Governance and Imperative of Report Card: The Peter Mbah Example

In Nigeria, one term in office is never enough for State Governors. They seek second term in office as an entitlement. But in this piece, Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo, writes that while such ambition is legitimate, governors should borrow a leaf from Governor Peter Mbah, who recently unveiled a compendium of his accomplishments in the last three years to back his quest for mandate renewal.

Since the inception of the present democratic dispensation it has become the norm for governors to aspire for second term in office at the expiration of their first term. One can easily find a pin in a haystack than find a Nigerian state governor who has completed first term of office and walked away without asking for mandate renewal. In fact, it has become a tradition for them to go back to the electorate and demand for another four-year sojourn in Government House.

Most of them have succeeded in getting a mandate renewal while in many instances such aspirations had failed to materialise. Between 1999 and 2019, no fewer than 24 governors have lost their bids to remain in office after their first term. Yet, the success rate of those that did second term in office is so high that it’s almost unthinkable to expect a serving governor to fail a second term election. And because the success rate is very high for second term bids, governors have developed entitlement mentality in seeking for second term in office regardless of the content of the report card they parade after the first term.

While the electioneering for 2027 general election is gradually kicking into gear, Nigerians are eagerly awaiting the report cards of governors seeking for second term in office. But it appears that the second term-seeking state chief executives are still bidding their time to formally make public the achievements they have so far recorded in office with just eight months remaining to complete their first term of four years.

However, the situation is different in Enugu State. Governor Peter Mbah has presented his first term report card without any prevarication. He is not only proud of it, he flaunts it. On Wednesday, September 9, 2026, Mbah publicly unveiled a compendium of his achievements for the people of Enugu to examine and determine whether or not he is justified to ask them to renew his mandate in 2027.

The event held at the International Conference Centre Enugu was organised by the government for Mbah to formally present his first term report card to Ndi Enugu. The main bowl of the ICC was filled to the brim and overflowed with people that gathered to receive their governor’s report card.

And like a student who has come top of his class at the end of the academic session, Mbah confidently presented his report card to his father, in this case, the people of Enugu State. The report card is impressive.

The 222-page compendium, which captured verifiable accomplishments of the Peter Mbah administration, was aptly entitled “A Thousand and One Reasons Why Dr. Peter Mbah Should be Re-elected as Governor of Enugu State”. The title suggests that Mbah and his supporters are not making any pretence of his qualification for re-election. With the compendium, the evidence has been provided to counter the sceptic.

It contains over 10,000 milestone achievements as proof that “Enugu is on course to greatness”. Within 39 of the 48 months constitutionally allorted to him in office, Mbah has constructed or reconstructed a total of 1,521km roads.

He completed 7, 000 classrooms; 260 Type-2 Primary Healthcare Centres(PHCs), and has implemented transformative reforms that have impacted every facet of governance.

No sector of the Enugu State economy has not been touched with the Mbah magic wand that engenders transformation. The government presented a detailed account of Mbah’s achievements over the past three years. What the governor has done in each sector are listed and illustrated with appropriate graphics. Even the activities of the less noticeable departments and agencies were meticulously captured and presented. The listed achievements ranged from physical infrastructures, innovative programmes and policies implemented across various sectors of the state. Some of accomplishments, especially the physical infrastructures, are more visible than others. The road netwotks, the five modern transport terminals located in Enugu, the capital city and Nsukka, the university town, the CNG buses that have made inter-state commuting comfortable and affordable are glaring. So also are the Smart Green Schools, the 9 Type-2 PHCS, the 360-bed Enugu International Hospital, the Enugu Air, which is rapidly expanding its routes across the coast of West Africa.

Some of Mbah’s achievements have become national reference points. The security architecture he has put in place in Enugu is so effective that both the Inspector General of Police(IGP), Olatunji Disu, and the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), have called on other governors to emulate Mbah. The security set up is driven by the Command Control Centre, which monitors every part of the state using security cameras and drones, as well as DNA Forensics Centre that makes crime investigation fast and efficient to produce scientific, watertight evidence.

While policies are not physically felt, the impact of their implementation cannot be ignored. For instance, the astronomical rise of the revenue portfolio of Enugu State was made possible by Mbah’s revenue policy reforms, including deployment of technology. As recorded in his compendium of achievements, the internally generated revenue(IGR) of the state has recorded 286.2 percent growth over the past three years, rising from N37.4 billion at the end of 2023 to N181 billion in 2024 and N406 in 2025. It is projected that the IGR would hit N509.9 at the close of 2026. Government said that contrary to insinuation of heavy taxation in the state, much of the IGR come from non-tax revenue which accounts for 87.4 percent of total revenue.

It is the aggregation of these sectoral achievements that thrusted Enugu to the “Quantum Leap” of development as never seen before. This feat has already been affirmed by a renowned firm, Phillips Consulting, reputed for shaping a sustainable future for Africa. It ranked Enugu as the fasted improving state in its 2026 State Performance Momentum Index, after carrying out assessments of 33 out of Nigeria’s 36 states. Enugu outperformed all the states in governance and development, a proof that Mbah is making governance impactful. In fact, the governor cherishes calling his governance style “disruptive governance”.

The Quantum Leap that Mbah has caused for Enugu has not escaped the attention of the global community, either. On the very day Mbah’s compendium of achievements was being unveiled in Enugu, his alma mater, the University of East London(UEL) was honouring him with Honorary Doctorate in recognition of his outstanding achievements in both private and public sectors. The University testified that “through public service, business and philanthropy, Peter has championed investment, innovation, infrastructure, healthcare and community development, bringing together the disciplines that have shaped his own career to pursue a wider vision for economic and social progress”. This honour done to him in the United Kingdom explained his inevitable absence at the unveiling of the compendium of his achievements.

Mbah, who was ably represented by the Deputy Governor, Ifeanyi Ossai, said the contents of the compendium have proved that the Enugu State Citizens Charter was being diligently implemented. The Charter, also known as Executive Order 001, was executed immediately Mbah sworn into oaffice on May 29, 2023. The Charter, according to the government is “a framework designed to clearly define government obligations and standards in public financial management while strengthening trust between government and citizens”. It is the guardrail of the Mbah administration’s commitment to accountability, traceability and transparency.

The Enugu Governor noted that the compendium highlighted his administration’s philosophy of disruptive innovation and its focus on large-scale infrastructure. However, he noted that “it does not in any particular material represent the actual successful modest achievements of this government as at 9th of September 2026” the day it was unveiled.

This means that work is still in progress, regardless of the campaign season that has ensued. Having, ab initio, dreamed big and envisioned Enugu State operating on $30 billion economy, Mbah assured that state has not veered off its course for greatness. He, therefore, pointed out that “it is important to note that the (unveiled) document does not entirely capture everything this government has done because, given the time it took to prepare this document, there was a cut-off point running months behind”.

The Governor told Ndi Enugu that the event organised to present his achievements “is a conversation on the sacrosanct duty and responsibility you gave to us to midwife and preside over your resources”. He said the achievements recorded by his administration were made possible through collective efforts of those who believed in his vision and worked for his election in 2023.

Nonetheless, Mbah admitted that some policy decisions of his government may have caused consequential discomforts and social and economic dislocations for some people, as usually happens with implementation of reforms. He, therefore, urged those affected in any way by the tough decisions his administration had to make for the transformation of the state, to bear with his government and show understanding as everything was done for the overall good of Enugu.

“What you must take home with you is that our intentions are noble. What we try to do is to put Enugu on irreversible path of greatness. What we try to do is to ensure that Enugu will not compete with Nigeria but within Nigeria,” the Governor said. He assured Ndi Enugu that the Coal City State was on its way to greatness of emerging as a $30bn economy and the preferred destination for investment, business, tourism, and living.

The report card that Ndi Enugu received from their governor is being read and scrutinised across the state and beyond. Enugu people in the diaspora are also interested in knowing what Mbah has done with the mandate he received in 2023. Already the report card has been eliciting approval from those who have read it. One of such people is the Chairman of Enugu State Council of Traditional Rulers, Igwe Samuel Asadu. He spoke glowingly about Mbah’s performance, saying a performing government should be supported to continue till 2031. He said: “We have never had it so good. It is not about party. But let us give the job to those who understand the job. The governor wants to move the Enugu State economy to a $30bn economy and that is exactly what he is doing”.

There’s no doubt that Mbah’s outstanding performance has left the opposition with little or no campaign issues, but there would be loopholes to exploit. For instance, the compendium did not capture the amount that the Mbah administration had spent on each of the projects or programmes implemented so far. That in itself is something the opposition can speak on.

As Mbah has presented his compendium of achievements, it is expected that other governors gunning for second term would follow suit and show their report cards. It is important for them to provide their people with verifiable evidence of what they have done with the state resources entrusted to them. A good report card gives a governor a head start with the opposition candidates challenging him for the state’s top job. An incumbent governor can easily point to his achievements and tell the electorate that he would do more if re-elected. With that alone, 50 percent of the campaign for mandate renewal is done, that is if the report card is good enough.

The corollary is that an opposition candidate would have to labour more in convincing the electorate that if given the opportunity he/she would outperform the incumbent.