Thread by @MrStanleyNwabia

~Thread~

I promised you all my own Report Card on Governor Ikpeazu after my #LiveInAbia expedition. This thread summarizes my overall impression...

1. Believe it or not, Gov Okezie Ikpeazu is an intellectual, I saw a lot of similarities with Mimiko in him. But while Mimiko chose to focus mainly on Mother & Child Healthcare, Ikpeazu opted to focus on Aba Trade & Commerce...

2. The Centre-piece of Gov Ikpeazu's economic policy is structured around making Aba a prosperous international manufacturing hub such that its economic prosperity spreads to other parts of Abia and SE in general. Critics not from Aba axis may not like this policy.

3. Gov Ikpeazu made Abia one of the pioneer states for Govt School Feeding programme. While FG's feeding programme caters for Primaries 1-3, Abia Govt feeds children from Pry 1-6.
School enrollment jumped from 140k in 2015 to over 600k today.

4. Aba General Hospital was shut down for TEN years, Governor Ikpeazu revived it and added a Sickle cell Centre.

5. Gov Ikpeazu is pursuing an ambitious Oil palm policy but this time the focus is not going to be on exporting Palm oil but on manufacturing finished products with Palm produce.

6. Gov Ikpeazu has pioneered the complete automation of Shoe manufacturing in Aba: Artisans trained in China, heavy machinery imported. Aba will soon have the capacity to churn out thousands of Shoe orders within hours.

7. Roads Roads Roads!
We did not go to Umuahia, Federal roads like ABA-PH are in shambles.
However, Aba metropolis is wearing a new look. Roads that used to be water logged death traps have been fixed with good drainage.

Aba looks like a very liveable city now.

8. CONCLUSION: No Governor can satisfy everybody. Prompt payment of Salaries is still an issue in Abia. Though we did not see heaps of refuse (like Lagos), Aba needs to do more in terms of sanitation.

I would score Gov Ikpeazu a very powerful 'C'