We gathered in Enugu last Thursday for the 5th Year Memorial and 4th Annual Innocent Chukwuemeka Chukwuma Impact and Legacy Lecture. The lecture was delivered by former Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) chairman, Dr Sam Amadi, at the Centre for Memories. And something happened that was both comical and instructive. In his opening remarks, Amadi made allusion to the way Mrs Josephine Effah-Chukwuma always referred to her husband by his full name, Innocent Chukwuemeka Chukwuma, suggesting that the habit was perhaps a deliberate act of cultural preservation.

However, with the unfiltered candour for which she is known, Josephine rose from her seat to set the record straight. The full-naming convention, she explained, had nothing to do with culture but rather to resolve a nagging confusion. There is, after all, another Innocent Chukwuma in Nigeria, the Nnewi-born industrialist who founded Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing (IVM), the country’s first indigenous automobile company. Both men are Igbo. Both bear the same first name and surname. Both are accomplished, though in vastly different spheres. But the mix-ups regarding who is who were constant and, at times, absurd, even by media houses that used their photographs interchangeably. The height of the crisis, Josephine told the audience, was when the two Innocent Chukwumas were assigned the same room at Transcorp Hilton in Abuja!

So, according to Josephine, calling her husband Innocent Chukwuemeka Chukwuma was the only reliable way to ensure that her Innocent was not mistaken for the other Innocent. A simple, practical solution to an extraordinary problem of identity. The room erupted in laughter. But as with most things that make us laugh, deeper lessons are also embedded. I have reflected on that anecdote since I left Enugu, because it also illuminates a question that applies far beyond the private frustrations of two men who share a name. For instance, in any field of human endeavour, there will always be others who share your title. What cannot be shared, or duplicated, is the quality of what you do with that title. In public life, as in private, the question of distinction matters.

Nigeria currently has 36 state governors. They all bear the same title, enjoy the same constitutional powers, and attend the same National Economic Council meetings, while sitting together at the same Council of State sessions with the President. Now the question: Does the title alone confer distinction, or must distinction be earned in the quality of one’s governance? These are the questions that Innocent Chukwuma’s life, and Josephine’s clarification, pose to every public office holder in this country. You can share a name, title, and even a hotel room with another person. But if your work does not distinguish you, then you are, for all practical purposes, invisible. I raise this because what I witnessed in Enugu last week was not confined to the memorial lecture. The state itself has become something of a case study in what happens when a governor decides that the office must be filled with substance.

It all started on 19th March (just about a month ago) in London, when I was at the ‘UK-Nigeria Project Agglomeration Compact Dinner’ held at the British House of Lords, on the sidelines of President Bola Tinubu’s State Visit. It was an investment forum organised by Mutandis Africa, founded by Ms Chinelo Anohu to showcase various economic opportunities that abound within the continent, especially Nigeria. Mbah used the occasion to sell what he is doing in Enugu State. The governor recounted the foundation he has laid in several sectors, including education, health, infrastructure, agriculture, housing etc. while promising huge returns on investments, for whoever would take the opportunity to come to Enugu.

Of course, I had read a lot about Mbah. But I was meeting him for the first time and was impressed by his engagement at the session. Since I had an already scheduled visit to Enugu, I told him I would like to see some of the things he claimed to have done. He promised that he would be available during my visit. So, the moment I arrived Enugu last week Wednesday (24 hours before the Innocent Chukwuma memorial programme), I was whisked by Mbah’s media people, led by my aburo, Uche Anichukwu, for a tour of projects that lasted until around 6.30pm when I met the governor in his office.

I can attest to the fact that in less than three years, Enugu State has undergone a physical and institutional transformation. The numbers alone are striking. The state has constructed or rehabilitated hundreds of kilometres of road and I journeyed through some of them. It has completed 260 ‘Smart Green Schools’ equipped with digital learning tools, science laboratories, and renewable energy, and I also visited a prototype. The state has rolled out primary healthcare centres that are powered by renewable energy, entered into a Joint Venture for a tractor assembly and service plant with a Danish company and another factory in partnership with the Chinese Haier Group to assemble smartphones, tablets, computers, smart boards, Android televisions, as well as train locals.

From Sunrise Flour Mills to Hotel Presidential (where I stayed) to Nigergas (now upgraded to produce significant volumes of medical and industrial oxygen) to Enugu United Palm Products Ltd., as well as Enugu Vegetable Oil Project, Enugu Songhai-Heneke Integrated Farm, and other hitherto abandoned projects, Mbah is reviving them while also establishing new projects, including farm estates. But it is not all of the governor’s projects that I agree with. For instance, I am firmly opposed to the idea of establishing airlines to which many governors, including Mbah, seem obsessed. Incidentally, the board of ‘Enugu Air’ is chaired by my egbon, Richard Agu who went out of his way last Thursday night to provide me delicious local chicken. And while the idea of a ‘New Enugu’ may seem attractive, the notion of aping Dubai to build luxurious skycrapers in an environment like ours does not appeal to me.

But there are many ideas of Mbah that I do agree with. I was at the ‘Command Centre’, the nerve end of security cameras mounted across the state for surveillance, and my conversation with the team leader helped me appreciate why Enugu is relatively safe. I am also impressed by Mbah’s investment in the education sector. In the 2024 budget, the administration allocated the sum of N134.9 billion, which represented 33 per cent of the entire budget of N521.5 billion to education. The sector also received a lion-share of N320.6 billion in the 2025 fiscal year, representing over 33.2 per cent of the total budget. Education got 32.27 per cent of the N1.62 billion 2026 budget. This huge investment has enabled Mbah to construct ‘Smart Green Schools’ in each of the 260 wards, introduced ‘Smart Secondary Schools’ in each of the 17 LGAs while reviving the technical schools which focus on training artisans with the aim to become respected and skilled professionals that are valued for their expertise.

The whole idea, as Mbah explained to me, is to replace the current outdated education curriculum that emphasises memorization or rote learning with a hands-on learning approach where individuals gain knowledge and skills through direct experience and reflection. But the numbers, impressive as they are, tell only part of the story. What is more significant is the ambition behind them and the way Mbah has been able to change the paradigm of governance. Such that capital expenditure far exceeds the recurrent in a nation where some governors expend more than 50 percent of their statutory allocations on ‘security vote’.

In 2024, for instance, recurrent expenditure in Enugu State accounted for just N107.2 billion, representing about 21 percent of the N521.5 billion budget for the year, while capital expenditure gulped N414.3 billion. That is 79 percent! It even got better in the 2025 budget, with N837.9 billion allocated to capital expenditure, representing 86 per cent of the N971 billion budget, while recurrent expenditure accounted for N133.1billion, representing only 14 per cent. For this fiscal year’s (2026) N1.62 trillion budget, about 80 per cent is being allocated to capital expenditure. And for context, before Mbah’s administration, the state’s total annual budget hovered between N100 billion and N120 billion with a ratio of about 25 to 35 percent spent on capital expenditure.

When I asked Mbah where he found the money for all the projects he has embarked upon and the ones still in the pipeline, he said there were two answers to the question. “One is fortuitous because of the increase in allocations from the federation account while the second is that we were intentional and deliberate from Day One on what we intended to achieve and how to find resources for our projects.” Mbah then explained how he has been able to get money by blocking several leakages in the system. “Let me give you a simple example from the transport sector. You know all those N100 tickets that vehicles are charged at parks by touts. We immediately introduced e-payments and from N147 million a year, we started raking in N1.2 billion in a month.”

Available data supports Mbah’s efforts, especially in Internally Generated Revenue (IGR). The state’s IGR grew from N26.8 billion in 2022 to N37.4 billion in 2023, representing a 39.6 per cent increase. But Mbah’s administration scaled the IGR to N180.5 billion in 2024, representing a whooping 382.6 per cent growth. The state’s IGR further surged to N406.77 billion in 2025, which translates to 125.4 per cent revenue growth. Expectedly, Enugu State has leapfrogged in the national revenue chart. While the state placed 14th in 2022, the state placed 13th in 2023, and 5th in 2024. It placed 3rd in 2025 – although IGR data collation for 2025 is still ongoing and ranking subject to change.

Perhaps because of his private sector background, Mbah has also monetized several of the dormant assets, especially in the agriculture sector, with profitable partnerships. That, as he explained, is where he realizes a significant amount of funds. He denied the charge of overtaxing the people. “Don’t forget that taxation is in the Exclusive Legislative List. Whether it is Personal Income Tax, Company Income Tax, Value Added Tax or Withholding Tax, they can only be legislated by the National Assembly,” Mbah explained. “What we have done is to widen the tax net, introduce technology to cub leakages or sharp practices and optimise and monetise our assets.”

According to Mbah, the percentage of direct tax from the people in the state’s IGR is really minimal. “The data is available and you can go and confirm. Out of the N406.77 billion revenue in 2025, only N51.5 billion or 12.6. per cent came from tax. We want businesses and our people to grow so they can pay more. That’s why every component of our programmes is tied to empowerment so that when the people are productively engaged, they can pay more for the social services we provide.”

Mbah said when he assumed office, he established a committee comprised of representatives of government, organized labour, civil society, and market leaders. “The committee established that some of the things people call tax came from the activities of illegal revenue collectors. The recently passed Enugu State Harmonised Taxes and Levies (Approved List for Collection) Law, 2026, will finally eliminate those unauthorised collections that have needlessly burdened our people,” said Mbah who recently banned collection of daily revenue of N100 and N200 from petty traders. “In fact, we have charged some people to court, even this week.”

At the memorial lecture last Thursday, many speakers, including Mr Patrick Okigbo III, Mrs Ndidi Nwuneli, and Prof Joy Ngozi Ezeilo, spoke about the leadership deficit we have in Nigeria, based on the paper presented by Amadi. The problem with Amadi’s presentation was in focusing almost solely on the federal government without paying much attention to the sub-nationalities. He is not alone on this. Most Nigerians have practically allowed the governors a free pass even when there can be no real development in our country until people in the states begin to feel the impact of those elected to superintend their affairs.

While I left Enugu last Friday convinced that Mbah is doing a very good job in his state, I am also a bit apprehensive in passing judgement. In the last 27 years, I have seen promising beginnings in many states only to peter out into mediocrity, with bold visions dissolving into the comfortable haze of incumbency. So, at the end, the real test of governance in Enugu may not be what I saw on my visit, but what Mbah eventually leaves behind when the title passes to someone else. Fortunately, he understands that. As the governor told me during our chat, he is more concerned about projects and programmes that are sustainable and would last generations.

Meanwhile, my trip to Enugu was to honour Innocent Chukwuma who left behind the CLEEN Foundation, ‘Centre for Memories’, and many young people who carry his fingerprints on their careers. Beyond that, he left behind the proof that one life, lived with conviction and purpose, can alter the trajectory of an entire sector. That explains why five years after his passing, we would gather to honour his name, and his work. That is the ultimate distinction, as I pointed out in my tribute, Remembering Innocent Chukwuemeka Chukwuma (1966 – 2021) – THISDAYLIVE

For governors, ministers, and all who hold public office in Nigeria, the question is simple but unforgiving: When the title is gone, what will remain? Will your contribution be so clear, so unmistakable, that no one will confuse you with the dozens of others who held the same office? Or will you be just another name on a list, indistinguishable from those who came before and those who will come after?

Josephine Chukwuma found a practical solution to properly identify her husband; she simply uses his full name. But in public life, the solution is not in the name. It is always in the work. That precisely is what Peter Mbah is telling us in Enugu State.

The Military and Bombing Errors

The controversy over the legitimacy of the Jilli weekly market along the Borno-Yobe States’ border where another bombing error by the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) led to several fatalities is needless. What should concern all relevant authorities is that innocent lives were lost to what is fast becoming a recuring tragedy. Many of us can still remember that less than three years ago in Tudun Biri, Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna State, dozens of people were similarly killed, and hundreds of others injured when a military drone bombed a gathering of residents who were reportedly celebrating Maulud. Nobody has heard anything about the report of the investigation ordered at the time or what happened to the victims who may have been abandoned.

Since we are dealing with people on the lower rung of the social ladder, the tendency is always to quickly forget about victims and move on in a nation where the lives of ordinary citizens count for little. On 17 January 2017, a NAF fighter jet mistakenly dropped bombs on settlements harbouring Internally Displaced Persons’ (IDPs) in Rann, Kala Balge local government area of the same Borno State, leaving several people dead, with humanitarian aid workers of the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) among those seriously injured. Although the late President Muhammadu Buhari made the usual pledge to investigate “this regrettable operational mistake”, nothing happened in the aftermath. And apparently no sufficient lessons were learnt by military authorities because we continue to witness these avoidable tragedies.

Let me be very clear here. Anywhere there are military operations, there is collateral damage. And we must commend our armed forces for their sacrifice over the years as we confront insurgency, banditry and sundry other criminal cartels who work against the peace and progress of Nigeria. But it is not enough for the military to just own up to all these killings, apologise and move on. At all times and in all circumstances, people in uniform and under authorized orders are accountable for lives, even in combat zones. It is therefore important for Defence Headquarters to investigate this and other accidental mass killings of innocent people that have occurred in recent times with a view to ensuring they do not happen again. ((Guardian)

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