THE biblical Joseph found himself in the land of Egypt and through his ingenuity saved that nation and other neighboring countries from an impending economic doom by applying the principles of sound economic practices that gave room for savings during the seven years of surplus as a preparation for the subsequent seven years of scarcity.
In the past two years, Nigeria has passed through one of the worst periods in its history. Oil prices have plummeted to the lowest possible point and the naira has crashed with it. Allocations from the Federation Account have nosedived and left huge gaps in the revenues of states. The consequences are severe and unpleasant. Many states now find it difficult to pay salaries and meet their obligations.
But the story is different in Anambra State. Like Joseph, Governor Willie Obiano and his team foresaw the impending storm and made adequate preparations for the rainy day. When he assumed the leadership of Anambra State, his first move as a financial expert was to organise a strategic retreat for the state executive council members to prepare them for the task ahead.
So, at the onset, he pointed out that the strategic thrust of his administration was anchored on what he termed the four pillars of development, namely, agriculture, industrialization, trade and commerce and oil and gas. According him, these four pillars were to be firmly supported by what he called the 12 enablers without which every effort to develop the pillars would have been in vain.
The enablers, he explained, included fundamentals such as security, education, healthcare, power generation, the environment, finance, social and civil infrastructure, housing and urban development, hospitality and tourism, transportation, water and sanitation, as well as youth and sports. In achieving these, he vowed that the overriding vision was for Anambra to be the first choice investment destination and most preferred location to site new industries.
In this regard, the mission is to create a socially stable, business-friendly environment that will attract both indigenes and foreigners to seek wealth creating opportunities in the state. Two years on, Obiano has not only kept to his promises but has also opened up a new era that demonstrates a robust and dynamic leadership.
On March 17th, 2014, when he mounted the saddle of leadership in Anambra State, there were so many uncertainties, but two years into the Obiano administration, the people of Anambra would no doubt be nodding their heads in pleasant satisfaction.
For more than four decades, Onitsha, the economic engine-room of the South East witnessed some violent crimes and unimaginable absurdities. These periods in history gave Onitsha a wrong image, depriving it of the promise it once held as the capital of literary publishing in West Africa, which it firmly established with the era of the famous Onitsha market literature. For close to four decades, Onitsha was given the wrong posture. But Obiano’s security initiatives today have changed that narrative in just few months. This is perhaps one of the most glaring achievements that one observes in the state today. For the first time in living memory, the state has attained a near crime-free status.
This is underpinned by the established fact that securing the lives and property of the people is fundamental to any responsible government. Obiano’s four pillars of development formula seemed to have worked effectively in cleansing Anambra of crime and criminals, an outcome which has been quiet impressive.
The governor figured out that there could be no meaningful progress in the state without a successful attack against crime. He knew that no investor would go to a crime-ridden environment. So, he launched an all-out war against kidnappers, armed robbers, drug-dealers and child-traffickers. He smashed crime syndicates and pulled down the warehouses used for keeping kidnap victims.
He donated smart cars to the police, a gunboat to the navy and launched police helicopters to watch over the skies. And so, for the first time since the creation of the state, he ensured that Anambra was effectively covered on the land, in the waters and in the sky! With that effort, he achieved 360 degrees security coverage of the state. It is no longer in doubt that the state is today the safest in the country. And for the second time since the creation of the state, the people celebrated Christmas last year without a single incident.
The Anambra State Investment Promotion and Protection Agency (ANSIPPA) came into being immediately the bill proposing it was signed into law by the State House of Assembly. In a very short time, the agency has justified the governor’s background as an investment banker with remarkable statistics.
The administration has set an impressive record in Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) with a remarkable increase from the N500m monthly that it inherited to N1.3bn per month. Knowing how averse the people are to the payment of taxes and levies, the marginal increase in IGR in the period under review is quite significant and commendable.
This was achieved through a timely deployment of cutting edge technology and a clinical weeding out of over 800 ghost workers from the state civil service. Right now, the government’s mantra is “doing more with less,” and its target is to achieve N2.2bn in monthly revenue generation before the end of this year.
More so, in order to open up Anambra State for rapid industrialisation, he has been rehabilitating bad roads and constructing new ones. By his interventions, he has opened up Anambra to the world and made the state attractive to investors. To date, ANSIPPA has attracted investments valued at $3.2billion to the state.
These investments cut across agriculture, trade and commerce, manufacturing, hospitality, housing, electricity generation, waste management, health and oil and gas. With the quality of investments the government has attracted so far, the unemployment problem in the state has been drastically reduced and more jobs are expected to be created. In agriculture, 27,000 direct jobs and 100,000 indirect jobs are expected; in industry, trade & commerce 12,000 direct jobs and 45,000 indirect jobs are coming up; 11,000 direct jobs and 39,500 indirect jobs are being worked on in real estate & hospitality; 2,000 direct jobs and 8,200 indirect jobs for power & transportation and 500 direct jobs and 1,900 indirect jobs in the health sector. In all, a total number of 52,500 direct jobs and 200,000 indirect jobs are expected. The administration has trained 500 youths in diverse skills and crafts at the technology incubation centre in Nnewi while 500 other youths have been trained at the agricultural training institute in Mgbakwu.
Obiano is also investing in agriculture and has attracted $150m from Coscharis Farms Project in Anaku, $50m from Novtec Farms Ltd in Ndikelionwu, $160m from Joseph Agro Ltd Rice Project in Omor, $220m from Ekcel Farms Tomato Production Farm in Omasi and $50m from the Songhai/Delfarms Integrated Organic Farm Project in Igbariam. There are also grains and silos with $40m investment in storage facilities, Lynden Farms with the $61m poultry farm in Igbariam and Tricity Integrated Farms with $11.4m ultra-modern abattoir in Awka. The governor’s vision is for Anambra to become one of the top three industrialised states in the country.
To this end four key areas are being explored which include the creation of modern industrial parks and small-to-medium enterprise clusters, improved investments and better access to financing as well as strategic capacity building. The government has so far attracted over $140 million investment to the manufacturing sector.
The government has also not failed to tackle environmental challenges as it has mounted a serious campaign to retrieve cities from the menace of dirt and instill a culture of cleanness in the people. To demonstrate this commitment to a cleaner Anambra, the administration demolished a 30-year old mountain of refuse in Okpoko last year. For transportation ease, the government has initiated the modern mass transit scheme that covers the three major cities in the state with 200 brand new taxis and 40 luxurious buses.
This was followed up by the construction of modern bus stops and bus terminals in strategic parts of the state. This initiative was recently expanded to include marine transport with 24 speedboats, water ambulances and one gunboat for the Nigerian navy.
The idea is to open access to the riverine communities and ensure that no part of the state is cut off from the phenomenal development taking place.
Public utilities have also been put in place such as the recently commissioned 47 solar-powered boreholes that will serve 27 communities in Aguata and Anambra East Local Government Areas respectively. The governor is not also relenting on rural electrification as he has expanded the 33kva line that supplies power to Anambra North and installed 250 transformers in strategic locations across the state amongst other projects.
He is working on a project of installing streetlights on the Old Enugu road that will run from Nkpor to Amansea. On completion, the project will change the entire landscape of the state; stimulate commerce, strengthen security and promote social life in various communities located on that road. Anambra has also set high standard in the area of welfare of workers as it is the only state that increased the salary of its workers by 15% in 2015 at a time when many states were looking for bailouts.
He has since cleared the N1.9bn arrears of salaries owed the state water corporation staff as well as the approximately N1bn pension owed local government retirees inherited by the administration.
The governor also donated buses to workers. As things stand now, his welfarist deeds have imprinted his name on the people’s collective psyche and endeared him to them. Today, the strides of Obiano’s stewardship are there for all to see.
Two years is hardly enough time in the life of any administration to make a lasting impression on the people. But Governor Obiano and his team have demonstrated a strong ambition for greatness, anchored on political sagacity, business acumen, impeccable integrity, administrative excellence, outstanding managerial capability and competence.
They have shown that given time and resources, they can turn Anambra State into Nigeria’s new postcard for excellence; one can only pray that the good people of the state continue to support the governor’s efforts to build a strong, dynamic, virile, industrialized, economically viable and prosperous Anambra State.
- Okpala, a political analyst, wrote in from Enugu