroke came into power, most of the teachers couldn’t even afford motorcycles not to talk of vehicles. But I will tell you that about 60 per cent of teachers in Enugu now have their own cars.” Prince Samuel Ejiofor, the political adviser to the governor told The Week.

In the last seven years, Governor Nnamani has lived up to the expectations of his people. In his first four years, he concentrated on the provision of roads, water, light and health care facilities. About 500 kilometers of road linking Enugu with various parts of the state have been tarred. This has decongested the Coal City as workers can easily move in and out of Enugu after the close of work. Traffic within the city has also been eased considerably. Today there is an Ebeano Tunnel, an underground road network that links the busy Ogui/Artisan road with the equally busy Okpara Avenue. “Again, I want to commend this effort. It is easy to say that nothing is being done, but at least na koro koro eyes I take see this one,” the President said last month of the tunnel. Even within the metropolis, the governor has ensured the expansion and dualisation of roads like Chime Avenue, Rangers Avenue, Z.C. Obi link road, Ozala street among others.

The State water Corporation has also been improved to put an end to the residents’ nightmare of getting water from shallow wells.

Before 1999, virtually all the public schools in the state were said to have fallen into a terrible state of neglect. “Children sat under trees, there were no facilities, but today, we are happy. We get our promotion and the schools have been refurbished and new ones added,” a teacher told THE WEEK in Agwu.

The government has also built model secondary schools and science secondary schools for boys and girls in all the senatorial zones in the state. Mr. Chime Eze, the principal of the special science school in Agbani, one of the three built in three senatorial zones of the state, explained that the school is a specialized school that attracts students from all over the country. At the Air Force Comprehensive Secondary School, the commandant of the school, Wing Commander Rotimi Mora told THE WEEK that the school was built by the state government and donated to the Air Force. “The governor is always coming around to see how we fare in the school,” he added. Mrs. Chinyere Ewurum, Principal of Comprehensive Secondary School also commended the educational programmes of the governor. She explained that her school which started from the scratch in 2003 has stabilized fully. “Not only that, the governor was here during our last inter house sport and has promised to spend N8 million to expand the school’s facilities and infrastructures,” she said.

The permanent sites of the Enugu state University of Science and Technology, ESUT and the College of Medicine have been the biggest and the most ambitious projects in the state so far. Before the coming of Nnamani, ESUT was sitting on a temporary site and most of the students were squatting at the premises of the Institute of Management and Technology, IMT, while the College of Medicine had lost accreditation for most of its courses. Today, the new ESUT is sitting on 600 hectares of land with more than 165 buildings. The College of Medicine along Park Lane, Government Reservation Area, GRA, Enugu comprise three students’ hostels, fully equipped laboratory and a 1200 sitter lecture auditorium and administrative blocks. When President Obasanjo got to ESUT College of Medicine last month, he could not but exclaim. From the gatehouse, the hostel, the arrays of administrative blocks, clinical laboratory, cadaver and the medical library, it was a glittering piece of architectural design. Dr. Patrick Udeh told this magazine that the revolution that made ESUT College of Medicine one of the best in the country today could only be traced to Governor Nnamani. Dr. Jude Udenta, Chairman of the ESUT committee on relocation to the permanent site explained that all the staff, students, faculties buildings and the Professor’s quarters are almost completed, and that the relocation would be completed by August 2006. Professor Ikechukwu Chidobem, the Vice Chancellor of the University added that the school was wholly funded by the state. “Here, we talk of infrastructural sufficiency, not deficiency”, he said. Marco Bercalleli, the Italian engineer at the site said the level of work at the university is about 80 per cent, and that project would be completed by the end of the year. He confessed that there was no problem with funding as the state pays the voucher submitted every month.

Apart from educational infrastructures, the state has also introduced the School Meal Plus programme, aimed at achieving the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations which include education and increased school enrolment by 2015. This is complemented by the Early Childhood Learning Centre, in all primary schools in the state. Initially targeted at the rural poor, the programme will soon cover all parts of the state.

On health, the Nnamani’s reforms in the sector were designed to take healthcare delivery to the interior and the grassroots. The state was consequently divided into 56 health care districts for primary health care, while the General Hospitals and ESUT Teaching Hospital serve the interests of the secondary and tertiary health care delivery respectively. To cope with the needed manpower to power the health care reforms, the government came up with the idea of “Enugu Corps of Doctors” and mobilized them to work especially in the rural areas.

The governor might also be setting his eyes on legacies. Work is progressing speedily at the International Conference Center, comprising a 5000-seater auditorium, a 1500-seater dome and a 200 bedroom five star hotel, where the aides of the governor told THE WEEK he plans to hold pre-inauguration luncheon for his successor next year. The Center will be ready before the end of the year. The Enugu campus of the Nigerian Law School has also received the Nnamani’s treatment.

Aside these, work on the Loma Linda Housing project, named after Loma Linda University in America, is on full swing. On completion, it will provide 324 flats to residents of Enugu. The governor sees all these as a fulfillment of a dream he had while he was still in America. “I feel fulfilled being part of the history of Enugu State,” he told THE WEEK in Enugu. Prince Samuel Ejiofor also explained that the job of transforming the state has not been easy. “Trying to make a change, trying to put our names in the history, there is no way we will not step on toes of one person or the other in the process,” he said.

The critics have not taken kindly to Nnamani’s toes on their legs. His many projects in the state have been part of the weapons in the hands of these critics who sometimes bark at the governor. For instance, they accuse the state government of patronizing only Marlum construction, an Italian company for the state projects, alleging that the governor has an interest in the company. The governor not only denied this charge, but went on the plan that Marlum’s bill was the most reasonable, and that it was better to engage one contractor which could be mobilized with the little resources at hand. “We initially invited Julius Berger, but the company said it could not come to Enugu because of our small project, before we sought other alternatives” the governor explained.

Ejiofor argues that the opposition arose partly from the governor’s colleagues who had failed in their callings, but who are now jealous of his strides. The governor acknowledged that the opposition was his greatest challenge, adding that his government however took hold of the people by putting something on ground for the people to see. The other planks, he added are the elites who want to remain relevant perpetually in the scheme of things in the state.

The president however seems to have put a lid to the smoking guns of the opposition during his last visit. “It doesn’t matter what you say, Enugu is working. I see and believe what I see rather than what they tell me,” Obasanjo said while applauding the Ebeano Tunnel Crossing last month.

Chief Uche Anioke, the state’s Commissioner for Special Duties, described the governor as a driver of men and resources, and ascribed the Enugu success story to the governor’s vision. Ejiofor called it the Ebeano phenomenon, a revolutionary philosophy and movement that have altered the political and the social landscape of Enugu for good.

The ordinary people of Enugu also believe that Governor Nnamani is God sent, and like President Obasanjo, they affirm that Enugu is now working. The governor might have brought the fire that has lighted the Coal City.

FROM THE WEEK, VOL. 24 NO. 3, JULY 31, 2006