Onyekachi Eze 
Former Abia State Governor, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu, has explained that African leaders choose short-term planning in economic drive because of the negative actions of successive governments towards such gigantic projects. Ikpeazu explained that most leaders in Africa as against the practice of their Western counterparts, choose to run on what he termed, “a palliative economy” because they had minimal pecuniary benefits. He explained that such short-term economic planning was detrimental to national growth as only transgenerational projects can redefine a nation’s or a state’s economy and give a quantum leap to economic development efforts.
Ikpeazu said that running palliative economics can- not change anything nor can they create the needed jobs, stressing that huge in- vestments with the nature of an economic zone like Tinapa in Cross River State and the proposed Enyimba Economic City in Ukwa can change the economic landscape of a state. In his words: “Unfortunately, our leaders don’t find such projects attractive because they have minimal pecuniary benefits and successive administrations in Africa destroy and abandon them just because they don’t want their predecessor to take credit.”
Ikpeazu said that his explanation above was playing out in Abia State where the current Governor, Dr Alex Otti and his administration were doing every- thing possible to ridicule the efforts and investments of his administration in the recently commissioned Geometric Power Plant. Ikpeazu queried the sensibility behind what he termed the needless controversy around Geometric Power and about the investment of his administration in the company and wondered how possible it was for the current administration in Abia to have succeeded in building Geometric Power plant in 9 months, as being touted.
“All the shuttles to Cairo and South Africa between 2020 and 2021 as document- ed were led by a previous administration. Ironically, everyone should be allowed to receive accolades according to the measure of contribution towards that project,” he said. Ikpeazu, who claims that there is an attempt to put the Enyimba Economic City project in jeopardy, said that even such an attempt was unpatriotic, especially for a project that would out- live every government and provide 600,000 jobs. He said that such a project should be of national interest, adding that with such disposition, no governor will embark on any project that he can’t complete in four years, stressing that that was why Nigerian states currently run a palliative economy.
Ikpeazu said that all manner of lies have been told against his administration, pointing out that the current administration lied that his own administration borrowed and spent $115million from the African Development Bank (AFDB), as well as $50million for RAAMP, whereas these funds were applied for under his predecessor and came in just before he left office. He explained that the whole truth about the above funds was that technically, it is the administration of Governor Alex Otti that has these funds and not his because his own administration did not spend one dime from money that never came to it while in power.
Recall that controversy over the Investment of Ikpeazu’s administration in Geometric Power became pronounced when Prof Barth Nnaji, Chairman/ CEO of Geometric Power said on February 23, during a Press Conference that the Abia State government led by Okezie Ikpeazu did not invest a dime in the company. Answering questions from one of the journalists at the conference, who demanded to know the Abia Government’s stake in the company, when he spoke of Private Public Partnership (PPP), Nnaji said: “Well, State Government was expected to commit that amount ($5m) but it didn’t deliver on the amount. So, and of course, it is really not dollars.
There are no dollars. “Nobody has given us any dollars. And it is a good thing for a state government to want to take, let’s say 5% equity position in a company of this nature. It is actually within the State Government but really the PPP that I was talking about is more about how a government acts to ensure there is investment in the place. “I lived in the US for 27 years and I can tell you that states and LGAs go out of their way to provide incentives for companies to come to invest there. Not because they get something like equity but because the companies provide employment and they pay tax to the state or local government,” Nnaji said.
Meanwhile, top officials of the Ikpeazu administration like a former Commissioner for Information, who equally served as a Commissioner for Trade and Investments, Chief John Okiyi-Kalu, have been dishing out several documents to prove that the administration of their former boss did invest in Geometric Power. In one of the letters/ documents made public by Okiyi-Kalu recently and attributed to Nnaji and dated 24th August 2022, the letter said: “I write to appreciate you (Governor Okezie Ik- peazu) for the support you have rendered to Geometric Power in ensuring that the Aba IPP project is completed.
“We like to please request that you complete the journey that started so well. This is in regard to the equity contribution of Abia State for an equity stake of 5 per cent in the project. You may recall that the amount for this 5per cent was agreed for a price of $5 million. “Abia State Government insisted that it would obtain this stake in Naira at the rate of N395 to $1 which was the CBN rate at the time. Out of the N1,975,000,000 required. ABSG paid the sum of N1.41 billion remaining N565 million.” Going further on the matter, Okiyi-Kalu said: “Ac- cording to Prof Bart Nnaji the current value of the Geometric Power Aba IPP project is $800million. With the confirmation that former Governor Okezie Ikpeazu actually bought 3.5 per cent of the shares in the Aba IPP project for Ndi Abia, it means that we have a current value of $28million left behind by Dr Ikpeazu. Assuming Governor Otti decides to sell our stake today he should collect $28million.”
