OBASANJO, PETER OBI, EMEKA OFFOR, ARTHUR EZE, ORJIAKO, JEZCO, DOZZY OTHERS CELEBRATE SOLUDO’S ONE YEAR IN OFFICE
By Christian ABURIME
Governor of Anambra State, Professor Chukwuma Charles Soludo, CFR has celebrated one year anniversary of his government.
A town hall meeting was organized to present the Governor’s score card at the Anambra International Convention Centre, Awka.
Presenting his scorecard, Governor Soludo recalled the oath of office and swearing in ceremony of himself and his Deputy, Dr. Onyekachukwu Ibezim in March 17, 2022.
“We worked for 8 hours and 45 minutes that day, and we’ve been working every day since. You employed us to complete an assignment with a deadline.
“I present to you an abridged version of an annual report on what has occurred over the past 365 days; global challenges, natural disasters, and so on.
With Anambra’s economy, we barely generate 20 billion naira per year, but we promise you that there will be no excuses.
“The House of Assembly agreed that we should borrow 100 billion naira, but we have yet to borrow a single naira.
“Despite insecurity, road crises, infrastructure challenges, and other enormous challenges, we promised ndi Anambra that there would be no excuses. Today is undeniably better than a year ago.
“We will continue to grow stronger, and in the coming years. We will become even better,” Governor Soludo said.
“The first year was spent addressing foundational issues. I’m overjoyed about the crème of ndi Anambra present here, our progress partners, friends and well-wishers, and Nigeria’s father, Chief Obasanjo, my boss and mentor under whose tutelage I served for four years and learned from the master’s feet.
“He inspired and encouraged me to pursue this path, and I’m grateful he is here to celebrate my first year in office with me.
“Mr. Peter Obi, my predecessor, I sent him an invitation, and he promised to come; now he’s here. That is the Anambra spirit. I have stated that politics in Anambra is not a war. We come together as brothers after politics. That is the Anambra spirit.
“Our second year will be a journey to build a smart mega city and consolidation process.
“We will continue to focus on the solution agenda’s five pillars. We are determined to deliver on everything we promised in our manifesto. Our vision is for Anambra to become a new axis of prosperity.
“On security, law and order; kidnapping for ransom, banditry, and communal disputes were rampant when we arrived, but we all agreed with ndi Anambra that we will reclaim our homeland. Anambra is currently far safer than it was a year ago,” Governor Soludo explained.
“We will work with the legislature and judiciary to maintain law and order. In terms of judicial productivity, Anambra ranks second only to Lagos.
“We have already declared a state of emergency on road crises, embarked on infrastructural and economic transformation, including transportation, land, power infrastructure and technology.
“Within the first nine months, we awarded 261 kilometers of roads in all 21 local government areas, with cement stabilization and stone based, guaranteed to last for 20 years. We also paid Contractors a mobilization fee of 30-50 percent.
“We are desilting drainages and will launch a major initiative with a comprehensive framework to address flooding issues next week.
“For decades, there has been a lack of planning for our cities and communities, resulting in flooding. People are constructing on the waterways. We see flooding in the street every time it rains.This is being tackled head-on!
“We had a full brainstorming session with EEDC on power supply. Our goal is to provide electricity in Anambra’s major cities 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We signed an agreement with EEDC on power transmission and distribution in Anambra yesterday, and the state should have 24/7 power supply within the next two years.
“We converted 6,380 diesel-powered streetlights into solar streetlights. Anambra is getting back a night-life economy,” the Governor declared.
The Governor spoke about his administration’s efforts in the transportation sector; which include to construct modernized riverine water transportation, redesigning of inter-city and intra-city transportation systems, designing of modern bus terminals, ongoing construction of Anambra Airport, completion of feasibility study for a sky train pilot in Onitsha, among others.
The Governor said; “32,000 hectares of land at Agulu Lake have been purchased to build an Africa leisure and entertainment hub known as African Disney Land.
“A new palm and coconut revolution is underway in agriculture. We’re returning to our roots. Back in the day, the Eastern region’s economy was the fastest, built on the foundation of palm. When crude oil arrived, we abandoned our roots. After four years, a poor household with ten seedlings will be permanently out of poverty. 150,000 coconuts and 220,000 palms were donated to alleviate poverty and economic hardship.
The Governor pointed out that his administration is vigorously pursuing industrialisation plan, having developed a framework, acquisition of 53 hectares of land at Ukpo for export emporium, 100 hectares of commercial land at Ukwuli, 80 hectares of automotive industrial park in Akwihedi, Unubi and Uga.
“Anambra Government received a free donation of 200 hectares of land in Ogboji for Anambra pharmaceutical hub from indigenes.
“Private schools and public schools predominate in our educational system. The private sector dominates the Anambra educational system. Anambra’s most valuable resource is human capital. To be productive and exportable to the rest of the world, we must mine it. The quality of a school is determined by the quality of its teachers and the quality of its teaching. We ended an era of schools without teachers by recruiting 5000 people through an open source application portal for transparency,” Soludo maintained.
“In terms of health, we upgraded three general hospitals in Ekwulobia, Enugwu Ukwu, and Umuleri, including dental units, hired 244 medical personnel, and activated a ministry of health taskforce. Our health is our most valuable asset.
“To build a digital tribe, we established the solution innovation district. We signed an agreement with Microsoft. We set out to teach 20,000 young people fundamental and advanced digital skills. Over 10,000 people have already applied online within few days it was launched. This year’s Anambra Talent Inventory and Innovation Week will take place in October.
“We began the one youth, two skills programme. It’s all about the youths. We are training approximately 5000 of them and have set aside a few billion dollars to empower them.
“We reformed how Government works in terms of Governance and value system. There is a problem if the public sector cannot provide service to the people. We developed a reform strategy, restructured MDAs to align with our agenda, and over 15 states are having difficulty paying salaries. We improved workers’ welfare and increased wages by 10%, paid pensioners’ pensions and gratuities since 2018, cleared backlogs, transitioned from transactional to transformational governance, and saved the state N10.4 billion from new contracts awarded by the state government,” Soludo stressed.
“Anambra has been without a functioning government house and lodge for the past 31 years. Massive construction, including 25 peripheral structures, is underway to provide Anambra with a fitting government house and lodge here in Awka.
“We increased the IGR base from 1.5 billion naira monthly to 2 billion naira monthly with a target of reaching 5 billion in 2023. If every onye Anambra living in the state and elsewhere can pay 5% of their income to Anambra, we will be at a higher level in three years.
“Local Government Secretariats that were burned down by criminals have been completely rebuilt.
“35-40% of ndị Anambra are facing existential threat. Anambra is the world’s erosion capital. Anambra is shrinking due to erosion, but we must take action,” Governor Soludo stressed.
He assured of transforming slums and imbibe municipal planning, to realize the smart megacity plan, deepen security architecture, build at least 100km of roads, build a new Awka city, erect urban water schemes, recruit specialized teachers, mainstream talents and sports as an economy, continuous skill enhancement, and technology everywhere to make it a culture over the next three years.
Also speaking, Former Nigeria’s President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, revealed that when Governor Soludo was his economic adviser, he was so pleased with him that he decided to send him to the Central Bank of Nigeria as Governor, emphasizing that he was the second Nigerian sent to the CBN who was not a commercial banker, and he performed wonderfully well.
He stated that the appointments of Ngozi Okonji Iweala and Chukwuma Soludo were among the best he made during his presidency.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo also described Governor Soludo as a prudent economist who became the best CBN Governor in Nigeria, adding that the CBN is not a commercial bank but a development bank.
“After my experience with Soludo, I knew he was meant for more.” He approached me and stated that he wishes to run for Governor of Anambra. I disagreed with him, stating that I see him for something more.
“He didn’t make it on his first try.” But I told him that he was destined for a national and international assignment. “From what I’ve seen, you have not let me or the people of Anambra State down,” Obasanjo added.
Dignitaries in attendance were; Wife of the Governor of Anambra, Mrs Nonye Soludo, Former Governor of Cross River State, Mr. Donald Duke, Anambra State Deputy Governor, Dr. Onyekachukwu Ibezim, Speaker, Anambra State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon Uchenna Okafor, Anambra State Chief Judge, Justice Oniochie Anyachebelu, Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Solo Chukwulobelu, Chief of Staff to the Governor, Mr. Ernest Ezeajughi, Prince Engr. Arthur Eze,
Others include, Mrs Ifeoma Ekwueme, Former Governor of Anambra State, Chief Chukwuemeka Ezeife, Former Female Governor Anambra, Dame Virgy Etiaba, Senator Ken Nnamani, Senator Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, Dr. Sir Emeka Offor, Dr ABC Orjiako, Prince Arthur Eze, Chief Joseph Ezeokafor (Jezco), Chief (Sir) and Mrs Daniel Chukwudozie (Dozzy oil); Former Nigeria’s Ambassador to Spain, Iyom Bianca Ojukwu, Former Deputy Governor Anambra Chief Emeka Sibeudu, Former Deputy Governor Anambra State, Dr. Nkem Okeke, APGA Chairman Anambra State, Chief Sir Nobert Obi, PG ASATU, Chief Titus Akpudo, Most Reverend Valerian Okeke, Former Nigerian Minister for Women Affairs, Chief Josephine Anenih, Commissioners, Members of Anambra State Executive Council, Members of Anambra House of Assembly, Traditional Rulers among others attended the event.