LIFE largely drives its beneficiaries according to their inclinations. The interrelationship between transcendent life and the finite bits of a person’s inherent idiosyncrasies therefore presents, as well as represents, both the person’s challenges in life and his responses to such stimuli.

These admixtures which can hardly apply in equal proportions amongst people explain why two people who ordinarily could be seen as sharing the same physical experiences and relatively the same opportunities in about similar contexts, largely respond differently to common challenges and so attract different degrees of appeal or condemnation.

In trying to decongest the above compact summary of everyman’s essence in life, with a bias on challenging everyman to positively impact on life beyond him, I crave to trace the art of governance as propagated by Mr. Peter Obi, the Governor of Anambra State; which art, in its newness, comprehensiveness, genuineness and effectiveness, has continued to posit remarkable results in both the eyes and minds of both Anambrarians and keen watchers of the brand of governance that obtains in the State.

Mr. Obi’s place in Nigeria’s political plane has reaffirmed the veracity in the saying that success is a prince. His princely exploits in government have turned compelling lures for people and organisations who clamour to be identified with the re-branded Anambra State.

It is surely in recognition of the Governor’s uncommon approach to politics and administration that the Nigeria Governor’s Forum members, in their meeting of December 13, 2010, unanimously elected him their Vice Chairman – the first in the history of the Forum.

This recognition becomes more significant given the fact that Mr. Obi, the only APGA governor in the Forum comprising 36 governors, attained the position solely on the grounds of his sterling achievements in Anambra State and his sagacious mien in the play of the politics of his state and the nation.

Nothing testifies more to Governor Obi’s unassailable positive essence than the words of Dr. Olusola Saraki, the Chairman of the Nigeria Governor’s Forum, in his official letter to Mr. Obi on the new assignment. While congratulating Mr. Obi, Dr. Saraki wrote:

“The unanimity in your choice has further demonstrated the confidence your colleagues have in you as a man of integrity and an epitome of discipline”.

Dr. Saraki in further appreciating Mr. Obi wrote: “I have no doubt in my mind therefore, that your wealth of experience spanning both the public and private sectors will be of tremendous value, especially at this critical period of our evolving democracy”. It is correct, therefore, to say that Governor Obi’s nature and his dedication to a better society as showcased in the advancement recorded in Anambra State mark him out as a veritable achiever with the determination to break new grounds whenever and  wherever circumstances beckon him.

With the charges emitting from Dr. Saraki’s free-flow of exaltations, among so many other published complimentary notes following Mr. Obi’s unanimous election, I am sure that while Mr. Obi’s admirers are busy celebrating him, he would have long left them in their euphoria and gone ahead busying himself with what to make of the additional responsibility to the benefit of the larger society. I believe Nigerians would wish that Governor Obi uses his new position to vigorously canvass for sustained unity amongst the governors of Nigeria states.

He would be expected to more generously and intimately share his sense of frugality, modesty, tolerance and dedication to service with his colleagues. And if his infectious sense of probity and presence of mind effectively rub in on our governors, the country would reap bountifully from the wise act of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum.

While noting the extra tasks challenging or rather confirming Mr. Obi’s sound administrative expertise, like his sustained chairmanship of the Forum of South East Governors and his recent election as the first Vice Chairman of Nigeria Governors’ Forum, it is proper, in the spirit of this piece, to take a brief hindsight on the propelling principles behind Mr. Obi’s gains in the administration of both men and resources. It is the expression of these principles that inform what people celebrate today as Mr. Obi’s great successes.

First among the underlying attributes of Mr. Obi is his perspicuity in planning, then his doggedness in working his plan as long as it remains consistent with his avowals to comprehensively and positively turn around the physical and the moral values of Anambra State and its people.

Early in his reign, Mr. Obi constituted a think-tank charged to package a rebirth scheme for the State. This effort led to the birth of Anambra Integrated Development Strategy (ANIDS), which, today, is both the engine room and the catalyst facilitating the re-engineering in the entire arms of governance of the State. Through the functions of ANIDS, the government provides solutions to even deviant constraints. In the health sector for instance,  the government of Mr. Obi through the instrumentality of ANIDS has turned around the aberration.

Mr. OKECHUKWU ANARADO, a public affairs analyst, writes from Kaduna.