Sometime in 2022, when I first met Peter Mbah in his office at Pinnacle Oil and Gas Limited in Victoria Island Lagos, he looked like a lamb –meek and mild. I and two others had gone to coach him on how to handle journalists’ probing questions. It was in preparation for his campaign towards the 2023 governorship election in Enugu State. At the end of the programme, I came out with an impression of a man who is intelligent and could transform the Coal City if he could win the election. I have not seen him since then until recently.
Between June 26 and 29, 2025, Enugu State hosted the biennial convention of the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE). It was an opportunity to see first-hand, the current developments in a state where development went comatose during the reign of the immediate past governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, also known as Gburugburu. Ugwuanyi is among the four ex-governors who are ardent loyalists of the former governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike.
The difference between Ugwuanyi’s era and now is clear. In two years, Mbah has designed a road map that clearly amplifies the slogan in Enugu: “Tomorrow is here!” On Saturday, June 28, 2025, editors took out time to go on tour of project sites to see things for themselves. Different teams visited different sites. My own team first visited Enugu Green Smart School at Owo in Nkanu East Local Government Area (LGA) of the state.
The school, which has nursery and primary sections, has modern facilities such as interactive boards for seamless learning, solar that gives 24-hour light, well-equipped laboratory, digital library and some other tools that enable the students to acquire various skills. The school places emphasis on experiential learning.
There are other smart schools each of which is billed to have 200 hectares of farmlands that produce the food the students eat. Some of us took home some cucumbers and eggs produced from the Owo Smart Green Farm. This model school is to be replicated in all the 260 wards in Enugu. The one in Government Technical College, Enugu, reportedly has the capacity to enrol over 6,000 students. A Hitech plant is in place to manufacture tablets, phones, solar panels, among others, that will be used in the smart schools and marketed elsewhere as well.
The state offers free school fees for 12 years: nursery to Junior Secondary 3. The Executive Chairman, Enugu State Universal Basic Education Board, Professor Hyginus Banko Okibe, who was on hand to answer questions from curious editors, said the state was investing much money on teachers training. It also allocates 33 per cent of its budget to education, more than UNESCO’s recommendation and probably the only state government that does that.
Also, there are model schools for Senior Secondary 1 to 3 being built in all 17 LGAs in the state, one per LGA. On our way to some other sites, we saw some of these buildings in the advanced stage of their construction.
Mbah is not joking with the construction and rehabilitation of roads as well. His administration has constructed and commissioned over 90 roads, flyovers, and bridges. More are still being constructed.
As we moved to some other sites, we passed through the construction of flyover at Eke Obinagu. Though it is a federal road, the state decided to construct it to ease the traffic burden on citizens who use the road. This is a departure from the attitude of many governors who abandon some dilapidated federal roads in their states while waiting in vain for the Federal Government to come and repair them.
Edo State under the immediate past governor, Godwin Obaseki, mounted billboards on some dilapidated federal roads with such inscriptions as, “This is a federal road, bear with us.” The Benin Bypass has continued to be a nightmare to travellers though some parts of it are under repair now. A section of Asaba-Onitsha Road is no longer motorable. Motorists have to divert to some streets before coming out again to the expressway to continue their journey. And this is a major oil-producing state with major federal allocations.
Enugu State is also developing 10,000 hectares of land for its Smart City project. According to the state Commissioner for Works, Engr. Gerald Otiji, the first phase is 1,000 hectares, billed to accommodate 300,000 people. He said some developers had shown interest. In the Smart City, there is no surface infrastructure. Every utility, including electricity and water pipes, will be underground. Gas and high-speed internet will also be available. The new city will integrate residential zones, medical centres, industrial park and sports arenas.
At Enugu asphalt plant, we saw the production of asphalt needed for construction. The plant produces 160 tons per hour. The quality is top-notch. The vision came about knowing that there will be many construction projects that will require the product in the state.
Besides, Type 2 Primary Health Centres (PHC) are under various stages of completion in the 260 wards in the state. Some have already been commissioned with state-of-the-art medical facilities. One of them is the PHC in Emene. Some of the services rendered at the facility include nutritional services, family planning, immunization, antenatal and delivery, laboratory and pharmaceutical services, and management of childhood diseases. The Governor has reportedly approved 2,200 health workers for the health centres. Over 100 of them have already been completed. The rest of them are to be completed before September. This is not forgetting the Enugu State University Teaching Hospital which has received some facelift.
We were also at NigerGas, which was built in 1962 by the Michael Okpara administration to produce nitrogen, medical oxygen, acetylene, and welding/process oxygen. The plant later went moribund. Governor Mbah decided to revive it. It is due to be commissioned soon. Its capacity is 100 cubic metre per hour. Some other moribund projects the current administration is reviving or renovating include the Presidential Hotel, Sunrise Flour Mills, and the Enugu United Palm Products Limited.
At the Enugu Command and Control Centre inside the Government House, we saw how the entire Enugu and some parts of the state have been placed under surveillance. From there, we saw some happenings somewhere inside some bushes in some remote parts of the state. The Centre is integrated with AI-enabled surveillance and digital cameras which capture every car and face that enter the state. If you are a first-time visitor to Enugu, be sure that your face will be captured and recorded. The system is configured in such a way that it does not capture one face twice. No city is completely crime-free. But in the Coal City, crime has drastically reduced. The mere knowledge that there are Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras in strategic locations, as well as patrol vehicles with 360-degree surveillance cameras and communication gadgets has driven away many criminals from the state.
The state has also established a tractor assembly plant. Many of the ordered 1,000 tractors have arrived. This is to enhance mechanised farming in the state. There are also plans to roll out 260 Smart Farm Estates across the state. No doubt, this will have much impact on food security.
The transport sector is not neglected. About 50 Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) buses are parked at the Michael Okpara Square. About 50 more are being expected. This is to ensure cleaner, more efficient and more affordable urban transportation. Before embarking on the tour, the editors first converged at Okpara Square where they were driven round in some of the CNG buses to have a feel of them. Over 2,000 electric vehicles will reportedly be added before the end of the year. Some transport terminals now look like what is obtainable abroad. The Holy Ghost Terminal is a typical example. There is another one in Gariki and some other locations at Abakpa and Nsukka.
Last week, the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, inaugurated the state-owned commercial airline, Enugu Air. There are three Embraer aircraft in its fleet already. The Federal Government even plans to concession the Akanu Ibiam International Airport to Enugu. A visibly impressed Keyamo told Mbah: “Beyond party lines, we should not be afraid to say it. You have a progressive spirit and you have done well for Enugu State. You are one of the best performing governors.”
Most of these projects, directly and indirectly, have impacted on job creation in the state. Engineers, doctors and other health workers as well as some other professionals are beneficiaries. At the International Conference Centre (ICC), many people had a field day selling different articles of trade during the NGE convention. The same day the NGE had its convention, surveyors also had theirs. The earlier abandoned ICC has multi-auditorium, and multi-functional facilities.
I learnt there is 9th Mile Water Scheme capable of delivering 70 million litres of potable water daily to Enugu residents. What the governor did was to overhaul old infrastructure, lay modern pipelines and initiate efficient distribution systems. Many developmental projects are said to be under construction in Enugu. Some of them, like the Awhum Waterfalls and Nsude Pyramids, are to attract tourists to the state.
Mbah is a man of disruptive vision. He has established a United Kingdom visa centre in Enugu and has signed a strategic Memorandum of Understanding with Lion Business Park Limited to establish a world-class Free Trade and Industrial Zone in Enugu. No doubt, all these will attract investors, create jobs and empower more citizens and residents of the state.
Former Ogun State Governor, Aremu Segun Osoba, who toured the project sites with us, could not hide his admiration for Mbah. He had quipped at the opening ceremony of the convention that he was usually reluctant to stay in government guest houses because of their decrepit conditions. But, Osoba enthused, the Enugu government guest house “is the cleanest, the best I have seen in Nigeria. Even the bed is perfect – very good bed.” This drew some laughter from the editors. But surely, Enugu is gradually becoming a bed of roses where citizens will soon sleep with two eyes closed.
Credit:The Sun