Call us “old school.” But my generation had the best of times in several ways. I will not dig into the socio-economics of our times, but we did savour the very best of social life, for instance. Even before the advent of the internet, we enjoyed the finest of music and rhythms from across the world, by some of the most iconic artists ever, who were regularly on the Grammy honours roll. The Jacksons, Cameo, Kool and the Gang, Brass Construction, KC and the Sunshine Band, Skyy, Mantra, Commodores, Al Hudson and One Way, Barkays, Earth, Wind and Fire, Lakeside, Shalamar, The Whispers, Gap Band, Brothers Johnson, Mc Fadden and Whitehead, T- Connection, Mystic Merlin, Kleer, Strafe, Blackbyrds, The Time, Starpoint, Confunk Shun, Third World, Atlantic Starr, New Edition, and Warp 9 were very prominent groups in our years.
Irresistible solo acts included Diana Ross, Quincy Jones, Ray Charles, Rod Temperton, Bob Marley, Michael Jackson, George Benson, Teddy Pendergrass, Mighty Sparrow, Luther Vandross, Ray Parker Jnr, Hank Crawford, Jimmy Cliff, Peter Tosh, Evelyn Champagne King, Grace Jones, Lionel Ritchie, Barry White, Stevie Wonder, Phil Collins, Rafael Cameron, Dennis Edwards, Colonel Abrams, Phil Fearon, Marvin Gaye, Rick James, Prince (Nelson), Roberta Flack, Aretha Franklin, Marcia Griffiths, Chaka Khan, Sade Adu, Eddie Grant, Wally Badarou, Shabba Ranks, Maxi Priest, Afrika Bambaadaa, the list goes on. The African and Nigerian artists who featured on the playlists of disc jockeys in our time included Hugh Masekela, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, Miriam Makeba, Sunny Ade, Ebenezer Obey, Chris Okotie, Bunny Mack, Felix Lebarty, Mike Okri. The lyrics of the tunes were clear, their meanings and messages relatable. We also followed and put into practice, the accompanying dance steps, with the fervour of practised co-creators, as gleaned on Soul Train and musical videos.
The action movie-style rapidity denominating the endeavours and exploits of Peter Ndubuisi Mbah, the Governor of Enugu State, brings back remembrances of a particular hit tune from those yester-years. Back in 1981, the American pop and funk group, Mystic Merlin released 60 Thrills a Minute, a chart topper which ignited dance floors across the world. The lyrics assure listeners and dancers alike, that they will be treated to 60 different thrills and frills within the space of one minute! This works out at one thrill per minute. This can only be the stuff of magic. The pace and gusto with which Governor Mbah is initiating programmes and projects and impacting his people can only be akin to Mystic Merlin’s magical thrills within the wink of an eye. Oftentimes, you have to remind yourself that Mbah is just 28 months into an initial 48-month first term in office, the rate at which he is rewriting the developmental trajectory of the “Coal City State”.
Soon after the commissioning of the refurbished Presidential Hotel in Enugu in August, on the 29th, the governor unveiled the revamped and upgraded Nigergas Company Limited, which had been dysfunctional for three long decades. The enterprise, which was established in 1962 by the administration of the iconic Premier of Eastern Nigeria, Dr. Michael Iheonukara Okpara, fell into disuse under military rule in the 1990s. It remained forlorn for 30 years until Mbah courageously dared the demons and resuscitated the company, which will supply liquid oxygen, medical and industrial oxygen and acetylene. The plant’s installed capacity has been significantly upgraded. It will henceforth boost the operations of hospitals, agro-processors, manufacturers and artisans, and save them production costs. Mbah anticipates Nigergas Company Limited will subsequently produce nitrogen, argon gas, carbon dioxide and compressed natural gas. It has created direct employment for 100 workers, and is expected to create another 5,000 jobs across the distribution, fabrication, transport and supply chain. It will be run as a modern, accountable and commercially viable concern.
Wednesday, 17 September 2025, Mbah stepped up his agriculture masterplan for the state by setting in motion processes for the revitalisation of the Songhai Enugu Agro-Industrial Project. The initiative aims at boosting food production to ensure sufficiency and security in the state, and to create jobs for the burgeoning young population. The project was established in 2013 but has remained uncompleted and abandoned. For Mbah, a critical core of his leadership objectives is the reawakening of moribund assets for the multisectoral socioeconomic transformation of Enugu State. A N100 billion joint venture agreement has been signed between the Enugu State Government, the Regional Centre of Songhai Sustainable Initiative in Nigeria and Tribu Limited.
Mbah’s ultimate goal is for the reawakening and expansion of 10,000 hectares of arable land in Ezeagu council area of Enugu State for this revolutionary agricultural vision. It will begin by developing a 25-hectare training and incubation centre to empower youths and women with relevant leadership, technical and entrepreneurial skills, to lead the agricultural challenge in the state. The agricultural vision will be an integrated package encompassing crop farming, livestock, aquaculture, processing, export and tourism, powered by the community, private sector and government. Mbah, to borrow the words of President Bola Tinubu, hopes to make agriculture a “sexy” vocation which youths can be proud of, and be socio-conomically impacted by, without missing the allure of the “collar and tie”.
On Thursday, 18 September 2025, Mbah raised the bar of the quest of Enugu State for self-sufficiency in electric power production. He set in motion the mechanism for the exploitation of the abundant coal deposits in the state for electricity generation. Receiving the Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce (NBCC), Mbah stated that coal reserves in the state will be deployed to generate 1000 megawatts of electricity. The quality of coal in the underbelly of Enugu, Mbah observed, is premium and the resource would not be treated as a “stranded asset”. He assured that the 0.5% sulphuric content of the coal obtainable in Enugu State can be managed by modern technology to minimise the impact of coal utilisation on the environment. The President of the NBCC, Abimbola Olashore; and the Deputy British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Jonny Baxter were Mbah’s guests on the occasion. They lauded his efforts in making Enugu State the preferred investor destination in Nigeria within the short period of his leadership.
The astute business mogul he is, Mbah is already looking forward to the forthcoming yuletide to boost the operations of the newly established Enugu Air and the downstream accruals to the economy of the state. Enugu Air, Mbah noted at his parley with NBCC, hopes to take delivery of six more airplanes before the yuletide, to help meet the traditional travel demands of the project of the state and the South East, during the season. The airline was inaugurated in July and has bested projections and expectations. The plan to increase the fleet of Enugu Air will broaden options available to air commuters and probably impact ticket pricing. Air Peace and United Nigerian Airlines, which have dominated the zone, recently announced over 100% increases on ticket prices for flights to the South East airports of Enugu, Owerri and Umuleri, beginning from 1 December 2025. Enugu Air may just be about to stir the market in the popular interest.
Mbah has indeed tucked in a lot of achievements under his sleeves, many of them lost in public consciousness. Not many remember for instance that early September 2024, the Enugu State helmsman activated a heavy duty asphalt plant in the state. This constitutes the bedrock of the ambitious road rehabilitation and construction agenda, under which Mbah intends to construct 10,000 roads in Enugu State, at an average of 1000 roads per year. It is a state-of-the-art 160-tonne per hour asphalt plant, capable of delivering 3,200 tonnes every day. Annexed to this is a quarry where the stones which feed the plant are crushed, with plans afoot for a bitumen production facility. Such is the breadth of Mbah’s vision for the multi-departmental development of Enugu State.
While states like Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Abia, Anambra, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Borno, Kaduna, can be said to be making organised and gradual progress, most Nigerian states need to borrow from the Peter Mbah manual in Enugu State. Nigerians need to see, tangibly and practically, evidence of regularly increased fiscal provisions by the federal government to the subnationals, beyond the grabbism and elephantine consumption of the political class. Just days ago the Federation Account Allocation Committee, disbursed N2.2 trillion to the three tiers of government for the month of August 2025, the highest such allocation ever. The disbursement for July, N2 trillion, was just as sumptuous. While Mbah continues to impact on human capital development and infrastructural implantation in his state, however, some of his colleagues elsewhere are glaringly stewed in intentional, mean-spirited pauperisation and wholesale denial of their constituents of barest basics. Mbah’s example challenges incompetent, dim-witted, parochial, reactionary leadership, in parts of Nigeria. This is even as he continues to enthrall his people in Enugu State with the stomping performance of “60 thrills per minute”.
Olusunle, PhD, Fellow of the Association of Nigerian Authors, is an Adjunct Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Abuja
