Season’s greetings to Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi; the great advocate for the masses -By Ifeanyichukwu Mmoh

Not too many Nigerians understood why Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi was named honorable minister for transport again upon the reconstitution of the federal cabinet following the landslide victory of President Muhammadu Buhari in the last general elections.

As a friend, follower and admirer of this great advocate for the masses, it’ll be a disservice to the Nigerian people and indeed a dishonor if I failed to go down memory lane – to enable us understand the character and person of the honorable minister – as I write him this New Year wish.

Fate had determined that among the 32 friends and course-mate graduating from the Applied Geology Programme of the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University in Bauchi state in 2006, I was going to Rivers state of Nigeria for the mandatory NYSC experience.

It was a trend back then and even now for folks to ‘work their posting’ to places of choice but I was really adamant to join the bandwagon. And so it was that when the postings came through I would be going down south for the first time in my life to spend a year working.

I have always loved to travel not just for the fun of it but primarily because of my passion for writing about the polity, the policies of government and stuffs. In going to Rivers state, I saw a chance to learn and to get a feel of politics in that part of the federation.

Meanwhile, the year was 2007 when I got to Port Harcourt and was redeployed to community secondary school Omuike, Aluu after the 3 week-long orientation exercise. It was indeed an interesting time of my life which I spent a better part of teaching chemistry to senior students.

To be honest, the only discomfort I suffered while in Port Harcourt was the inability to meet my needs due to the high cost of living. Being a community school that was captured under the state’s school board system, corps members were supposed to be paid stipends to augment what came from the federal government.

But for 9 months, the stipends weren’t forth coming. Now, read the story of how a politicians’ good heart affected the masses and how fate brought the man Chibuike Amaechi to the rescue of poor corps members.

The first thing I learnt upon arriving Rivers state in 2007 was the shaky arrangement left behind by former Governor Sir Peter Odili. The government of Sir Celestine Omehia had proved to be illegitimate not only by the outcome of the supreme court judgment but also by the shabby manner it treated corps members during its short stay in power.

Not too many know that the emergence of Governor Amaechi following the October 25^th 2007 judgment of the supreme court Abuja was also complemented by intense prayers from the corps members who were already finding life difficult to cope with and had to resort to fervent praying. Thankfully, Governor Amaechi wasted no time to pay up the backlog and he did so within the first 3 weeks of assuming office!

This gesture brought smiles to the corps members and increased efficiency of service on our part. But more significant was the fact that from then on I began to observe and to follow this great man closely primarily because even before he paid up the backlog; I perceived his emergence as answer to our prayers!

He saved me and fellow corps members from starving in 2007! Again, I began to follow him because by his speedy response to our plight and those of regular civil servants in the state, he showed that he realized his mandate as governor was divine and for service to the people!

As governor, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi distinguished himself as an advocate for the masses in several other ways. For instance, Eleme Flyover/Roundabout used to be a major Junction/Intersection that cost motorists hours in traffic but had to be removed by the notable Julius Berger Plc during Amaechi’s reign as advocate for the people.

Public schools across the state received great attention and facelifts. The Port Harcourt international airport’s runaway was expanded and built to standard. Also the Greater Port Harcourt city was borne. Amaechi introduced the culture of saving away the sum of 1 billion naira every month from the state’s share of federal allocation.

Since he became minister of transport in 2015, I am not particularly surprised that he had devoted more attention to reinventing the train system. For those who understood the transport sector; the train transport is a symbol of comfort, affordability and an answer to the masses’ cry for a safe and stress-free form of ferry.

This devotion to train technology alone is sign that Amaechi is an advocate for the masses. We all know that for long, comfort has been excised from the public transportation system as motorists chased more profits to the detriment of passengers and the automobiles they used.

So for a minister whose ministry oversaw the maritime sector, the aviation sector as well as the road sectors, it is ingenious to find that Chibuike Amaechi was up and performing while not leaving any of these other sectors without proper attention.

His choice to give attention to the train sector showed that he understood how that affected the masses’ comfort. You only needed to take a train to Kaduna – for those who haven’t – in order to understand what our honorable minister has in stock for Nigerians!

It is a reason for why he retains the ministry particularly if we realized the fact that even the president – who is also an advocate for the masses himself – knows this quintessential man of the people and his ever-burning love for the people’s comfort. The Eleme Flyover/Roundabout eased a lot of stress back in Rivers state; remember?  

Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi is a man I have grown to not dismiss as one of those politicians since I discovered his heartbeat simply pounds for the masses and for how he could use his position to the benefit of the people.

So I do not know what a man like this deserves – who seeks to bring the experience of air travel that cost thousands of naira to the doorstep of ordinary Nigerians for a token – more than a sincere approbation of his giant strides!

Last year, I got a call from a guy who accused me of seeking cheap publicity after I sent a New Year wish online; who knows what will come after I share this New Year wish. I am a lover and a fan of train transport and I do not need any oracle to tell me that the same goes for Rt. Hon. Amaechi!

Sir, I may not have the capacity of renting a page or two from the dailies to express my wish but through which ever means it gets to you; be rest assured it is coming from the depth of love. I wish you’d come on stage long before now for you are not just a visionary with great foresights but also a mentor with a strong influence.

I wish you God’s blessings. I wish you good health and strength. I wish you a stronger passion for the job at hand and above all I wish you the benefit of finding and working with people you can trust and depend on. This is wishing you a prosperous year 2020.

Comrade Ifeanyichukwu Mmoh; an advocate for attitudinal change writes from Abuja. 08062577718.