Mr. Charles Ajunwa, Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to the Abia State Governor, in this interview about the agenda of the state government to move the state forward and challenged critics of the governor for a debate on TA Orji’s laudable achievements. Excerpts:

What is your take to critics’ comments that Governor Orji has performed below par?

The governor is not averse to criticisms especially if they are constructive. In fact he welcomes them and uses them to improve on his giant strides. But what we have observed is that some individuals out of hatred are bent on discrediting all that the governor is doing.

They are not doing it with honesty or pointing out any alternative. They are bereft of ideas but just want to make noise to attract attention. Abians see them as nuisance and of course in democracy you have to tolerate their nuisance value. They have sworn to destroy through propaganda, all that the governor has put in place that has positively changed the face of Abia.

But I can tell you the governor is not bordered and has never lost focus on what he wants to achieve and where he wants to leave Abia by the time his tenure expires.

What has the governor done to change the face of Abia?

The governor’s record of achievement is intimidating and that is what is driving his detractors crazy. In which sector can anybody fault the governor’s performance by way of infrastructure provisions or otherwise?

If you come to Abia State and sample the opinion of people they will tell you that they have not had it so good as they are witnessing now. There is no sector that is neglected and I stand to be challenged. Every sector is receiving priority attention. Abia is now a safe haven for investors as you can now sleep with your two eyes closed.

Of course everybody knew the history of the state in terms of insecurity, kidnapping, armed robbery, etc. It took the courage, wisdom, tenacity and strategy of Governor to stamp out these vices.

You don’t need to be told that there is political peace and harmony in Abia as all Abia political stakeholders are now speaking with one voice to ensure that the state takes its pride of place. The truth is that the governor has raised the leadership bar and his successor will have a great challenge to sustain it.

The governor met nothing on ground when he assumed office. He started from the scratch to build the state that we are all proud of today and Abia state is described as a construction site. It is now that he built a befitting state secretariat, it is now that he is building the government house, international conference centre, dialysis hospitals of best standards. At the last count, the committee headed by the Commissioner of Information, Dr Eze Chikamnayo took inventory of some of the projects and over 10,000 projects were identified and the governor has continued to commission projects as if he started yesterday.

There is no part of the state that you will not see newly constructed roads, schools, rural electrification. Our critics say nothing is happening in Aba but the Osisioma depot that was moribund for years has been revived and is on stream today. You cannot imagine the number of our youths that have been gainfully employed there.

Today we have accessible roads in Aba and the town has become one of the cleanest cities in Nigeria. In the area of health, we have the Abia state specialist and diagnostic center with all the state of the art equipment which is among the best in our clime. There is the Amachara specialist hospital where we also have a chest specialist centre, we have the 100-bed hospitals in all the zones within the state, we have over 200 health centres, well equipped scattered all over the state, this is apart from the health clinics in every community and villages

Ochendo has left landmarks that are visible and verifiable in all sectors. We are ready to challenge critics anywhere, on radio, on television through any debate to showcase what this government has done as well as projects waiting for commissioning in the areas of agriculture, tourism, youth and women empowerment, housing, etc.

As I speak almost 3000 buses and cars apart from tricycles have been distributed to our youths to empower them in transportation business not to talk of other direct employment initiatives. The governor is not alone in all this, his amiable wife has done so much for the women, building houses for some indigent ones but above all her centre where skills are acquired has received great commendation both nationally and internationally.

culled from Vanguardngr.com