Ebonyi State Governor Martin Nwancho Elechi, in his inaugural address in 2007, declared that one of the cardinal measures of ensuring material and human development of his people would be entrenchment of attitudinal change.
He explained that change of behaviour would need to be effected by all strata of the society, including the civil service, the private and public sectors.
While being sworn in for a second term in office and during the 2011 Democracy Day held at the Abakaliki Township Stadium on May 29, 2011, Elechi said: “Let us also work assiduously towards the enthronement of a disciplined society where work ethics, especially dedication to duty, becomes our known attribute. Attitudinal change is not just time consciousness and punctuality, it calls for self-remoulding and self-orientation to catch up with the best global practices envisaged in our Millennium Development Goal Number 8.”
To guarantee the actualisation of the attitudinal change policy, the governor had established the Office of the Directorate of Attitudinal Change with Mr. Ken Uhuo as the Special Adviser to the Governor on Attitudinal Change.
The Directorate has sustained collaborative relationship with the State Ministry of Information and State Orientation in key areas of information dissemination and
re-orientation of the Ebonyi people in various spheres even in the remote areas of the state.
The Commissioner for Information and State Orientation, Chief Emmanuel Chike Onwe has provided a platform for the appreciable collaborations.
Invisible as the success or failure of the policy of change is, various people have scored the policy either high or low.
While some people say the success is half measure, some others see it as a policy thrust that has positively impacted on the affairs of the state in its material and human development efforts, especially in the area of crime reduction in the area.
To encourage whatever the governor might have perceived to be the success stories of that policy, he recently set up an Executive Council Standing Committee on State Honours Award.
To underscore how much the award means to the governor, the Deputy Governor, David Umahi was appointed to lead the assessment team while the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Chief Fidelis Mbam serves as secretary of the committee.
Others in the team were the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Dr. Ben Igwenyi, Chief Chike Onwe, Mr. Ken Uhuo; the Personal Assistant to the Governor on Higher Education, Prof. Mike Otuma Special Assistant to the Deputy Governor, Mr. Chinyere Aloke and the Personal Assistant to the Governor on
Special Duties, Mrs. Augustina Nwaiboko.
While setting up the committee, Governor Elechi had his strokes on attitudinal change stating that, “in spite of the national aspirations for accelerated development, a climate of unbridled materialism has accentuated the virtual collapse of the core values, accounting for the country’s stunted growth.
“Under the prevailing situation, it does not take a prophet or a rocket scientist to apprehend the trajectory of ethical rebirth to nation-building.
“As a philosophy of governance and a model for social relations, the doctrine of attitudinal change rests on an integrated tripod: advocacy, sanction and reward.
“Advocacy underpins public enlightenment on citizenship rights and obligations; sanction involves the application and enforcement of extant provisions against breaches of acceptable conduct; while reward involves the reinforcement of excellence and diligence, through special benefits, awards or recognitions to deserving persons and institutions.”
Continuing, he said: “I am not under any illusion that there are many people who will find change either too difficult or even impossible. To such people, the promise I make is that, while we shall always strive to lead by the force of personal example, neither the recourse to expediency nor the threat of blackmail shall deter us from applying the sanctions that go with crooked actions.
“At the same time, we shall not fail to give special rewards to those who make uncommon contributions to the growth of the commonwealth through hard work, honesty and discipline. To this end, we shall introduce awards and prizes for honesty, discipline, high productivity and environmental cleanliness.”
That was Elechi’s eloquent mandate for the Executive Standing Committee on State Honours Awards. The committee set out to do the selection from among three million Ebonyi people and residents and on Thursday, May 29, 2014 made public their findings at a splendid ceremony at the Governor’s Lodge, Government House Abakaliki.
That day, 103 recipient of the award comprising individuals and institutions were decorated by the governor and were given various prizes. Some of them went home with N500, 000 while others got N50, 000.
The high flying recipients included Princess Mary Adaeze Ekuma (MON), currently, the Chief Instructor, Catering Services, Government House, Abakaliki. Her award is for dedication and diligence in service delivery, Comrade Chinedu Ogah (OON), 38-year-old youth leader of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was given an award for responsible youth organisation and leadership.
Dr. Ngozi Obichukwu, Focal Person, Ebonyi State Millennium Development Goals/Conditional Grants Scheme received the award for outstanding performance in public service delivery.
Three organisations, Ebonyi Youth Assembly, Mater Misericodae Hospital, Abakaliki; Rural Improvement Mission Hospital (Presbyterian Church) Hospital Ikwo were given awards for excellence.
This year’s Attitudinal Change Policy Awards by Ebonyi State Government threw up many youths award recipients.
But one person whose award was most celebrated is Obinna Udenwe, a rising literary giant and author of two books which have received international acclaim.
He was honoured for his literary creativity having authored a book, Dancing Bird which has received wide acclaim globally and in the social media.
When the writer started writing in 2005, little did he know that he has begun a journey that will bring him such recognition and afford him the opportunity to dine and wine with top echelons of the society.
Presenting him with the award, Ebonyi State Governor Martin Elechi noted that “Obinna Udenwe’s impressively meticulous documentation of his literary achievements places him ahead of his contemporaries. His enduring popularity has been ensured by the breath and perceptiveness of his work, both locally and internationally.
“With effervescent and bubbling initiative, Obinna Udenwe, at the sacrifice of the rest, (apart from the mental strain), has furnished the world with much to remember through a melange of literary works, with the marvellous capacity of audience manipulation.
“With his uncommon intellectual graciosity, he explores in rich vocabulary and cold-blooded details, African values in his anthologies, and in so doing, has etched Ebonyi State on world map. Obinna Udenwe’s pan-African bent and youth capacity-building initiatives find expression in entrepreneurship development, leadership and governance skills.
“The social media is awash with his works which dwell extensively on global challenges and Africa’s economic and socio-cultural development. Obinna has travelled extensively for symposia, workshops and conferences, during which he interfaced with notable literary icons.
“He has been on delegations, sometimes representing Nigeria and West Africa, to the United Nations during which he interacted with world leaders one on one.”
His new book Satans and Shaitans slated for publication in London is expected to be on the shelf in September this year.
Apart from the individual award, Udenwe’s foundation, Ugreen Foundation also got another award for its human capacity development programmes. He is currently a nominee of the African Literary Icon project for using Ugreen platform to transform and build the African literary tradition”, the governor added.
“Through his organisation, Obinna Udenwe has encouraged the development of young and budding writers; to give vent to their creative talents. Ugreen Foundation organises talk shops in which young Ebonyians are encouraged to proffer solutions on how to move the state forward,”, Elechi stated.
The recipient expressed surprise at the honour bestowed on him and his organisation by the state government.
“I feel honoured because it shows that whatever you are doing, even if you are doing it in your room, you will be noticed and rewarded in due course. I started writing in 2005, and I never knew that a day like this will come when I will be rewarded by the state government.
“We were also surprised that my organisation received an award for promoting literature in the state. Ugreen Foundation promotes knowledge building and is also interested in getting the young people to be interested in democracy and leadership.
“I started Ugreen Foundation in 2008 and since then, we have continued to partner with other young people to ensure that young people are trained in leadership in order to ensure that they get to know what democracy is all about and also in knowledge building.
“We have the creativity class where we bring in budding writers and train them on writing and oratory. We didn’t know that the state government was monitoring all that and felt that we should receive a pat at the back.”
He noted that he went into promotion of literature and writing because of the poor reading culture among the youth of the country today.
