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Twelve hours with Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi
By
Uche Igwe
Newsdiaryonline Fri June 24,2011
It is very easy to spot him at the corner of the wide sitting
area.
His hair is fast growing grey. Even that tiny spot below his
lips will betray that reality. The receding hairline (like mine)
has become far more pronounced than it was four years
ago. His dressing is casual yet classy as he hangs an exotic
sports
jacket on a brown trouser and a pair of flat moccasin shoes to
match. Rotimi
Chibuike Amaechi does not fit into that stereotypic picture of a
typical Nigerian governor. He is just his unique self at all
times.
After a few minutes of meeting him, you will discover that this
man is
simply a workaholic, hungry to effect change. He is
a vocal, cerebral
and radically non-conformist. He betrays the activist in him at
the
slightest opportunity, bearing his mind with a sense of history
and
putting his views across without minding if he has made a few
visitors uncomfortable. He comes across with a calm disposition
- yet he is
restless. Emphatic and often argumentative, the Executive
Governor of
Rivers State conjures different feelings before different people
but
the consensus among his friends and enemies is that he is a
committed
politician and magnanimous leader. That is Rotimi - the young
school
boy and student leader, who for so many years, then at the
University of Port Harcourt, could not summon the
courage to speak because he
wore the same shirt all week - now,
a sitting governor of one of the
richest states in Nigeria.
I had accompanied the International Adviser to Africare and
former
United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Ms Robin Saunders, on this
short
visit to the Governor. It was not my first meeting with the
Governor
but I have always seized any opportunity that avails itself to
meet
with him, listen to him and learn from him.
We arrived at about 10.40 am and drove straight to the Songhai
Integrated Farm Project in Tai in the oil bearing Ogoni land. It
is a
massive integrated agricultural project that is an improvement
of the
award-winning Songhai Integrated Farms in Port Novo, Benin
Republic.
While the former US Ambassador was taken round the huge farm, I
took
the opportunity to engage the storekeeper. She told me that the
farm
is already producing and selling farm products from honey to
pawpaw,
and from snail to plantain. I was very fascinated to hear that
the
farm is already providing very many Ogoni people from the nearby
communities with employment. If you get a chance to chat with
Governor
Amaechi, he will quickly tell you that “scaling up agricultural
production is the only way to be food sufficient in Rivers State
and
provide employment”.
We spent the first four hours at the farm and were driven
straight to
the new stadium in the Greater Port Harcourt City, close to the
international airport. We were told by the Commissioner for
Information who was leading us around that the new city is being
developed to decongest the city and cause centrifugal
development and
outward migration. At the Greater Port Harcourt City we met the
Executive Governor dressed in jeans and tee-shirt, moving around
the
wet and muddy construction site. He did not mind receiving a
very a
formal envoy out there. As soon as Ambassador Saunders alighted
from
the car, Governor
Amaechi resumed a tour with her around the massive
sites
both in the new stadium and also in the new city. The US envoy
was visibly impressed by what she saw. I believe that the entire
sports infrastructure is being put together preparatory for the
national sports festival in the next few weeks. As usual, the
Governor
is on ground to keep the contractors on their toes.
If one looks
around the amount of infrastructural projects going on within
the
state, it is natural to say that Rivers State is enjoying the
dividends of democracy.
The vision of the Executive Governor to transform the state
through
good governance is very obvious. However it is increasingly
clear that
the Executive Governor cannot do this alone no matter how hard
he
tries. He will need a stronger and more cohesive team to
translate
this vision into reality. It seems that the machinery of
governance still
revolves around him so much that he hardly finds time to sleep.
His
campaign for the transition from transactional politics to
a
transformational one is not something that can happen overnight
especially in a state like Rivers which has experienced the
former
brand for a fairly long time. This is a cause Rotimi Amaechi has
championed in the past four years as Governor of Rivers States.
A cause that needs a coalition of all Rivers men and women to
begin
to practice politics that transforms and promote democracy that
delivers.
By the way, it is 10.40 pm and I must find my way to my hotel,
the
various road constructions going on means that the traffic may
be
heavy tonight. Her Excellency, Ambassador Saunders has flown
back safely to
Lagos. His Excellency Governor Amaechi is not looking up. He
must be
reading something exciting on his Blackberry. I am exhausted;
this
must be the best time to sneak out. I do not intend to work like
this
again this week or I will break down. Someone should tell this
Governor to slow down. Good night all.
Uche Igwe is a research scholar based at Africa Program,SAIS
Johns Hopkins University, Washington DC and can be reached on ucheigwe@gmail.com
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