Soludo has earned his keep in the Governor’s mansion in Awka. His good works, and his multi-sectoral transformation of the state, speak so loudly that even the deaf can attest to them.
By Okey Ifionu
Since Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo assumed office as governor of Anambra state three years ago, he has probably taken more flaks than any of his contemporaries. Nor am I surprised about that. Much of the rap against him, truth be told, had little or nothing to do with his performance as governor. A good number of his vicious critics are people who are unhappy about his political altercation with Mr. Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 general election. They may not admit it but many of Soludo’s implacable critics have been fighting a proxy war. It matters nothing to such people that the war is absolutely uncalled for.
As a trained journalist, I know an objective criticism when I see one. So, I have observed with some amusement what some of Soludo’s critics often said or wrote against him. I have tried to find out if there was any real kernel to the criticisms. In most cases the answer was zilch!
Anambra is a politically rancorous, not to say, tough place. All kinds of sentiments come into the mix when it comes to assessing our governments. In Soludo’s case, his candour and his unflattering comments on certain issues, especially his viral comments against Peter Obi in the heat of the presidential election, have not helped matters. Still, I do not believe that his opinion of anybody or on anything should blind any reasonable person to the consequential development strides that his government has made in just three years. I write this article as an indigene of Anambra state who has a good stake in how the place is being governed. Being now a man of the cloth, I may not always publicly comment as frequently as I used to. But as I said in a forum of Anambra indigenes recently, Soludo has earned his keep in the Governor’s mansion in Awka. His good works, and his multi-sectoral transformation of the state, speak so loudly that even the deaf can attest to them.
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Each time I travelled home in the past three years, I gave myself the task of driving round the state to assess things for myself. In road construction, I have observed a giant leap in the number of roads that the incumbent governor has fixed. Many more are also in the making. They are not just important roads connecting nodal towns in the state but also roads tackling longstanding traffic snarls during festive periods. The dualisation of the Amawbia (Awka)— Ekwulọbịa —Uga road with a flyover at Ekwulọbịa is one project that is sure to bring much relief to users of that important route. It was something long overdue. Impressive is the speed of work on the project. In fact the flyover has now been completed, making Ekwulọbịa, a veritable nodal town, more pleasant to behold. A similar dualisation is also happening on the Agulu–Adazi–Nnobi–Nnewi–Ozubulu–Okija road. This road essentially cuts through the middle of Anambra state. When I travelled through the route in early January, I was quite impressed with the pace of work and the progress made since my previous visit in November last year. When completed these two dualisation projects will literally unlock Anambra state, and shorten the travel time from Awka to any part of the state by nearly 50 per cent. There is hardly a better way to open up a state to meaningful investments.
In Anambra, well designed and properly asphalted roads are a big boon to economic development. One has observed with joy how intentional the Soludo administration is about this. In just three years, the administration has done hundreds of kilometers of asphalt roads covering virtually all the 179 autonomous communities in the state. His bold and massive reconstruction of Okpoko, a slum suburb of Onitsha, is simply breath-taking. Nothing close to that had happened in Okpoko in the past 50 years. Those who call him “Gov. ọlụ atụ egwu” (the governor who does not flinch from seemingly impossible tasks) are justified. Soludo has indeed taken what his immediate predecessors —Ngige, Obi, Obiano– started, to new admirable levels. And all of that at reasonable cost. I doubt that today any state in Nigeria has better motorable roads than Anambra. And I should know!
Some of my Diaspora friends often say to me that the construction of good roads should not be the only measure of good performance by any government. My response always is that considering where we are coming from in terms of the state of road infrastructure in Nigeria, road construction must be a major index in assessing the performance of a governor. Think, for instance, of the torture Nigerians go through while travelling from Lagos to Onitsha, or Lagos to Warri, especially on the so-called Benin by-pass. You wonder why any serious government would be talking about a white elephant called Lagos-Calabar coastal highway despite the sordid state of most of Nigeria’s interstate highways. And for me, therefore, fixing these roads will in itself be a major accomplishment.
Yes, our governments need to also pay serious attention to other indices of development such as housing, sanitation, educational and health services, security of lives and property, etc. However, good roads matter a great deal, especially in a state like Anambra with a highly mobile populace. Without good roads, commerce which is a mainstay of the state’s economy, suffers a setback. Soludo obviously knows this which is why he has put much store by road construction while at the same time gentrifying the state capital, Awka and shoring up health and educational services. His government’s free maternity care for all pregnant women, and rehabilitation of all the existing general hospitals, are endearing legacies.
More significantly, that many Anambra business men and women now know that tax payment is a civic obligation, is something that Gov. Soludo should be commended for. Anambra’s huge potential for self- sustenance is rapidly becoming a reality. Her internally generated revenue (IGR) has climbed noticeably in the past three years, and the state is the better for it. Onitsha is looking better, Nnewi is looking better, Ekwulọbịa is looking better, and Ihiala is no less so.
The administration is also tackling the hydra-headed insecurity challenge, which, by the way, is a global monster. His government’s new policies aimed at sanitizing the state and ridding it of all manner of criminals and charlatans have been endorsed by experts, and are already bearing positive results. There may be no overnight fix to the insecurity challenge given the high level of unemployment in the country. However, I believe that with the government’s bold and spirited multi-sectoral approach to the many social malaise plaguing Anambra state, especially his cutting-edge skill-acquisition programme for Anambra youths, the future is bright. Governor Soludo clearly deserves a second term.
Venerable Ifionu, a former Deputy Managing Director of THISDAY Newspapers, is an Archdeacon in the Anglican Diocese of Lagos Mainland.
