Enugu: Will Nigeria’s Economic Growth Come from the States?

 Uche Anichukwu

The governor of Enugu State, Dr. Peter Mbah, made a noteworthy statement when he received a delegation of the German government and investors at the Government House, Enugu, last week. Addressing the delegation led by the German Consul General, Mr. Weert Börner, and comprising German businesses such as Siemens Energy and the German Cooperation for International Development, GIZ, Mbah said the economic growth of Nigeria will not come from the states.

In my understanding, Governor Mbah only re-echoed the thinking of Nigeria’s founding fathers when they settled for a federal constitution. Chief Obafemi Awolowo held that “the constitution of Nigeria must be federl and any other constitution will be unsuitable and will generate ever-recurring instability, which may eventually lead to the complete disappearance of the Nigeria composite State. Dr. Nnamdi Azikwe saw in federalism the best structure to release the potential and comparative advantages of every part of Nigeria. Sir Ahmadu Bello saw federalism as the “only guarantee that the country will grow evenly all over, we can spend the money we receive, the money we raise, in the direction best suited to us.”

With a federal constitution in place, Dr. Michael Iheonukara Okpara was able to enact one of the economic wonders of his era as the premier of the defunct Eastern Region. That region’s economy alone was ahead of the economies of Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia, and Indonesia, among others. In fact, it was rated as the world’s fastest growing and industrialising economy between 1954 and 1964. Thanks to the visionary leadership of Okpara, which was driven by his principle of “Pragmatic Socialism.”

From one end to the other, the region experienced massive industrial and agricultural revolution: Michelin Factory in Port Harcourt; Nigergas Company, Asbestos Cement Factory, and Niger Steel Company in Emene, Enugu; glass factory in Port Harcourt; Presidential Hotel in Port Harcourt and Enugu; Golden Guinea Breweries in Umuahia; shoe factory in Owerri; Calabar Cement Company and textile industries in the region, just to name a few. Whether it was oil palm or cocoa, rubber, banana, cassava, and pineapple, poultry and animal husbandry industry, the region was busting at the seams, producing for both local consumption and export.

Nigeria has found herself in a predictable economic vortex, no thanks to the upending of the viable federal structure and enthronement of “feeding bottle federalism” lubricated by free oil money that has progressively drained post-First Republic leaders of the vision and creativity of their forebears. The constitutional contradiction has promoted indolence, ineptitude, wastefulness, corruption, and underdevelopment instead.

Yet, blame the constitutional constraints all we can, the onus is still on leaders to think outside the box to restore the states on the path of economic prosperity. In a back-page piece, “2023 Election: It’s the Economy, Stupid”, which I penned in the December 3, 2022 edition of Thisday newspaper ahead of the last general election, I wrote: “Today, the Nigerian economy is in a state of emergency. The tragedy is that unlike other federations such as the U.S, which boasts of about $3.36 trillion GDP in California, $2.1 trillion GDP in Texas and $2.0 trillion GDP in New York, all in different states and usually driven by various industries, ours is a mono-economy that virtually rises and falls on oil and where states practically depend on the Federation Account for survival.” I went further to enjoin Nigerians to rise above the over-dramatisation of the presidency as well as the primordial considerations and mundane rhetoric that characterised gubernatorial contests to elect governors capable reengineering the economy of their states.

As the days go by, it is becoming clearer to even the naysayers that Enugu State heeded this advice and got it right in the last election. Mbah was very strong on the economy during the campaigns. In his 64-page manifesto, he stated in unmistakable terms that his vision was to grow the state’s economy from $4.4bn to $30bn, raise the state to one of the top three economies Nigeria by GDP, eradicate poverty, and make the state the premier destination for business, investment, tourism, and for living in four to eight years.

A consummate entrepreneur and founder of Pinnacle Oil and Gas Limited, which is the market leader in Nigeria’s downstream petroleum industry, Mbah understands that investors do not joke with ease of doing business. They naturally gravitate to a de-risked investment environment because they are not Santa Claus. So, he set forth at dawn to do exactly that.

First, he declared war on sit-at-home, its enforcers and other criminals that had held the state by the jugular. He went on to invest heavily in security, especially technology. In a matter of weeks, the newly constructed ultra-modern Command and Control Centre and its associated hi-tech surveillance cameras that are being installed around the state will be commissioned. These cameras, which are equally being installed on the Distress Response Squad vehicles, are capable of number plate and facial recognitions. Once the face is captured, the suspect can be tracked down via the databanks.

To reassure investors in the area of infrastructure, he caused a paradigm shift in the state’s budget. Whereas the state’s budget used to hover around N100bn and N120bn with capital expenditure of about N30bn, representing a capital expenditure to budget ratio of about 25 to 35 per cent, the Mbah Administration is currently operating an unprecedented N521.5bn budget in 2024, with a capital expenditure totaling over N400bn in 2024. This represents a capital expenditure to budget ratio of about 80 per cent and recurrent expenditure ratio of 20 per cent.

Today, the result is showing. Whereas he flagged-off the construction and reconstruction of 71 urban roads and construction of 10 rural roads based on the administration’s 2023 supplementary budget, the administration has since doubled down in 2024. Only a fortnight ago, the government approved the release of N183bn for the construction of 141 urban roads and 20 rural roads. The rural roads are actually about thrice longer than the urban roads in terms of kilometres and some of them are also virgin, dual carriageways. The idea is to ensure that investors and small holder farmers alike do not have to bother about access to the farmlands and conveyance of farm produce and processed products to the market.

In the power, the governor was quick to initiate and sign the Enugu State Electricity Law and also established the Enugu State Electricity Regulatory Commission. Consequently, Enugu became the first to benefit from the transfer of regulatory/oversight powers of local electricity market to any state by the National Electricity Regulatory Commission in line with the amendments to the 1999 Constitution and the Electricity Act.

In the water sector, the administration broke the decades-old jinx of perennial water scarcity in Enugu metropolis, increasing production from occasional 3 million litres to 120 million litre per day; in the education sector, he is constructing 260 Smart Green Schools in the 260 wards of Enugu State and eight science, technical, and science colleges to properly equip Enugu children and youth with contemporary knowledge to fit into the envisioned Enugu economy and the global economy.

In the health sector, the administration is building 260 ultra-modern Type 2 Primary Healthcare Centres. In land administration, the government is close to reducing the waiting time to obtain a C-of-O to 72 hours maximum, while the Enugu State Properties Protection Law and the Enugu State Geographic Information Service Law have been put in place to sanitise land administration and checkmate the menace of land grabbing. In the justice sector, specialised courts such as the Commercial Court, Lands (or Real Estate) Court, and the Small Claim Court are in place for quick resolution of business disputes. In the transportion space, Mbah is simultaneously constructing world-class transport interchanges/terminals at Ogbete/Holy Ghost, Gariki, Abakpa and Nsukka. Likewise, the International Conference Centre (ICC), Hotel Presidential, Nigergas, etc. are coming back to life, while a five-star hotel is rising at the ICC to boost investment and tourism.

So, if you wonder why Enugu has become attractive as an economic hub, the German Consul General has the answer. “We get a lot of news by the Nigerian media and through our own office that Enugu State and its own government have improved a lot in the sense of structuring processes to get business easier done and to improve the basis for joint engagement. So, this is why I am here to get our cooperation on a higher and more intense level,” he told newsmen.

So far, the young administration has secured investments in excess of N400bn. The deal to revive the long-moribund United Palms Limited alone is N100bn, with the state contributing only the land/plantations. The Uk High Commissioner, Ambassador of Indonesia, President of Afreximbank, senior officials of the AfDB, etc. have all visited Enugu State, while the UK has opened a visa office in Enugu city.

That Siemens Energy was on the German delegation is a testimony to what Mbah has done so far to make it possible for investors to invest in power generation, transmission, and distribution in the state.

Currently, the government has built over 300,000 hectares in landbank for agricultural purposes across its Produce Cities in the 17 LGAs and investors are taking advantage of it, now sure of de-risked business environment, including infrastructure and security. Ugwu Anama Farms Enugu SPV Limited leased 15,000 hectares at Ikem Nkwo to cultivate crops. Atlantico Farms and Agro Concepts Limited got 2,000 hectares at Eha-Amufu, Isi-Uzo LGA, for crops production and another 100 hectares for an ultra-modern feed mill and poultry farm. The state leased 20,000 hectares to Sujimoto Group at Odenigbo, Eha-Amufu for rice cultivation and development of agro-industrial processing park and 7,221 hectares to Fungtai Company Limited at Ugwujoro, Nimbo, Uzo-Uwani LGA for planting of economic trees, crop farming and establishment of agro-allied industrial parks.

The administration has concluded arrangements for the takeover of the management and development of the long-abandoned Songhai Farms Heneke in Ezeagu LGA by Britednuel Agro Limited and partners. It has cultivated 1,000 hectares in Aninri, Nkanu East, and Uzo-Uwani LGAs to support the cassava-to-bioethanol-value chain development initiative of the Federal Government, while the Biotechnology Industrial Park led by Federal Government/Enugu State and Biosource Technologies Ltd is under construction at Egede/Affa in Udi LGA.

The administration is equally empowering small holder farmers and MSMEs. Last week, the governor flagged-off the distribution of inputs and grants worth over N4.6bn to farmers, communities, and IT startups in the state. In doing so, he rightly described MSMEs as the lifeblood of economic development.

It should be well noted, however, that this is not a condonement of the awkward federalism we currently operate and the numerous constraints that the current constitution imposes. Imagine what a Governor Mbah could have done with our Independence Constitution. But until the right constitutional framework is put in place, the onus remains of the federating units to find a way. While it is far from Uhuru for Enugu State, Mbah has demonstrated that economic reengineering of the states is possible. And it is the way to go.

*Anichukwu is Senior Special Assistant to Enugu State Governor