“Enugu is not just a city of coal. A city of memory. A city of journalism. A city that once gave voice to the aspirations of a region and the soul of a people. This city Enugu was the heartbeat of Eastern Nigeria ...Enugu carries the scars of history. It also carries the strength to heal.
So said John Momoh, Chairman of Channels Media group at the opening of the 2025 biennial Convention of the Nigerian Guild of Editors, of which he was the Chairman.
Through his address, the Channels boss encapsulated the essence of Enugu, as a regional capital, a State and a State capital. Enugu, indeed, carries with it, the nostalgia of what was possible, what used to be, what was lost and seemed unrecoverable, but gradually rising, just like the phoenix.
Enugu State, according to its Governor Dr Peter Mba, is a state re-imagining itself. At the heart of what is shaping up be the resurgence of Enugu, the State, is that strength to heal back to its recognised status as centre of learning with the Smart Green School project, and as a place where one can reside, learn and do business in peace, thanks to the vision of one man and his team, who are working round the clock to turn the fortunes of the State around for the better.
So, what is the smart green school all about?
According to the governor, our smart schools mark a transformative link in education.
The Smart Green School project was initiated to address the lacuna in the Enugu State education programme. According to Dr. Chinyere Onyeishi, Special Adviser to the Enugu State Governor on Education Innovation, and Director, Experiential Learning, ‘over the years, there had been lots of challenges facing education in the state. This includes the high rate of out-of-school children, inadequate infrastructure, lack of teachers, soft skills, curriculum update, capacity building and technology innovation. Then of course, there is hunger that keeps some children out of school.
But here’s the thing: irrespective of the words used to describe the Enugu Smart Green School project, Omalicha FM’s visit on June 28 to the Owo Campus in the Nkanu Local Government Area of the State, as part of the project tour by the Guild of Editors team that was in Enugu for its annual convention, left one with the overarching feeling, that the smart schools initiative has been designed to change the face of education in Enugu state. Reason is that it embraces an integrated format that is both technical and technology driven.
Embedded in the smart schools project is the construction of modern buildings, driven by technology and equipped with digital skills for today’s ‘digital natives’, described by Dr Onyeishi, an expert in computer and robotics education, as children born from the year 2000, while of course, not leaving out the ‘digital immigrants’, people like us, who have to learn how to co-habit the digital space with the natives.
In these schools, technology, learning and living are integrated, such that a child of age 3 years in rural Enugu state, is being deliberately introduced to an educational system that equips her with tools for life in the digital space via access to smart boards, internet and uninterrupted solar energy to power the learning.
As part of creating a system that is self-sufficient, in preparation for life in the digital space, the smart green schools project also produces food that the children consume, with some extra sold and proceeds ploughed back into the system to ensure its sustainability. The green farm complex is an integral part of the Smart Green Schools project. At the Owo campus, for instance, the pupils rear chicken, plant food crops and vegetables such as plantain, tomato, cucumber and poultry.
Leading the team to the Owo Campus of Smart School project was the State’s Commissioner for Works, Engineer Gerald Otiji, who allayed the concerns expressed by Omalicha FM as to the accessibility of this initiative to all children in the state, especially in the rural communities. He assured that that would not constitute any obstacle as the Smart Green School project is to be replicated in the 260 political wards in the state, and access is free to the children of Enugu state.
Now let’s look at security and the Central Command & Control Centre
It is one thing to embark on expansive infrastructural development. It is yet another to ensure the security of such projects and those that use them.
Security, it is said, is everybody’s business, but that is also one subject that details are hardly thrown out in the public domain.
Not withstanding, in Enugu, the signs of a secure city, represented by marked surveillance cars fitted with communication gadgets, dote strategic locations in the metropolis and entry points, thanks to the State’s Central Command and Control System, with its enabled-Artificial Intelligence cameras that watch over the state, while the residents either sleep or go about their businesses. This is because according to the Governor,
“Security if foundational. That’s why we’ve built a command and control centre powered by cutting edge innovation enabling 24/7 surveillance across our communities. It’s goal is simple: prevent crime where possible, and respond swiftly where necessary. Since we came into office, we have reduced crime by 80%”
Governance indeed, is not rocket science. It’s more about having a vision and exploring resources, taking actions and providing instruments towards achieving that vision.
As Governor Mba said while inaugurating the States Security Trust Fund in February 2025, the “outlaws that once held our people hostage have either been neutralized or fled. We have substantially reduced crime rate. Statistics attesting to that abound. We can further glimpse this in the fact that night life has returned in full swing. Streets that were desolate and deserted have regained their groove.”
This is a narrative Nigerians across the country are waiting to hear from the chief Security Officers of wherever they are residing. If Enugu State can do it and eliminate the retrogressive non-state actor-induced and enforced Monday sit-at-home order that once kept people indoors on Mondays, then it can be done elsewhere in the southeast where people are still forced to stay home due to the fear of the unknown.
An interesting feature of Enugu, as a resurgent city (and State), lies in the ability of the State’s Chief executive and his team of passionate men and women to revive old projects that once made Enugu a city of dream:
With the level of construction going on in the State, the revival of the Asphalt Plant in the state becomes most relevant, just like the NigerGas Company in Emene .
At NigerGas, one of the managers described the resurgence of the plant this way:
“It’s only a government that has the people at heart that does this kind of thing. It’s a turnkey project and a very big at that, because with this is the beginning of industrialisation and without industries, you know the consequences. So, all we are saying is that it’s done already...we don’t have much time for it again. The capacity is 100 cubic metres, and that means we can get 72 cylinders”
That is not saying that there are no new projects, there are and these can be seen in the frenzied construction geared towards bringing to life, the New Enugu Smart City, and the Enugu Air, the state-owned Airline which has since the visit and now, roared off to the skies on its way to different parts of country via the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, an important gateway for the projected traffic of 3 billion visitors expected to join in building a future economy which the State CEO put at $30bn.
At an interactive session with the Governor, Omalicha 91.1FM sought to know from Gov Mba how his vision for the state, anticipated youth rural-urban migration and infrastructural needs in the communities. To this, the government said that rather than rural-urban migration, Enugu is experiencing the reverse and more people are moving back to the rural communities. “Part of what we are experiencing in Enugu,” the governor said, “is actually the other way round, where we have a lot of people from the urban migrating to the rural areas, and that is largely because the style of leadership we have here is all-inclusive. We are not leaving any part of the state out. So, our programmes, for example in education is where the 260 electoral wards have a project of over a billion Naira going on at the same time...”
Bold vision. Bold steps by the Administration, but will it indeed turn this storied city and state around?
In the words of John Momoh, “for many young people across this region, the shadows of the Biafra war still linger. Not just in stories passed down, but in real feelings - feelings of exclusion and pain.”
As regional capital and state, Enugu has seen it all, but there comes the period to rebuild, renew, be resilient and hopeful just like the phoenix. Look no further for as the slogan all over the state proclaims -“tomorrow is here”.
Reported by Angela Agoawike
