Our modest achievement is not magic but sheer determination – ABSEDA DG

Okechukwu Ndukwe is the general manager of Abia State Estate Development Agency (ABSEDA). In this interview with UDOKA AGWU in Umuahia, he spoke on some of the achievements so far recorded by him since he assumed office one year ago, some of challenges facing the agency and his assessment of Ikpeazu’s administration. Excerpts:

It is now exactly one year you assumed office as the General Manager of ABSEDA. May we know some of the achievements you have recorded?

Let me start with the place you are now. We were not here in the year 2017, we were in a rented apartment but now, we are in our permanent site, which we erected between November last year and now.

Secondly, workers’ welfare has also received a very great push with the refund of staff pension fund, that was earlier on tampered with by the previous administrations. I think we have returned and refunded it to the welfare unit.

In the area of salary payment, today, we are one year in office and by the grace of God, we have paid thirteen months salaries. Internal staff training has been on and a lot of welfare packages for our staff, which we may not mention here. So, you can see for yourself, that our staff are happy and healthy; merely looking at my staff, you can see that if they are not very comfortable, at least they are happy like any other average civil servant in Nigeria.

The raw material upon which we deal is land, because as the name entails – Abia State Estate Development Agency- we don’t develop estates on air or in water. We develop estates on land and previously, before we came in, land had been a major constraint, a major problem for this agency but to the glory of God, today, we have succeeded in acquiring, parcellating and allocating some areas to our beneficiaries like Amuzukwu Housing Estate, Umuderevo Housing Estate, Ohiya-Amaudara Housing Estate and many more that are still undergoing parcellation process.

Before now also, a lot of people had been carrying allocation papers about without corresponding land to show for their allocation papers, but to the glory of God also, we have done a lot of replacements, placing them on ground, those allocations that didn’t have corresponding plots of land to show for, can now boast of plots of land.

We have done a lot of replacements; we have replaced over 130 plots for beneficiaries who have been carrying allocation papers about. We still intend to do more as soon as we conclude parcellation in the ones we are carrying about.

We have done a lot of image-laundering for the agency because the name was not very palatable in the ears of people in the state and environs, but today, I think they are happy doing business and doing anything with the agency because they are sure with what they are doing. They are getting positive results from it.

In the area of conflict resolution, before we came on board we had a lot of court cases hanging on the shoulders of the agency, with our alternative conflict resolution approach, we have been able to resolve a lot of them out of the law court, because we found out that most of them are just things we can settle with one or two meetings. So, we have done that and a lot have been settled out of court.

Most of our abandoned estates have been reopened and revived and people are there and development processes are ongoing in those estates. So, in a nutshell, we have turned the agency from a near moribund state to a very active and lively state in the past one year by the grace of God.

What magic did you apply to achieve these within one year in office?

It is not magic, it is a matter of looking inwards and being determined in what you have come to do and then set goals for yourself. You cannot be giving lands to people to build upon and you that give the land is in a rented apartment, even if people want to do business with you and hear that you are in a rented apartment, they will not do business with you. So, that was why we tackled it headlong, looking inwards, using what we have to get what we want.

Land is a very powerful instrument that anyone can use to either negotiate for whatever you want or otherwise. So here, there was no magic we did, we only looked inwards when we came here and found out that the agency after all has certain things that could be used to get this edifice done, and that was what we did.

We didn’t go and start looking for a contractor to come and start charging billions of naira to build this place. We had to do it by ourselves. We go to where bricklayers usually assemble and negotiate with them, we met the carpenters, negotiate with them, then go to the timber market and negotiate for the wood, tiles, zinc and everything we want. We did not send somebody to go and negotiate for us, to avoid the issue of overblown prize.

Our reason is simple, one, to make name, to tell the world that we have come to deliver for whatever we do today wait for us tomorrow. So, that is just the magic if you say so, but I know it is not a magic.

What are the challenges being faced by your Agency?

Funds! Like every other government and government agencies, money is always the problem for you to carry out most of your activities. But, I still commend the efforts of our executive governor, Victor Okezie Ikpeazu who has been very supportive to us, helping us to overcome some of our shortcomings. So fund has been the major one. Other problems we have been facing, are with most communities, our donor communities. Some will say yes, some will say no, some youths will make this demand, another one will make the other demand. That is, the donor community problems have been one of the problems and by the grace of God we have been tackling them and we have been excelling. The workers here have been co-operating, there have not been any problem, just fund and community problems.

What is your assessment of Governor Okezie Ikpeazu’s administration?

 

Governor Okezie Ikpeazu in the last three years has done well. The other day I was travelling through Ururuka Road to Aba, I found out that a lot of roads there have been tarred, like Umuobiakwa to Onicha-Ngwa to Owoahiafor has been tarred. That road has been in bad shape since Adam, but now it has been tarred by our dear governor and many more roads too have had a facelift.

People will say, it is because the roads are in his area. Ok, look at the quality of work being done around Aba Road, Umuahia, look at Port Harcourt Road, look at the one he did at Faulks Road to Ariaria. You see, one thing is, doing a thing and doing it well and not just doing two million roads without doing any of them well.

Look at the quality of these roads, look at the drainages constructed. Governor Okezie Ikpeazu is doing well. Look at the area of Agriculture; look in the area of youth empowerment. The man has done well, notwithstanding that he spent two years in court, Governor Okezie Ikpeazu would have come out to tell the people that after all he spent two years in court, but look at the good works he has done. Look at the training of the youth, taking Abia youths to China to train them on how to produce shoes that will be of international standard.

I know in his second tenure, he will do marvelously well, because I believe there will be little or no court cases after the election, because I believe his victory will be acceptable by everyone this time around.

What would you like to be be remembered for after leaving office?

My good works! Like I said earlier, what you do today, you wait for the reward tomorrow. So, I will like to be remembered for my good works, just like this edifice you are seeing here. Generations yet unborn will come and see that it is me, after 27 years of the existence of this agency in Abia, it had been in a rented apartment and I came within one year and insisted that we must have our own. This agency was under lock and key when I came one year ago, by the grace of God, the agency you see is lively and active now.