If this four‑year mark offers any takeaway, it is that public service is neither a shortcut to impact nor a refuge for complacency. It is demanding, often misunderstood work that benefits from thoughtful participation. Imo State, like Nigeria more broadly, needs more professionals willing to come closer, not to seek validation, but to help strengthen decision‑making from within. Judgment, ultimately, belongs to citizens and history. Participation, however, remains a choice. My thoughts and experience!
The 5th of January, 2026 makes it exactly four years since I was sworn in as Chief Economic Adviser to the Imo State Government by Governor Hope Uzodimma. I recall being invited to join the Executive Council (EXCO) meeting that morning. After sitting with the other EXCO members for a few minutes, someone came over and whispered to me that the governor wanted to see me. It was my first time in that environment. It was also my first time meeting him in Owerri as the governor of Imo State. I didn’t know what to expect. Everything felt new. When I met him, he was warm and friendly. However, I suppose he noticed my curiosity and asked if I would be comfortable being sworn in that morning and if it would be acceptable to my university, given my pro bono work agreement. I agreed. He administered the oath shortly after, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Having held the job for four years, which is akin to a political term in office in Nigeria, it seems an appropriate moment to reflect, not to grade performance, but to share what working inside government actually looks and feels like from close quarters.
Public office, especially economic management, is often imagined as either a battlefield or a banquet: endless conflict on one hand, endless privilege on the other. The reality is far less dramatic and far more demanding. It is daily problem‑solving under constraint, shaped by limited resources, high expectations, and the weight of history. In Imo State, where citizens are politically alert and quick to scrutinise government claims, ideas do not survive for long unless they resonate with lived experience.
From the beginning, the economic agenda pursued by the Imo State Government reflected Governor Hope Uzodimma’s 3R priorities. The Imo Development Plan, the Imo Industrial Policy, the large‑scale training of young people in digital skills, the Imo Economy Digest, and the One Kindred One Business Initiative (OKOBI) all emerged from the administration’s determination to bring structure, direction, and seriousness to economic governance. These initiatives are politically owned by the governor. My responsibility was to work within that framework, helping to clarify economic logic, strengthen coherence, and ensure that ambition remained connected to institutional and fiscal realities.
This distinction matters. Advising the government is not about authorship or visibility. It is about stewardship of ideas in an environment where decisions must balance economics, politics, and social expectations. Much of the work happens away from cameras: refining concepts, stress‑testing assumptions, and ensuring that different policies reinforce, rather than undermine one another. The focus has consistently been on building systems and creating jobs and enterprises, rather than episodic empowerment; social protection conceived as insurance rather than charity; skills development linked to opportunity, rather than aspiration alone.
Governor Hope Uzodimma’s leadership style has been instrumental in shaping how this process has unfolded. One quiet lesson from working in government is the value of experience. Public policy is an unforgiving terrain, and good intentions without seasoned judgment can easily lead to costly mistakes. Having an experienced political leader to lean on, someone who understands institutions, timing, and consequences, matters more than is often acknowledged.
Working inside government also reveals why change can be slower than many citizens would like. Listening to the public is indispensable in this process. Public sentiment, criticism, and everyday feedback are often early signals of what is working and what is not. But governing by opinion polls alone is neither realistic nor responsible. It is impossible to please everyone, and attempting to do so often leads to incoherence, rather than inclusion. Effective public service requires convictions anchored in good intentions, tempered by open‑mindedness and a willingness to adjust when evidence or experience demands it. State governments operate within a tight fiscal space and limited autonomy. Revenue volatility, inherited obligations, and institutional capacity, all shape what is possible at any given time. Economic advising in this context requires patience, pragmatism, and realism. It is less about finding perfect solutions than about making workable choices and sequencing them carefully.
There is also an important human dimension to governance that is often missed from the outside. People debate policies with competing responsibilities, pressures, and loyalties. Civil servants bring institutional memory, political leaders bring electoral accountability, and advisers bring analysis and perspective. Effective policy emerges not from dominance by any one group, but from sustained engagement among all three. Observing and participating in this process over four years has been a sobering education for anyone inclined to see government as either incompetent or omnipotent.
Governor Hope Uzodimma’s leadership style has been instrumental in shaping how this process has unfolded. One quiet lesson from working in government is the value of experience. Public policy is an unforgiving terrain, and good intentions without seasoned judgment can easily lead to costly mistakes. Having an experienced political leader to lean on, someone who understands institutions, timing, and consequences, matters more than is often acknowledged. Governor Uzodimma is decisive and politically astute, with a clear sense of timing and authority. He places value on structured thinking and clear reasoning, particularly where policies affect everyday life. His consistent interest in infrastructure development, health insurance, grassroots enterprise, skills acquisition, and social stability has provided a stable foundation for economic growth. While implementation challenges are inevitable, the intent to address structural exclusion has been steady, rather than episodic.
For professionals who keep their distance from politics and the public sector, often due to frustration or mistrust, there is a quiet lesson to be learnt here. Institutions do not improve by being avoided. They improve when capable people engage them seriously, with clear boundaries and ethical discipline. Engagement does not mean applause‑singing or surrendering independence. It means understanding context, respecting process, and contributing ideas that can survive political and institutional realities.
Navigating public service in Imo State has required clarity about role and responsibility. Advice must be grounded in evidence, expressed with restraint, and delivered in a way that strengthens, rather than destabilises, governance. Influence, in this setting, is exercised quietly. It appears not in public credit, but in better-aligned policies and more disciplined conversations.
Navigating public service in Imo State has required clarity about role and responsibility. Advice must be grounded in evidence, expressed with restraint, and delivered in a way that strengthens, rather than destabilises, governance. Influence, in this setting, is exercised quietly. It appears not in public credit, but in better-aligned policies and more disciplined conversations.
None of this is to suggest that Imo State’s economic challenges have been resolved. They have not. Employment pressures persist, infrastructure gaps remain, and expectations continue to outpace available resources. These are realities that no honest reflection can ignore. However, there is value in building foundations, as it leads to clearer plans, stronger policy frameworks, and a more deliberate approach to economic management. This approach is at the heart of Governor Uzodimma’s leadership philosophy.
If this four‑year mark offers any takeaway, it is that public service is neither a shortcut to impact nor a refuge for complacency. It is demanding, often misunderstood work that benefits from thoughtful participation. Imo State, like Nigeria more broadly, needs more professionals willing to come closer, not to seek validation, but to help strengthen decision‑making from within. Judgment, ultimately, belongs to citizens and history. Participation, however, remains a choice. My thoughts and experience!
Before concluding, I would like to express my gratitude to my family for their unwavering support and encouragement. In a special way, I thank my friend and brother, Sir MacDonald Ebere (PhD), the APC chairman in Imo State, whose loyalty to the party and the governor is infectious and unparalleled, for his wise insights and guidance in navigating the political terrain. I thank my office members who are the face of the office and ensure that our activities are closer to the people and the grassroots. I am grateful to my professional colleagues in the sustainability space and EXCO colleagues who provide the needed support. I thank the members of The Imo Economic Solutions (TIES) WhatsApp Group, who provide a credible platform for brainstorming. I also thank my employers, the University of Edinburgh, UK, and the European University Institute, Florence, Italy, for permitting me to serve my state. As it is often said, the struggle continues!
Kenneth Amaeshi is a professor of sustainable finance at the European University Institute, Florence, Italy, a professor of sustainable business and public policy at the University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom, and the first occupier of the First Bank Samuel Asabia Professorial Chair in Business Ethics, University of Lagos, Nigeria. He writes from the 8th Biennial Conference of the African Academy of Management in Casablanca, Morocco.
