Transformational Leadership From the Prism of Enugu State

Guest Columnist by Peter  Mbah
It is a true privilege to stand before this assembly of some of the sharpest legal minds in our nation. The law, at its heart, is about order, justice, and fairness. Leadership, at its best, is about channeling those same values into building systems that uplift people.

Today’s subject is Transformational Leadership – what it means, how it works, and why it matters. When we speak of transformation, we often use the word too lightly. We talk about reforms, adjustments, or new policies; but transformation is something deeper. It is not management. It is not tinkering at the edges of what already exists. Transformation is when the landscape itself changes so completely that the world you see after is unrecognizable from what came before.

The ancients spoke of transformation in the language of alchemy – seven stages through which matter itself was purified and transfigured; each stage essential in breaking down the old and separating the elements so that the new could emerge.

Transformation, then, is nothing less than the courage to allow one order to fall away so that a higher one may take shape.

The heart of transformational leadership is not about moving pieces on the chessboard. It is about changing the board, a quantum leap, a reimagining of what is possible with integrity, innovation, and critical thinking as compass points to guide the way.

When I assumed the responsibility of leading Enugu, the people who voted for me were not asking for the moon. They wanted running water. They wanted reliable public services. They wanted a modest, secure income. In short, they wanted to look no further than some dignity in their daily lives. But as I looked at the state, it was clear that incremental improvements as things stand would never deliver the future our people deserved.

The first spark of true change lies in the imagination – the courage to see beyond the limitations of the familiar. Too often, past disappointments dulled our hope and left us trapped in a poverty of imagination. Short termthinking became our horizon and we settled for less, clinging to this familiar even as it failed us. But transformational leadership demands the audacity to envision something beyond our low expectations.

For us, that meant grounding our work in three essentials: vision, values, and a disruptive strategy. Our vision was to grow Enugu’s economy from $4.4 billion to $30 billion, to reduce the poverty headcount to zero, and to make Enugu the preferred destination in Nigeria for business, for tourism, and for living. We imagined a state that, within eight years, would be completely unrecognizable from the one we inherited.

But vision alone is never enough. It must be anchored on values. In an age when politics too often becomes self-serving, we insisted that integrity, accountability, and inclusivity would define everything we did. Our care for the weakest among us would be the measure of the strength of the whole. We would balance political force with soul force. Only then could we move to strategy: designing not just for the next month or the next year, but for the next century.

Our first strategic step was to build a foundation of accountability. We launched a Citizens’ Charter, a public commitment that allows people to measure us against our promises.

Next came our cornerstone of financial sustainability. That meant ending the leakage within a creaking civil service and tracking the flow of every penny. Every transaction was digitized, saving millions that once slipped away. We expanded the tax net – not by raising rates, but by ensuring more people contributed their fair share. We unlocked dormant state assets and turned them into new streams of revenue.

With this stronger footing, we invested first into critical infrastructure and services like water and roads, because without those basics, nothing else could move. We promised to restore water to people’s homes within the first 180 days, and we delivered, increasing water production from 2 million litres a day to 120 million litres. By the two-year mark, we had built or refurbished 1000 kilometres of roads.

We have attracted investors by building trust through a secure, transparent, and partnership-oriented environment. With our One-Stop Investment Centre, every investor experiences ease of doing business from start to finish – no bureaucracy, no hidden barriers. This model combines the stability of public ownership with the dynamism of private partnership, creating a seamless flow of investment where risks are reduced and the rewards are fair.

We will welcome 3 million annual visitors to Enugu by 2027. That vision requires infrastructure worthy of the goal – the hall you sit in today wasn’t here a year ago; the airline many of you flew in on didn’t exist last month. These are not vanity projects. They are part of building a sustainable ecosystem for a state that will be transformed within a few years.

None of this would have been possible without security. From the outset, we built a tech-driven, intelligence-led security architecture anchored in our Command and Control Centre. With round-the-clock AI surveillance across our neighbourhoods, integrated response units, and community partnership, Enugu has recorded an over 80% reduction in violent crime. This stability is the bedrock upon which investment, jobs, and society can grow.

Education is our next frontier. We committed over 33% of our budget to education – A decision some thought was reckless. But we knew it was essential.

Our greatest asset is in the head, the hand, and the heart of our people. Refurbishing classrooms was not enough. We had to completely re-imagine education for the digital age and the future job market.

Next month, we launch 260 Smart Green Schools – one for every ward in the state. These are integrated, tech-enabled, future-facing institutions that prepare children not just to learn, but to create, to innovate, and to compete in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Each comes with free school meals, renewable energy systems, and an experiential learning culture that solves real world challenges from day one.

Alongside this, we awarded 260 Type-2 Primary Healthcare Centres, each equipped with staff quarters offering a 24-hour service. Since then, we have reduced the maternal mortality rate by over 400% compared to the inherited national average.

Farmers now enjoy more than just market access – they are connected to industrial agro-allied centres that deliver credit, processing, and export opportunities. These centres form the backbone of an ecosystem that advances food security, expands livelihoods, and positions Enugu in the global supply chain. Agriculture now contributes considerably to Enugu’s GDP, reinforcing its vital role in our state’s economy, and placing us among Nigeria’s most agrarian states.

We have also launched Farm Estates, a 200-hectare initiative across the various wards conceived to scale up production. These are not scattered interventions; they are the threads of a single, far-reaching vision – with more than 2,000 projects already in motion and many more on the horizon. This is about building a new reality: a state where governance is judged by results, accountability is non-negotiable, and the future is owned by every citizen.

Now, I know I am speaking to lawyers. And I know that the law and governance sometimes meet each other with tension. But at our best, are we not doing the same work? Building systems of fairness and opportunities for all? That tension between the state and the Bar is potentially what keeps both sides honest. This necessary pull in different directions is, in truth, an accountability partnership – each holding the other to principles over personalities. For this to work, we must lean into dialogue, yet sharpen each other’s standards. Despite our differences our common charge is to never settle for less than a shared devotion to service and a society where the rule of law stands taller than the rule of man.

So, I invite you, as partners in this broader project of transformation, to ask: What is the deep change you are called to make in your profession, in your institutions, in your own practice?

Few things in modern times have profoundly impacted our lives as much as AI. I can see the Bar is already rising up to that challenge, trying to figure out just how the deployment of AI might disrupt or enhance the profession.

As I mentioned earlier, transformation is not tinkering at the edges – it is a reimagining of what is possible. For us in Enugu, it has meant a complete shakedown of the existing governance model, putting citizens first and delivering a future we once could only dream of.

So, as we move into our plenary, I urge you: consider our shared quest. What old assumptions must dissolve? What new possibilities must take form? And how can we, the government and the Bar, act as partners in service of a safe, secure, and soulful society?

The future of Enugu – and of Nigeria – depends on this shared spirit of transformation: bold rather than cautious, principled rather than expedient.

Leadership and justice alike demand vision, courage, and integrity. They require us not just to manage the present, but to create a future worthy of our people.

Distinguished colleagues, this is not a monologue session. It is meant to be interactive. This is an opportunity to engage and gain insights on what we are doing – and the philosophy that drives them.

On that note, I yield the floor.

Thank you.

•Dr. Mbah, Governor of Enugu State, delivered the address the during “Enugu Showcase” session at the just concluded NBA Annual General Conference in Enugu