I had to escape my busy and tight schedule here at Imo Trumpeta last week to visit Umuahia, the capital of Abia State.
My intention of visiting that State was cut short abruptly in 2010 when a colleague made frantic efforts for yours sincerely and himself to have a one on one interview with Theodore Ahamefula Orji, the Executive Governor. That interview was futile afterall as the Governor was not disposed to do speak to us.
This time what took me to God’s own State was an invitation of a group, called FPL-NASREP pioneered by a rising political star in that State, a son of the soil, an entrepreneur and one time House of Assembly contender, Prince George Ezebuiro who has for now, ignored politics and taken up the task to revolutionize community development in his beloved Abia State.
What aroused my curiosity and desire to attend the function and not to delegate one of my reporters to cover it was the burning passion to see first hand what magic wand this group has that can turn poor, rusty and undeveloped communities to become an economic and investment destination.
Those who have understudied the depth of poor development in the rural areas in the South East region will agree with me that poverty and underdevelopment are twin factors stunting socio economic growth and development of our communities. Further studies have further revealed that despite several programmes initiated by past military and civilian administrations in the country, rural communities have remained what they are. Poor, dejected and underdeveloped!
Several factors ranging from poor conception, ineffective implementation and corruption had bedevilled efforts to boost rural development in Nigeria in the past. From Better Life For Rural Women engineered by the Ibrahim Babangida Administration to National Poverty Alleviation Programme (NAPEP) of the Obasanjo Administration, most of these policies have been haunted by poor implementation, thus denying rural communities the much expected dividends.
However, the latest Community Development Initiative in Abia State is direct opposite to what the Rescue Mission Mission Government is trying to do in Imo. While that of Abia State is private sector driven and targeted at empowering the rural populace, the Rochas Okorocha Administration is seen to be struggling to kick start the Community Government Council (CGC) in Imo, a package that is so ambiguous, unconstitutional and bedevilled by several factors.
While the CGC is all about creating a platform for effective governance at the grassroots, the Abia Initiative is geared towards empowering the people in the 723 communities in the 17 local Governments’ in the State. Inotherwords, the rural areas in Abia State are on the verge of witnessing development to the grassroots in a simple, result oriented manner
While the CGC in Imo is weighed down by several factors which range from lack of political will, poor conception and introduction, that of Abia is practical, realistic and simple. While the CGC grows from the top that of Abia starts from the bottom, thus make the communities active and strategic partners in the quest to bring development to the people.
It is ironical that while Imo politicians visit those in the hinterlands only when elections are around the corner, some of their contemporaries in Abia have proved otherwise. They have proved they are not vote beggars who go to the hinterlands with empty and false promises just to get their votes. What is about to go on in Abia State is the first and largest initiative community development east of the Niger not undertaken by any State Government!
It is the first ever private sector driven initiative geared towards improving the lives of the people in the villages. From Elu, Ohafia to Ngwaland, down to Item, Ovim and Isukwato, what is about to happen is a development revolution at the communities that is devoid of political undertones that will empower the people economically.The multiplier effect of this initiative is awesome and if faithfully implemented has the capacity to make every Abian to be economically stable in the coming years.
During an interactive session with three representatives drawn from each of the 725 communities in Abia State held in Umuahia, FBL-NASREP unveiled a realistic developmental plan that will boost socio economic development in the grassroots in the State devoid of political platitudes.
According to the innovators of the project, the programme is conceived in the face of challenging unemployment and economic poverty rates in Abia State. Inotherwords, the underlying message is to ensure prosperity for the people of Abia State. Prince Ezebuiro, the Vision bearer, explained ‘FBL-NASREP is also committed to improve the social and economic condition of the people in the communities and ensure infrastructural development to consolidate Government’s effort in a strategic manner’
Then came the icing on the cake. He said the project begins with the launching of a Business Start Up Support Facility (BSSF) programme to provide support facilities for the unemployed in the rural, urban and semi urban communities without collateral security and a two year instalment repayment plan with a single digit interest rate. Such facilities is embedded in a Community Leadership Credit Guarantee that will provide technical material and financial support that covers 64 business fields in 5 business empowerment categories. With the strategic partnership of communities in the State embedded in a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA), communities are to be strategic stakeholders in several projects to be put in place to create massive job opportunities for the rural populace.
Some of the projects include: a 27,000 University Hostels Rooms in 10 Construction locations, 14 modern Safe Children’s Amusement Parks, 43 Small and Medium Scale factories and Processing Plants in Communities, 6 mega 54 Pump Capacity Petrol Stations, 5 state of the art Hyper Marche, 2 ultra modern 5 star hotels, 270, 000 Medium Rise Residential Housing Apartments, 1 used Oil Refining facility with 6950 waste oil collection centers.
Not done yet, part of the package, includes a Home Building And Target Contributory Savings Initiative (HBTCS) and Stakeholders Investment Portfolio (SIP) programme, that will encourage dedicated savings and offer investment opportunities for the lower and middle classes in the State. According to them, the HBTCS Initiative is an economic platform created to motivate and encourage dedicated savings culture amongst rural and semi urban dwellers, while the SIP programme is aimed rewarding opportunities to earn high yield profits on investments undertaken by FBL-NASREP.
In layman’s language, this is a holistic attempt to empower the rurals with the overall intention to make them partakers in several projects driven to enhance their wellbeing.
The rural communities are one area successive Governments have not succeeded to make necessary and desired impact. Despite the local Government system that has been on for decades, it has not conveyed the much expected economic transformation at the rural communities. What we see is allocation sharing maniacs who masquerade as Local Government Chairmen who squander what is accruable to the people on white elephant projects and fictious claims, thus leaving the rural communities in a sorry state. This has greatly contributed to increase in rural- urban migration in the South East.
While the salutary gains inherent from the initiative of FBL-NASREP in Abia State is expected to break the jinx of underdevelopment and poverty of the rural and semi urban areas, I also believe it is important the originators of the concept avoid those pitfalls widely identified as recurring factors that have immensely affected community development in the South East.
One of such factors is lack of involvement or participation of a community in the implementation process of any community developmental plan. Another factor is the aspect of the organizational functioning, training and technical assistance. These are some of the peculiar problems that have militated against community development in the South East.
In our beloved Imo State, it is part of the problem stifling the effective take off of the Community Government Council (CGC). While the idea conceived by Governor Okorocha is novel, the only k–leg is that it does not have a window for economic development and transformation for the rural populace in the State.
This is why it is important the Imo State Government understudy the revolution that is set to take place in the rural communities in Abia State. The CGC is incomplete without a roadmap that would lead to economic empowerment of the people. Period. Case closed!
