In my last write-up titled “Re- With Enugu’s Fall, All Eyes on Umuahia” which was a rejoinder to an article bearing such a headline written by one Vitus Ozoke, I hinted that Enugu State played many pioneering roles in the development of what was known as colonial Nigeria, and both pre- and post-independence Nigeria.
The piece was an effort to establish that Enugu State had been an important city from the beginning, contrary to what some people thought it was.
Today we are going to further discuss such lofty heights upon which Enugu kicked off its adventure, how it was sustained or declined, as the case may be, by the previous administrations, and the effort towards rebuilding it by Governor Barr. Dr. Peter Ndubuisi Mbah.
Yes, Gov. Mbah is making palpably frantic efforts to return Enugu to a status quite synchronous to the traditional lofty height it always maintained in the distant past.
Quoting from the aforementioned work, “It is a well-documented history that the city called Enugu was once the administrative capital of the whole of Southern Nigeria.
Between 1929 and 1939, people from Ibadan, Abeokuta, Akure, Calaba, and indeed all southern Nigeria states of today did come to Enugu to process documents for landed properties purchased in their respective domains.
Apart from this, it is significant to recall that Enugu’s historical significance and development had gone far before the rise of Igbo political consciousness and the artificial creation of the defunct Eastern region of Nigeria.
“By 1911/1912, Enugu had been connected to the rest of the world by a functional railway line from Enugu all the way to Port Harcourt, from where Enugu’s coal resources were shipped to the rest of the world. This was a time when most of the European cities of today did not yet have a rail system”.
In furtherance of the above, Enugu’s spectacular position in the committee of towns and cities in Africa and the rest of the world was boosted by the discovery of ‘Coal’ by a British mining Engineer, Albert Kitson in 1909.
And by 1912, the colonial Government had built a brand new port city known as Port Harcourt solely for the transportation of Enugu’s natural resources to European countries.
It is not debatable at this junction to say that without Enugu, there would have been no city known as Port Harcourt today.
Of course, the significance later attached to the city of Port Harcourt since the discovery of crude oil to date should be credited to the trailblazing role of Enugu State in fairness.
By 1917, Enugu was officially declared a modern township by the British government, second only to cities like Lagos.
Thus, Enugu saw the first of so many aspects of development before most of the other cities of Nigeria and Africa.
In those days, it was common to see people move into Enugu in search of greener pastures. The coal mining industry took the lead in absorbing such an influx of people from different parts of Nigeria.
It was an all-around land of opportunities for everyone. While neighboring cities like Onitsha and Aba boasted of their commercial prowess, Enugu took the lead in providing high-skilled job opportunities to the educated members of the public through the industrial revolution that took place in the city.
It is no wonder the choice of Enugu came first when it was time to site government institutions preparatory to Nigeria’s independence.
By 1938, Enugu had already had an Airport known as ‘Seawell Airport_, but now called _’Akanuibiam International Airport’._ Enugu State hosts the first autonomous university in Nigeria, known as the _University of Nigeria, Nsukka, UNN_ established in 1955.
And in fact, the university’s faculty of law in its Enugu Campus, was the first faculty of law in Nigeria.
And for so many decades after its establishment, the _University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus_ was the only campus of a university that hosts entirely professional courses in the whole of South of the Sahara.
Enugu has so many firsts and indeed established itself in the annals of history as a city that led while others followed.
The first State University in Nigeria was built in Enugu in 1980. It was then known as _Anambra State University of Technology, ANATECH,_ but is now called _Enugu State University of Science and Technology, ESUT_
Regrettably, Enugu faced downward trends in many indices of development for some decades now until the coming of the current Governor Barr. Peter Ndubuisi Mbah.
For instance, while our sister states of Anambra and Abia maintained and even upgraded their status as commercial nerve centres in the entire West African subregion, Enugu virtually lagged in its area of strength- industrial evolution.
But with the current administration in the state, numerous happenings inspired by the executive governor, Peter Mbah, indicate the state is back on track.
Peter Mbah seems to have taken his time to notice the palpable downward trend and has initiated projects that will not just leapfrog Enugu to catch up with the rest of the world in terms of innovative technology, artificial intelligence etc, the state has initiated such projects such as improved and revamped learning environment, modern healthcare services, four global tourism sites, 4 International Hotels currently ongoing, world class _Enugu International Hospital_ currently on going, _International Conference Center_ already completed, 260 Smart Green School, 260 type 2 Primary health care centres, brand new Enugu Smart City, and numerous other projects scattered across all corners of the state all in a bid to restore the former glory of the state.
One significant aspect of all these is that, with Mbah, Enugu is not just trying to catch up and recover all the years lost to stagnation; the state is already poised to overtake and set a precedent for new indicators of development.
For instance, the _Enugu International Hospital,_ which is rapidly under construction, is almost the first of its kind in Nigeria. In fact, it is only rivaled by the Abuja-based _African Medical Centre of Excellence._ Do we talk of the upcoming _Zip Line_ in Okpatu, Udi LGA? It will be the first of its kind in the whole of West Africa and the longest Zip Line in Africa, measuring up to 300m.
Even the ‘ _Cross of Hope’_ that will be sited at Awhum for religious tourism will be the first of its kind in Nigeria and beyond.
Already, the _Smart Green School_ model has never been seen anywhere in Nigeria.
In fact, it’s modelled to imitate the Chinese education model, which equips kids with the technical education needed to champion discovery and innovations in the modern world of _Artificial Intelligence AI_. By the coming year, 2026, Enugu will be hosting the subregional _Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS,_ for the first time in history.
The _ECOWAS_ summit has always taken place in cities like Abuja and Lagos whenever it is The turn of Nigeria to host it.
But today, Enugu under Peter Mbah has returned to the league of such important cities that set the pace while others struggle to catch up.
It is from the foregoing that we are adequately inclined to believe without any equivocation that our dear Governor, Peter Ndubuisi Mbah, has resurrected and restored the ancient trademark of Enugu State, which was hitherto punctured, blurred, erased, and abandoned by those who should guard and protect it in the recent past.
And we are convinced that just as was the case in the past, Enugu has already started witnessing the influx of people from all parts of the world even as it plans to host 300,000 visitors by 2026.
Agbo is an investigative reporter, writer, public affairs analyst, and political Commentator.
