Andy Uba, Technocrats And The Anambra Election

OBI TRICE EMEKA

In 2017, I was probably the only voice in the wilderness shouting that what Anambra needed was a homegrown product- someone who understood the peculiarities of the state and its governance. Then, I had pointed to the fact that Wille Obiano was an Executive Director with Fidelity bank, a renowned accountant with stints in Chevron a Multinational, yet Obiano couldn’t give account of his stewardship and has risen to become the poster boy for poor governance in the South East. Obiano is the metaphor that proves that having an excellent career in the private sector and being tagged a technocrat is no guarantee for success in public leadership.

The private sector is set up to maximise profits unlike the public sector which isn’t set up to derive profits but citizens satisfaction. The art of providing citizens satisfaction is a critical skill which is possessed by only very few. In the private sector, you can fire an employee at will and need not much bureaucracy to get things done. In the public sector, it’s the opposite. Bureaucracy is a game of good negotiators who know how to balance thousands of important but differing state interests to achieve a common good. One of the best Governors Anambra has ever had is Dr. Chris Ngige, a career civil servant who went on to become the Secretary of the PDP in Anambra state before finally moving up to become the Governor. He didn’t wear the toga of a technocrat but he did what many of the so-called technocrats couldn’t, simply because he knew the system better.

This is where Sen. Andy Uba towers above all his co contestants and why the pendulum is swinging to his side. He knows Anambra state better than anyone else in the race. He understands its peculiarities, differing interests and its oddities. He knows how and what to do to get things done. He wouldn’t learn on the job. His distinguished career in public service, firstly, serving meritorious as the SA Domestic to President Olusegun Obasanjo having been invited by the President to serve Nigeria, to been one of the most ranked Senators in terms of bills since the return of democracy in 1999 stands him out as a man who is ready to deliver.

If we are to go by the very definition of democracy, then, Sen. Andy Uba is the only technocrat, who has the technical skill for the job of public administration and leadership needed at Agu Awka.