By CHARLES IWUOHA

Governor David Nweze Umahi has restated his administration's resolve to ensure massive empowerment of Ebonyi Citizens within the remaining few months of his administration.

Governor Umahi made the commitment in the event marking Nigeria”s 62 Independence anniversary and 26 years for the creation of the State at Pa Ngele Oruta Township Stadium, Saturday.

Umahi who recounted with joy series of empowerment programmes already carried by his administration to boost the capacity of people of the State, insisted that his government would rest at nothing to make all Citizens self-sufficient.

“In the next few months of our administration, we shall do more to empower our people and engage them to find business opportunities in our critical infrastructure.

“We shall assist our people through financial empowerment and mentorship programmes that are geared towards reinforcing their livelihood.

“We have flagged-off Ebonyi Cares empowerment programme targeting micro, small and medium enterprises, small holder farmers and public and civil servants who may wish to take advantage of the second address policy of our administration to go into farming.

“Today, we shall use the opportunity of this celebration to flag-off the second phase of the State empowerment programme. We shall empower youths and women drawn from different categories of groups. We promise to continue to put smiles on the faces of our people until we handover on May 29th 2023 when we shall be anchoring gloriously.”

Umahi noted that this year’s event which is the last before the end of his tenure as Governor offers opportunity for the citizens to appraise the performance of his administration in the last seven years.

“It is symbolic as it is a moment to render a rewarding account of our stewardship in our two-term mandate to serve the people of Ebonyi State.

“We believe that this particular celebration offers the best opportunity for public scrutiny of our performance records.

“We are confident that we have fought a good fight and have kept the faith in our promises to Ebonyi People.”

Governor Umahi commended President Muhammadu Buhari and all the Nation Leaders for their efforts at keeping the Country united despite daunting challenges.

“Our special felicitations go to the father of the nation and President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari GCFR.

“He has remained a leader with fatherly heart and soft spot for the cause of our country.

“He has been of tremendous assistance to the aspirations of the state under our administration, and for this we owe him a deep gratitude.”

Engineer Umahi while clarifying that the modest achievements of his administration was inspired by the selfless struggle by the Founding Fathers for the creation of the State, appreciated the Principal Officers of Government who have collaborated with him to birth the new Ebonyi State.

“In Ebonyi State, we were able to keep to our promises because of our commitment to our core values of fear of God, fiscal discipline, passion for work, courage to take decisions that will be of common good and resilience to surmount challenges.

“We have re-ordered the mindset of public and civil servants and re-enacted the ‘can-do spirit’ of an average Ebonyi man and woman.”

He highlighted that his administration within the last seven years has constructed over fourteen twin flyovers, the biggest Shopping mall, the most sophisticated David Umahi Federal University of Medical Sciences Uburu, the ongoing Ebonyi International Airport, over five thousand kilometers of road on concrete pavement, offered mouthwatering empowerment among other record breaking achievements.

“Today, every local government has 25-kilometre concrete road of 8 inches thickness and 20 km street light of 6pm to 6am non-stop.

“Virtually all the roads within the metropolis and satellite towns have been constructed in concrete pavement with beautiful roundabouts, street light and water fountains built to give the State the desired ambience for creative industry and tourists.”

The Governor also emphasised his commitment to continue to ensure adequate security for citizens of the state through aggressive policing.

“We also connected major junctions of the state with CCTV cameras to track criminals, we installed traffic light in the major roundabouts to ensure traffic control and a viewing centre that provides security satellite for the state.

“We created and fortified Ebubeagu Security Outfit which has over 4,000 officials who are paid monthly to provide intelligence and add value to the security architecture of the state,” he said.

The State Chief Executive expressed happiness that his modest efforts as Governor has made the state to rank highly in certain indices in the comity of states in the country.

“These achievements have gained national recognitions and thus Ebonyi State acknowledged among other recognitions as the most prudent state in the use of public resources in Nigeria (Budgit Office 2021), the best state in capital budget implementation and investment in capital projects and best State in Nigeria in Economic Growth (Budgit Office 2021), the 2nd Best State in 2021 overall Fiscal performance rating (Budgit Office 2021), the least indebted State in South East (and 3rd least in Nigeria) (Budgit Office 2021), the 4th best in investment towards self reliance (Road to State’s viability), above average in maternal mortality ratio (2018 World Bank State of States Health index), one of the 10 best states in Economic Development performance (Philips Performance Index of the year 2020), one of the 5 best States in Nigeria (2020 State Fiscal Sustainability Index), One of the largest producers of Rice in Nigeria in the year 2021 (Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment) and the 2nd best in Empowerment and Job Creation in South East (National Bureau of Statistics in 2020)."

In their goodwill messages, the Chairman, Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, South East Zone, Reverend Father Abraham Nwali, Chairman of APC Ebonyi State, Chief Stanley Emegha, Chairman Elders Council, Chief Ben Okah, the Secretary of Ebonyi Forum of Founding Fathers, Dr. Boniface Chima, Chairman of Traditional Rulers Council, South East Zone, Eze Charles Mkpuma commended the various Leaders who have taken turn to govern the State especially Governor David Nweze Umahi for appreciable progress within the last 26 years.

The Governor also at the event flagged off the second batch of empowerment programme targeted at eight thousand Ebonyians which is expected to cost the Government about one point two billion naira.

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