Correspondent OKEY MADUFORO writes on the performance scorecard that Anambra State governor, Willie Obiano, intends to flaunt as he seeks second term in the November 18 governorship election
The political climate in Anambra is undoubtedly charged as the state braces up for the November 18, 2017 governorship election. On one hand of the race is Governor Willie Obiano, who is seeking a second term in office. On the other hand are candidates of leading political parties, each angling to upstage the governor.
While the governor and his All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) rely on the administration’s performance profile in asking for another term, other political parties and their candidates allege that much has not been impacted on the state by Obiano, hence their desire to take over from him.
Some have even taunted him to start writing his hand-over notes, in firm conviction that he would lose the election. Politicians on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are among those making the remarks. The governor and his supporters, however, do not seem bothered by what they easily dismiss as ranting of rootless opposition.
On coming to office three and half years ago, Obiano had unveiled his blueprint for governance which he christened “The Enablers”. The theme encompassed such issues as trade and commerce, agricultural revolution, security of lives and property, improved healthcare delivery, quality education, and oil and gas.
Leaning on these key enablers, the governor set out plans at realising certain objectives.
Security of life and property
According to Obiano, “business, commerce and industry cannot thrive without the necessary apparatus for the insurance of security of lives and property. It is our desire to make Anambra State the investment and commercial hub of the South East and Sub-Saharan Africa in general.”
To this end, the administration established the Anambra Joint Task Force (JTF) which has officers and men of the armed forces, the State Police Command, Civil Defence and Department of State Services (DSS) as its personnel.
Similarly, the Anambra Vigilante Services (AVS) was strengthened and rejuvenated with the employment of seasoned and experienced security personnel and the decentralising of the security personnel with each of the three senatorial zones taking charge of the respective seven local government areas per senatorial zone. To complement the efforts in this direction, street lights were erected in major roads in Onitsha and Awka metropolis.
Officials of the government enthuse that with these bold efforts, issues of kidnapping, armed robbery and all forms of brigandage have been drastically reduced in the state.
The measure, it was learnt, was also intended to boost the State’s internally generated revenue (IGR) from the markets.
The result, our reporter gathered, was the enhanced security presence in major markets in Nnewi, Onitsha, Ekwulobia and Awka towns. This has tremendously improved trade and commerce in Anambra, residents and citizens said.
National Publicity Secretary of APGA, Ifeatu Obi-Okoye, spoke on the gains of the engagement. “Security cannot work well without these street lights along our high ways and major streets.”
Chairman, Willie Obiano Support Group, Jude Emecheta, corroborated the observation by Obi-Okoye. “Night life has returned to our cities of Anambra State. Go to Nkwo Nnewi Triangle and see crowd of fruit and food vendors with sports clubs being functional up to midnight. Those days of families going to spend the night in churches for fear of armed robbers attacking their homes are gone. So Anambra people can sleep with both eyes closed,” he declared in an encounter with TheNiche.
Data from the Anambra State Chamber of Commerce, Mines and Agriculture equally indicate that the gains of these security initiatives have rubbed off positively on the industrial sector of the state.
“In the last three years, the number of small-scale industries has increased by 38 pr cent as against what it was before Obiano’s inception, and a total of 126 medium-scale industries that were formerly moribund have come back to life,” the organisation stated.
Agriculture
Perhaps, more than any other index, the 2016 Christmas was one that showcased the success story in Anambra agricultural revolution. The bounteous harvest was celebrated as a major indicator of the dividends of the state government’s investments and partnership with investors in the agriculture sector.
The exciting story of the initiative is that at the peak of frustrations by residents of the state over the high cost of foreign rice in the country, the Anambra Rice that resulted from the partnership served as succour to both traders and consumers. The rice was produced by farmers from Omor, Ayamelum, Orumba North and Orumba South local government areas as well as Amichi Community in Nnewi South council area.
In a bid to sustain the effort, improved seedlings and organic fertilisers have continually been distributed to local farmers in addition to provision of soft loans to them.
Our reporter also learnt that the state’s Ministry of Agriculture has assisted farmers to set up cooperatives between them and agro-allied companies who deal with bulk farm produce to ensure rapid turnover and return on investments.
The impact of assistance was largely felt in the export of vegetables outside the country – a feat that members of the opposition dismissed as mere propaganda by the administration.
But the governor rose to the allegation.
His words: “The farmers produce a lot and the problem they face is market. The quantity of what they produce is far more than enough for Anambra people and beyond. So, instead of allowing these farm produce to perish, we have to attract a market for our hard-working farmers. That is how we began to export vegetable outside the country. Companies and business men come to buy off these products and it goes a long way in encouraging our farmers.”
Setting up Anambra State Investment Promotion and Protection Agency (ANSIPPA) is another contribution to the agriculture sector by the government, TheNiche learnt.
The agency has, since its inauguration, been on the vanguard of offering quality advice and technical support to the farmers on the agricultural policies of the state.
Explaining further on the role of ANSIPPA on the economic blueprint of the state, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Agriculture, Tourism Training and Methodology, Amaechi Okwuosa, stated that under the arrangement, investors and business men can take advantage of the programme to do business with right partners in the state.
Community development
Sources in Anambra told our correspondent that one novelty that has brought governance to the grassroots is the “Choose Your Project Initiative” being midwifed by the administration.
The governor, earlier last year, announced at a stakeholders’ meeting, which had in attendance traditional rulers and presidents-general of 179 autonomous communities in the state, that each community had been directed to select a project of urgent importance that would not cost more than N20 million.
Obiano further announced that respective markets in the state would receive N10 million each for the execution of any project of their choice.
Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Tony Nnacheta, who briefed reporters later on the agenda, stated that it is aimed at ensuring that government presence is felt in the 177 communities in the state and to enhance the enablers of the administration.
“To this end, Governor Willie Obiano has announced that the 177 communities in the state are to submit community-based projects of their choice that would not be more than N20 million each. This is aimed at further reaching out to the grassroots and ensuring that those in the rural areas benefit optimally from government,” he said.
The projects, he added, were to be presented to the government after the traditional rulers and presidents-general of the communities would have brainstormed with stakeholders in those communities on the type of project or infrastructure they were in great need of.
Chairman, Anambra North Traditional Rulers Council and the monarch of Nteje Community, Igwe Roland Odegbo, lauded the government for embarking on the exercise.
President-general of Awka Community, Anthony Okechukwu, while endorsing the agenda, remarked that government has the responsibility of ensuing that governance gets to the people.
“I am not surprised by what Governor Obiano is doing. It is the responsibility of government to carry every community along and to empower them,” he said.
Our reporter gathered that few weeks after the pronouncements were made, many communities in the state swung into action to ensure that they did not lose out in the gesture.
Industralisation
A couple of months ago, then Acting President Yemi Osinbajo paid a working visit to Anambra at the instance of the governor.
The visit was in response to complaints by industrialists in the state over the effect of recession and global economic meltdown in the country.
During the visit, Osinbajo toured companies and medium-scale industries in the area where he discovered the challenges of industrialisation in the state.
Information managers of the state insist that the visit by the vice president added to improved industrialisation in the state through the assistance of the federal government by way of incentives to industrialists.
Health and education
In line with the enablers of the Obiano administration, health and education sectors are said to have also received government’s attention.
It has, in pursuit of this objective, put plans in motion for the upgrading of the College of Education in Nsugbe to university status.
The governor, in making this disclosure, also stated that his administration converted the College of Agriculture, Mgbakwu in Awka North Council Area, to a polytechnic.
He explained that this was in line with his administration’s policy on re-positioning the state’s education sector to provide students with quality teaching and learning to make them functional members of the society in future.
Similarly, vocational education programmes have been embarked upon by the administration aimed at producing quality skilled men and women that would be self-employed and self-reliant instead of those searching for white-collar jobs.
On the health sector, it was learnt that Anambra State Universal Health Insurance Bill was recently passed into law by the House of Assembly.
The move, it was gathered, was to ensure that citizens have access to quality healthcare in the state.
Pursuant to the agenda, government has also made the provision of N200 million for the take-off of the health insurance scheme.
Commissioner for Health, Prof. Joe Akubuike, who presented the scorecard of the government in this regard, argued that it has done a lot in the improvement and provision of healthcare, and still doing more.
According to him, the respective general hospitals in the state have been receiving government’s attention, stressing that emphasis is being laid on pre-natal and post-natal healthcare as well as paediatrics, and equipping hospitals in the rural areas to ensure enhanced healthcare delivery in the state.
Workers’ welfare
Admirers of the administration also score it high on areas of workers’ welfare. They claim that the steady and prompt payment of salaries and other entitlements to workers has remained a huge catalyst for productivity in the state work force.
Promotion of public servants, which has been consistent, is equally seen as an area the electorate hold the administration high, especially as the exercise is done on merit.
This, it was learnt, may have informed the endorsement of Obiano for a second term by the state chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).
According to the chairman, Jerry Nnubia, “We have seen governance down to the grassroots, we have experienced security of lives and property in Anambra.
“The agricultural revolution embarked upon by our able and hardworking governor has witnessed a harvest of plenty, and the basic infrastructure being put in place makes him qualified and deserving to go for a second term.”
