Today’s Make Nigeria Better series takes us to Enugu State in the southeast geo-political zone nicknamed the Coal City State

Ayo Akinfe

[1] Modern day Enugu State is what I would call a pioneering part of the country as back during the colonial era, it was one of the first provinces to industrialise. Thanks to its coal deposits, Enugu was soon home to Nigeria’s largest mine, attracting workers from all over Africa. This spurred the growth of the city of Enugu, allowing it to become the spiritual home of Ndigbo. This status needs to be cashed in on big time

[2] Probably the one thing the British got spot on in Nigeria was that they divided the country into 40 provinces. Those provinces, which are a genuine reflection of Nigeria’s ethnic make-up, form the basis of today’s 36 states. Now, Enugu Province also contained Nsukka, which too was part of this pioneering project as it became home to our first indigenous university in 1960. I want to see Enugu State packaged and sold as being at the vanguard of Nigeria’s post World War Two development and attracting tourists based on that

[3] With its landmass of 13,161 square kilometres, Enugu State has the largest area of the five states in the southeast geo-political zone. It is the one Igbo state suited to agriculture. Crops that grow across Enugu State include yams, oil palm, maize, rice and cassava. What the Enugu State government needs to do is get local farmers to form cooperatives based on each of its 17 local government areas. The government should then take out a minority stake in each of these cooperatives of say 25% and mass produce these crops on an industrial scale

[4] All of Enugu State’s main urban centres like Enugu, Nsukka, Awgu, Udi, Oji-River, Ninth Mile, Oboloafor, Agbani and Adanni should be mega industrial cities with manufacturing companies and industrial estates converting these primarily commodities into finished goods

[5] Enugu City itself should not only be an industrial hub but also a major tourist destination with the old mine attracting millions of visitors there annually. Why has a massive monument not been built on the site along with adjoining hotels, bars, cafes, restaurants, amusement arcades, theme parks, etc?

[6] Were I the Enugu State governor, I would look to cash in on the fact that Enugu City is the spiritual home of Ndigbo, so would build a passive statue park with giant statues of Igbo heroes like Azikiwe, Okpara, Ibiam, Orizu, Wachukwu, Achebe, Ironsi, etc. We should attract pilgrims from all over Africa who want to come and find out more about Ndigbo

[7] As we all know, Ndigbo are the Germans of Africa with their industrial spirit and the Jews of Africa with their dominance of retail trade. Every African who wants to learn about retailing should come to Enugu State to get trained. Were I the Enugu State governor, I would build the University of Retailing in somewhere like Udi. It would be the largest such university in the world and would seek to rival the likes of Harvard, Oxford and Cambridge

[8] Enugu State also has iron ore deposits and commercial quantities of limestone, fine clay, marble, oil shale, gas, glass sands,ironstone, clay minerals, limestone, gypsum, alum and silica sand. I think the state government should float an Enugu State Commodity Company in conjunction with the private sector to prospect for, process and market these commodities. Only fully manufactured finished products should be sold

[9] Enugu has also historically been a prominent market city. I think this needs to be expanded upon. Were I the Enugu State governor I would be looking to open the Nigerian Grain Exchange in the city, modelled along the same lines as the Chicago Board of Trade

[10] Electricity should also be a main money spinner for Enugu State as it is home to the Oji River Power Station, which used to supply power to all of the whole old Eastern Region. I would like to see the Enugu State government get into a public private partnership agreement with investors to take over the plant and generate 10,000MW a year. Sell this power to all of Nigeria’s 35 other states.

Ayoakinfe@gmail.com