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POLITICS OF OPPOSITION: THE UGWUANYI’S INIMITABLE SIGNATURE TEMPLATE

Published

6 years ago

September 8, 2020

Josephat Omeke.

Living under opposition government is something many South East residents and people are yet to come to terms with, their beloved party the PDP having been in control of the centre for sixteen years. With the exception of Anambra state and later Imo state in 2011 when Rochas Okorocha freely handed an APGA mandate over to the APC, the South East has largely been regarded as the birth place of the People’s Democratic Party. This obviously is due to the pioneering role of late Chief Alex Ekwueme in the party’s formation.

Even during Obasanjo’s presidency, when the Yorubas ought to have dominated key appointments of the federal government, the Igbo influence in the scheme of things was overbearingly infectious. For example, for a very long time, the Senate presidency, the office of the deputy president of the Senate, the deputy speakership of the House of Representatives, the office of the Secretary to the government of the federation along with other sensitive ministerial appointments appeared to have been reserved for South East sons and daughters and to which they almost enjoyed the right of first refusal.

Although no Igbo person was elected head of government within the period under review, the Igbo nation was so courted by the PDP government at the centre that one president went as far as adopting the name Azikiwe just to curry Igbo’s favour in an upcoming general elections being the undisputed owners of the party that kept him in power.

Calling the shots at the nation’s highest seat of power, South East governors were so influential that they determined all federal appointments in their states as all the Presidents then did everything to avoid any issue with their party’s support base( Igbo land) even in glaring cases of confrontation and insubordination.

In one of such instances of confrontation, an Abia state Governor not only openly challenged and called the bluff of a president but also boycotted the party’s elective convention without any consequence whatsoever. No state of emergency was declared as was was done in Plateau, Ekiti and one other under questionable circumstances. No! The stakes were too high for such gambling in the South East the acclaimed home of the PDP

All that seemingly rosy spell changed in 2015 when the Igbo nation’s relevance in the scheme of things began to dwindle to an infinitesimal level following the coming into power of the All Progressive Congress which had no root in the South East.

A new reality thus dawned on the government and people of the area as virtually everything began to take a turn for the worse up to a point when even the office of the deputy president of the Senate which became the highest to be occupied by a south East politician under the APC government was also later lost to the party in power.

Enugu state was particularly hit in so many ways being a typical civil service state with the highest wage bill in the entire geopolitical zone. To make matters worse, so many political appointees who ordinarily would have been drawing their salaries from Abuja had PDP remained in power, added to the state’s suffocating wage bill thereby jacking up its recurrent expenditure to an intolerable level.

As if all that was not enough, the state has had to grapple with heavy debt overhang occasioned by several debilitating loans and contractual obligations entered into by previous administrations, running into hundreds of billions of naira. Available records show that Enugu despite not being an oil state now spends an average of #300 million on a monthly basis to service these debts and which again is the highest by any state in the south east.

The problem is further compounded by the protracted fall in international oil price since 2015 and which may likely lead to two economic recessions in a space of eight years, the first of its kind in the nation’s history. No wonder some states( including a South East state) have been described as irredeemable having owed as many as 20 months salaries and pensions.

It is in this state of economic hopelessness that Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu state brought his ingenuity, dexterity, frugality and managerial wizardry to bear and which have paid off by keeping the state afloat despite the turbulent times.

Knowing full well that Enugu now in opposition was likely to lose even more through confrontation with the APC led federal government, the Governor initiated a uniquely inimitable governance template which enabled him to flow with the central government as though it were of his own party.

Even though late Dr Sam Mbakwe the former Governor of the old IMO state was the first to adopt a bipartisan approach to governance and for which he was tagged a crying Governor, Ugwuanyi’s style is different in that federal government officials to everybody’s chagrin, feel more at home in Enugu than in many APC states where the state government officials are at war with their federal counterparts.

Although the outcome of Ugwuanyi’s unique and result oriented governance template based on mutual respect, cooperation and collaboration could never be comparable to his own party being in charge of affairs at the centre, many analysts are of the view that his formula has yielded incalculable benefits, the most recent being the spectacular transformation of the Akanu Ibiam International airport. In the transformation process which is still ongoing, the airport’s runway has been adjudged the best in the country.

Aside from the Governor’s novel bipartisan approach to governance, his excellent interpersonal relationship is award winning and does more magic for him. This rare gift by his creator he has brought to bear for example by, exploiting his friendship with the minister of aviation Hadi Sirika with whom he spent years in the House of Representatives, to drag his attention to the Enugu Airport, a gesture the minister is yet to extend to his home state Katsina.

Many observers are thus unanimous in their conclusion that without Ugwuanyi at the lion building at this critical time, Enugu in opposition would have been in ruins with backlog of unpaid salaries, insecurity of lives and property, horrible infrastructural deficit and leadership vacuum which would have brought the capital of the old Eastern Nigeria to ridicule. I can’t agree more.

From Josephat Omeke. Writing from Enugu

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Business

Turning Africa’s Raw Materials Into Wealth: The ARMS 2026 Industrial Agenda

Published

3 days ago

September 29, 2026

The Gleamer

By Joel Ajayi

For decades, Africa’s vast natural resources have powered industries and economies far beyond the continent, while many African countries have remained largely exporters of unprocessed commodities and importers of finished products.

That familiar pattern is now coming under renewed scrutiny as policymakers, researchers, investors and industrialists seek to change the direction of Africa’s resource economy.

At the centre of that conversation is the second edition of the Africa Raw Materials Summit (ARMS 2026), scheduled for October 19 and 20 at the Abuja Continental Hotel, Abuja, under the theme: “From African Feedstock to African Factories.”

Organised by the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC), the summit is being positioned as more than another gathering of policymakers and industry stakeholders. It is intended to provide a platform for confronting the structural challenges that have kept African raw materials largely disconnected from local manufacturing.

Africa has for years operated largely within a “pit-to-port” economic model, exporting raw materials while importing expensive finished products.

Speaking at a press conference ahead of the summit on Tuesday in Abuja, the Director-General and Chief Executive Officer of RMRDC, Prof. Nnanyelugo Martin Ike-Muonso, said the event would bring together policymakers, investors, researchers, technology providers and industrialists to develop practical strategies for transforming Africa’s abundant natural resources into industrial wealth.

The challenge, therefore, is not simply the abundance of resources, but the continent’s ability to transform those resources into industrial value, employment, technology and wealth within Africa.

Nigeria alone, according to the RMRDC, has more than $582.4 billion in documented non-renewable natural resources, while the wider continent possesses substantial deposits of critical minerals, agricultural raw materials and industrial feedstock.

Yet, the benefits of this resource endowment have often been constrained by inadequate processing capacity, weak infrastructure, limited technology, financing gaps and fragmented regional value chains.

From Dialogue to Industrial Action

ARMS 2026 builds on the maiden edition held in May 2025, which attracted more than 1,000 delegates from across the world.

The inaugural summit also witnessed the unveiling of the Ten-Year Raw Materials Transformation Roadmap (2025–2034) by the Minister of State for Industry, Senator John Owen Enoh.

The roadmap was designed around areas including technological capability, climate-resilient processing and backward integration, establishing a policy framework for greater domestic utilisation of Africa’s raw materials.

The second edition is expected to move the conversation further by bringing policy, capital, technology and industrial stakeholders around practical mechanisms for turning raw materials into locally manufactured products.

One of the major proposals highlighted by the RMRDC is the 30 per cent Mandatory Value Addition Bill, which seeks to establish a statutory minimum level of value addition to Nigerian raw materials before export.

The Council says the proposed framework could support job creation, import substitution, foreign-exchange conservation and increased manufacturing contribution to the economy.

Building the Infrastructure for Value Addition

The industrial transformation envisaged by ARMS 2026 goes beyond legislation.

A major concern is the “missing middle” between where raw materials are produced and where factories are located.

Poor transportation networks, inadequate cold-chain facilities, weak rural roads, limited testing and certification infrastructure and border-related delays can make locally sourced materials more expensive and less competitive.

Consequently, logistics and infrastructure constitute one of the five principal pillars of the summit.

The objective is to develop more reliable corridors connecting farms and mines with processing centres and manufacturing facilities, thereby reducing losses and improving the movement of industrial inputs.

The Digital Dimension

Technology is also becoming an important part of the Council’s strategy.

The RMRDC says it has developed the Nigeria Integrated Information Statistical System for Raw Materials and Products (NISSRAMP), described as a digital repository containing information on feedstock deposits, specifications, production outputs and industrial absorption rates.

The Council has also highlighted its transition towards paperless operations and its certification as a Data Controller/Processor of Major Importance by the Nigeria Data Protection Commission.

Such digital infrastructure could provide investors and manufacturers with better information about the availability and characteristics of raw materials while supporting more informed industrial planning.

Turning Waste Into Industrial Inputs

Another major component of ARMS 2026 is the proposed expansion of the circular economy.

The summit will examine how agricultural by-products, mine tailings, scrap metals and biomass can be recovered and reused as inputs for new production processes rather than being treated simply as waste.

The RMRDC argues that such an approach could lower raw-material costs while supporting more sustainable and climate-resilient manufacturing systems.

For Africa, where industrial expansion must increasingly balance economic development with environmental considerations, waste industrialisation could become an important part of the continent’s manufacturing conversation.

From National Production to African Value Chains

The African Continental Free Trade Area is another important element of the summit’s agenda.

The RMRDC sees AfCFTA as an opportunity to create regional value chains in which raw materials sourced in one African country can be processed and supplied to manufacturers in another.

Under such a model, Africa would move beyond simply exporting commodities to external markets and develop stronger internal networks for supplying chemicals, refined minerals, agricultural inputs and other industrial materials across national borders.

This approach places regional integration at the heart of Africa’s industrialisation strategy.

Bridging Research and Capital

A recurring weakness in many developing economies is the gap between research and commercialisation.

Innovations may emerge from universities, research institutions and laboratories without receiving the financing, equipment or market connections required to become commercially viable.

ARMS 2026 intends to address that gap through technology commercialisation and capital linkages, connecting research outputs with investors, development finance institutions and industrial off-takers.

The RMRDC has also cited partnerships with the Bank of Industry for commercial-scale post-harvest processing and a South-South technology-transfer partnership with the National Innovation Centre par Excellence in Shanghai, China.

A Larger Industrial Conversation

The scale of ARMS 2026 is expected to be significantly larger than the maiden edition.

The organisers project more than 1,800 delegates from all 54 African countries and global industrial partners.

The programme will feature high-level policy dialogues, technical panels, an advanced raw materials and technology exhibition, industrial site visits and the African Raw Materials Industry Awards.

The exhibition, in particular, is expected to showcase locally fabricated processing machinery, advanced domestic materials, green chemicals and engineered commercial inputs.

Beyond the speeches and exhibitions, however, the real significance of ARMS 2026 will ultimately depend on what happens after the summit.

Africa’s challenge has never been a shortage of raw materials. The more difficult question has been how to transform those resources into factories, products, skilled employment, technology and sustainable economic opportunities.

For Nigeria and the rest of the continent, the proposed shift from “pit-to-port” to “feedstock-to-factory” therefore represents a broader debate about the future structure of African economies.

ARMS 2026 seeks to place that debate firmly on the industrial agenda — with value addition, technology, finance, infrastructure, circular production and regional trade at the centre.

If the commitments and partnerships generated by the summit translate into measurable industrial activity, the event could provide another platform for Africa to examine how its enormous resource base can support stronger domestic manufacturing.

The message from the organisers is clear: the continent’s raw materials should not only leave African soil as commodities; they should increasingly become the foundation for African industrial production

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