Peter Mbah’s Unusual Style of Governance

Many politicians in top political positions love and enjoy being surrounded by praise singers and  ‘hangers-ons’ full of shenanigans. But Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State has distinguished himself and exhibited that governance is a job for the serious-minded and not about frivolities.

Before the oil magnate-turned-politician was voted into Enugu government house, known as  ‘Lions Building’,  the place was at the time the centre of political attraction and activities with different communities, support groups and associates visiting to outdo one another by displaying phoney support to past state’s governors.

But today, the narrative has drastically changed. The governor has decided to channel the scarce resources, hitherto used in entertaining guests, into developing critical infrastructure in the state and empowering the youths for a better Enugu.

Those who were initially opposed to this new governance style are now coming to terms that the governor does not mix business with pleasure and that he is determined to transform, rebuild and bequeath the state with a much-needed sustainable development agenda.

Enugu indigenes are beginning to enjoy the benefits of Mbah’s prudence and shrewdness in the management of resources and in fulfilling his campaign promise of using the citizens’ resources for the betterment of the people.

Many would recall that in his inaugural speech, Mbah reiterated his commitment to the people and his first assignment as governor was to sign an Executive Order, called the ‘Citizens’ Charter.’

It demands that he manages the people’s money, in the people’s interest.

This Charter holds him and members of his team to account for the state’s funds and mandates him and his team to provide detailed information on public financial management.

However, some political leaders still consider the governor’s decision not to throw money around to service the ever-demanding politicians too elitist and exclusionist of the party stakeholders who, according to them, worked for his victory at the poll.

Expectedly, this has informed the sustained media attacks and fake news against the governor and his administration. But he has continued to worm himself into the hearts of the electorate as he continues to keep to his electoral promises.

It is on record that since his assumption of office, the governor has yet to take any loan. Rather, he has increased the state budget estimate from N166 billion in 2023 to N521.5 billion in 2024 with N414.3 billion, representing 79 per cent of the entire budget earmarked for capital expenditure.

In a bold move to raise funds for the budget, Mbah introduced the unified e-ticketing scheme to curb loopholes in revenue generation in the state. This has seen the state’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) jump from N2 billion to over N4.3 billion in 2023 and has now soared to N10 billion in 2024.