Let’s hear it for Governor Emmanuel Udom, he is young, he is clean, he is cool, he is dapper and if Hardball were a lady, he would have described him as ‘delicious’. This fellow is so good-looking, often so well turned out that he would make many showbiz people cringe. Add all this to the fact that this dashing young man governs Akwa Ibom, one of the richest states in the land; well, you would be forgiven if you begin to question why Providence is sometimes so terribly partial in favour of some guys.
But the lesson of today is: never quarrel with Providence for there is always a catch somewhere (this line is a Hardball original, please be free to use without attribution). Simply put, it is not what Providence has bequeathed you that really counts but the dividends you declare at the end of the day. Remember the joke about other nations grumbling to God why he overly blessed Nigeria and He was said to have told them to watch out for the specie of people he would populate the place with.
So it is not enough for Governor Udom to be so blessed, what is he gonna do with such bequeathal? Hardball has picked on Udom because he may have started off so very poorly. Like most other colleagues of his, he does not seem to be imbued with the grounding, the grit, the character and discipline to run a state especially in these tough times. Like most of the other so-called governors, it has been 100 days of business as usual – flight of fancy, cheap bailout fund and loans galore. Most of the loans, Hardball wagers, have been frittered, to say it with decency.
Apart from perhaps Nasir El-Rufai (Kaduna) and Ben Ayade (Cross River), who have attempted to shift the old, decadent paradigms, most of the others have manifested annoying humdrum and a stark lack of capacity to appreciate the magnitude of the challenges before them.
But Governor Udom stands out because he has chosen to burn millions of naira in some inane, feel-good advert campaign and celebration of an unremarkable state anniversary. Hardball was taken aback when the excessive advert and unnecessary celebration started; but then people are entitled to some ephemeral feel-good activities, one thought.
But when a national newspaper (The Punch, Tuesday, October 6, 2015) ran that prize-winning front page picture, one knew one’s hunches were right all this time. The picture shows pupils of St. Paul’s Lutheran Primary School, Ikot Ibiok, Eket Local Government Area (LGA) of Akwa Ibom State seated on bare floor in a classroom. There must be many more stone-age classrooms like this in Udom’s kingdom. This should never be in Nigeria; at least never in Akwa Ibom. Hardball would never be proud to govern a state with such a school.
Udom’s frivolous spending so far would have afforded basic furnishings to all the primary schools in the state in the last 100 days. The point being made here – to all our governors and not just to Udom – is that they must cut waste; focus on the basics, get the LGAs functioning and explore alternative sources of revenues.