Lagos — Not too long ago, Abia State was under siege as a result of the activities of robbers and kidnappers. Businessmen and other prominent people were either killed or kidnapped.

As a result, investors were scared away, while construction companies abandoned their equipment on site and fled. This began to have a toll on the socio-economic activities of the state. Now things are changing as the administration is poised to restore total sanity for economic and infrastructural development.

Before now, the news coming out of Abia State was about total insecurity-kidnapping and armed robbery in some parts of the state, and especially the state capital-Umuahia and the commercial city of Aba. It was so intense that investors began to run away, while potential businessmen and women shun doing business in the state, an area the people proud themselves as 'God's Own State.'

Worried by the danger this portends to lives and property as well as the economy of the state, Governor Theodore Orji took various decisive steps to bring sanity to the state. Some of the steps Orji took include equipping the police, banning the operation of commercial motorcycles in major cities and towns and granting of amnesty to repentant militants and hoodlums who were terrorising the state. Recently, he collaborated with Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State to addressing the security challenges in border towns between the two states.

Their decision elicited applause from residents of both states who occasionally ply roads in some of these border communities. Before the two governors came up with this idea, robbers and kidnappers had held some of the link roads between the two states in some of the border towns, like Owaza and Obehi, under siege. And the action of the robbers had resulted in the death of prominent citizens of Rivers and Abia States. It would be recalled that it was on one of the link roads, Obehi, that a former Ambassador to Gabon and Ukraine, who hails from River State, Ambassador Ignatius Ajuru, was murdered alongside his driver by suspected hoodlums December last year.

It was also on one of the link roads that four expatriates working for Shell at Afam, Rivers State, were taken hostage in January this year and later released after spending some traumatic days in the hands of their abductors. It was also on one of the link roads that the Police in Rivers State engaged some armed robbers in a shoot-out for over two hours last year and recovered a bullion van with huge sums of money they had snatched. Security situation at the border towns in the state until now was really bad.

Before the two governors met, the sad part of the story was that security operatives in either of the states did not see the towns and communities as falling under their jurisdiction. For instance, when the four expatriates were kidnapped in January this year, the Rivers State government in its press statement on the issue regretted the incident but quickly stressed that it did not occur in its territory. This perception caused robbers, hoodlums and brigands to take charge of the area. They unleashed terror at will on innocent travelers.

So it was a relief to many plying the link roads in these border towns when the governors of the two states met and resolved to partner to tackle security challenges on the roads. But Orji knows very well that though the security situation is improving, his government will not rest until acceptable security of life and property is achieved. "Before now, you cannot walk freely on the streets of Umuahia and Aba at this time of the night. But now night life has returned in both cities without anyone being molested or kidnapped," the governor told THISDAY in Umuahia recently.

On this Monday evening, the heavy presence of visitors at the waiting room of the governor gave the impression that this reporter was not likely to see the governor. But before THISDAY could settle down in the congested visitors' room, the mobile phone of the Commissioner for Information and Tourism, John Nwokocha rang. And that was the governor asking him to bring in the THISDAY reporter to his office. It was past 7pm and a lot of people were still waiting for their turn to see him. Entering his modest office that depicts his simplicity, what is noticeable is his media friendliness.

One will also notice that the governor is a workaholic.

As he settled down to speak with THISDAY on his government's effort in the area of education, health, job provision, commerce and industry as well as infrastructural development, one thing he kept underlining during the discussion was the importance of security. From the deduction, there can never be any development-be it infrastructure or economic without security. "Before now there were so many incidences of kidnapping and armed robbery cases. But in recent times, this has been taken care of. Some of the measures taken include the establishment of Abia State Vigilante Agency and the Police and Army joint patrol.

"Initially, we donated about 75 patrol vans, equipped them with communication gadgets and provided other logistics. Only recently, 40 new patrol vans were provided for crime prevention. We also have a tracking system in place that tracks and monitors phone calls. So while armed robbers or kidnappers are still planning, their plans could be nipped on the bud because we would detect it. We also have a system in place that rewards informants of any crime. If you have information for government about a crime the reward is N1 million. So all these have worked well for us.

"In addition, to further raise the level of security, two traditional rulers who were found not to be doing enough to ensure security of lives within their areas were deposed. Also, the use of Okada (commercial motorcycle), which was identified as the most frequent form of perpetrating crime, was also banned throughout the state. In its place, government introduced and encouraged the use of new tricycles, cars and taxis at very cheap rates by the people. All these efforts have reduced crime to the barest minimum in Abia State," Orji told THISDAY.

In areas of infrastructure and roads construction, the governor said, "if you go to Umuahia, there is no part of the city that is not tarred or without streetlights and effective drainage systems. The worst roads in Abia are federal roads, not state-owned." Even at that, the Aba-Port Harcourt road and Aba-Owerri road that used to be impassable have received attention and are now dualised. Abia State government has so far spent about N10 billion in the maintenance of federal roads in the state.

It regrets that though funds were appropriated for the rehabilitation of federal roads in the state, nothing had been done on the roads prompting the state government to use its lean resources to rehabilitate the federal roads that pass through the state. According to Orji, the South East zone has suffered gross neglect in infrastructural development, noting that Abians have suffered untold hardship due to the bad federal roads in the state.

He however said that road projects in Aba and Umuahia are being replicated throughout the state as no zone is excluded. "The Ariaria Market road is receiving attention to the point of Ndiegoro. In fact, we have virgin roads been created by this administration. When the environment is not conducive, it brings frustration. You recall that Aba roads were once terrible and given that the average businessman needs to move around, you would begin to appreciate the efforts being made to fix the roads. There is also the issue of security. More than a tenth of the joint patrol stays in Aba, so a businessman is secured and comfortable. Besides, Aba has been cleared of all the refuse dumps that used to be around," he stated

On housing, in the last two years, the administration has put up about 6000 housing units in various housing estate schemes. Before now, Abia was the only state that had no state or federal secretariat. Government offices are scattered through Umuahia. But a contract was awarded and work is ongoing for the state secretariat to compliment the existing ones, THISDAY was told.

In the area of health, the administration said it has built brand new hospitals in every zone and medical treatment is free and qualitative throughout the state. Interestingly, the governor said the state has acquired the revered Alaoma Hospital, Umuahia, which is undergoing reconstruction as a Specialist Hospital and Diagnostic Centre. According to Orji, by the time government is through with the hospital, Abians would no longer go to Lagos, Abuja or overseas for the treatment of complex medical challenges.

Also, to improve on the justice system in the state, new vehicles were purchased and donated to judges and magistrates in the state judiciary. A new office complex with conference centre was also built and equipped for the Ministry of Justice. The Orji Administration is currently in the process of renovating and equipping the courtrooms to make them more comfortable for the judges, magistrates and litigants.

Despite all these, critics of his government have said that what they are seeing on the ground is not enough to justify the earnings of government. Orji however said there are no month that Abia has got more than N2.1 billion. It hovers between N2 and N2.1 billion. He said Abia a civil service state where government employs about 99.9 per cent of workers in the state. There are no oil or multinational companies to pay tax in Abia State. The wage bill every month is between N1.6-1.8 billion. So when all these are subtracted from what the state gets from Abuja, it is left with about N300 million.

The internally generated revenue for the whole state hovers between N50 and N200 million. This added to the initial balance, is what the governor has been using to work. And when you check what he has achieved with the revenue available to him you would see that he has been performing magic, THISDAY was told. In other to shore up its meagre resources, government introduced fresh measures to increase its internally generated revenue (IGR).

In its plan to meet the N9.7 billion target for IGR as estimated in the 2010 budget, the Abia State government engaged the services of a consultancy firm, Infiniti Segment Limited to undertake the collection of all internal revenues accruing to the state. The measure was to avoid financial leakages, fraud and embezzlement in government's revenue collection machinery. The state is targeting a monthly IGR of N880 million, but the firm assured it could generate up to N1billion every month, and would be paid from the excess of the benchmark.

However, THISDAY investigation has shown that one of the problems the state has is its debt portfolio, which stands at about N100 billion. These debts date back to even before the second republic and Orji incurred none of it. The debts were used at various times by various governments to establish industries that are no longer producing. Now, the federal government deducts a certain percentage from the monthly allocation that accrues to the state to service the debt. So, the federal government removes the premium and interest from source to service the debt.

All the companies in question closed down. Now, the Orji Administration in collaboration with the private sector is reviving some of them. The reason is not only to shore up the economy, but to also provide employment to the youth. Some of the industries include Golden Guinea, which went under about 15 years ago, the Modern Ceramics Industry, all in Umuahia and the International Glass Factory in Aba. These two have been resuscitated, revitalised and are now producing and employing Abia citizens.

Orji also told THISDAY that his government has a well-articulated blue print for an industrial revolution of Abia State and is diligently following that blue print, which is an admixture of public and private participation. His economic approach is to do one thing at a time. He does not engage in gigantic elephant projects that would not benefit anybody. He has done roads, water, housing and rural electrification. "The multiplier effects have been immense," he said, with Nwokocha, his Commissioner for Information and Tourism nodding agreement.

Despite criticisms that have trailed his government's interest to get a bond and a loan of $200 million from the World Bank, Orji said he is determined to take those financial facilities for the development of Abia State. "In addition, government is re-engineering the agricultural sector by exploring conventional opportunities of improved technologies-biotechnology and genetic engineering.â-‚ These technologies would explore the use of improved farm implements, farming systems and inputs to ensure sustainable food production, increased income and better livelihood for the farmers in line with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

"Besides, we have vigorously pursued the provision of micro credit to farmers in the state, while government will continue to distribute high-yielding cassava cutting, maize seeds, cocoa and palm seedlings to farmers in theâ-‚17 local government area of the state," he said.