The Leader Anambra Needs

By Chinedu Nzeribe   

There is something to be learned from Anambra. Is it their policy? Is it their budgetary practice? Whatever it is, it is working! The Federal Government and the state governments should study what Anambra has been doing right and replicate it nationally. Anambra proves Nigeria does not need oil to thrive.

-Senator Ben Murray-Bruce from Bayelsa State.

These are really good times for the people of Anambra State. The dramatic changes we have seen and experienced across the state in the last three years are well acknowledged. From agric development to exemplary performance in educational contests in Nigeria and overseas to security, Anambra State has attracted national attention, and Willie Obiano has consequently become one of the most decorated governors in recent years throughout the country. However, there is one area, which has escaped the attention of most commentators: Making Anambra State scandal-free.

As I am writing this brief article, there are newspaper reports that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has obtained a court order confiscating an exquisite 100-room hotel under construction in Lekki, Lagos State. The reason is that the hotel is reportedly being developed with N500m and $500,000 by a serving state governor, and the monies are believed to be proceeds of crime. Though the EFCC has not mentioned publicly the name of the state governor, many media outlets have disclosed authoritatively that the developer is a top-notch of the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF), who is also a member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). The governor has vigorously denied the allegation, but everyone seems to take the denial with a pinch of salt. 

Newspapers and Internet media outlets have quoted unnamed EFCC officials, as confiding in them that the governor diverted the state’s share of the refund of money from the Paris Club made to the 36 states of the federation plus the Federal Capital Territory of Abuja. As someone who did his one-year compulsory one-year National Youth Service Scheme (NYSC) in the governor’s state, which is arguably Nigeria’s poorest state, I am disheartened by the news. Why is the money not invested in the state but used to develop Lagos further?

Let the truth be told: The governor is not alone in being accused of looting the refund of the Paris Club. Many other governors stand accused. Looting by state governors seems to have become a way of life in Nigeria since 1999. Newspapers before me, as I am writing, report that Alhaji Ibrahim Saminu Turaki, former Jigawa State governor, is standing trial before Justice Nnamdi Dimgba of the Federal High Court in Abuja for refusing to honour invitations from the EFCC in connection with the looting of N5.2bn and $20m when he was in office. Indeed, there are very few state governors, both former and current, who are not charged with acts of scandalous corruption.

For us in Anambra State, the good news is that the state has been scandal-free. If not for the police arrest and detention of a sport utility vehicle (SUV), carrying N250m raw cash on Sunday, June 1, 2009, at 7 Aerodromme Road in Apapa, Lagos, which is the private office of the then governor, Anambra State would have been totally free of corruption scandals since the restoration of democracy.   In fact, Anambra has been really free of all forms of scandal in the last three years. Take strikes. Though doctors in the service of the state government went on an unbelievable two-year strike just before Chief Obiano assumed office over poor conditions of service, no one dare talk of workers, protesting against the current administration because there is, frankly, nothing to protest against.

Can workers protest against Obiano for increasing their salaries by 15%, the only governor to do so in the last four years? Can they possibly protest against the only state government, which pays salaries before the end of every month? Can they protest against it for being concerned right now with how to increase salaries again? Can they protest against the government for not going for a bailout like even rich oil-producing states, which got so broke that they have not paid salaries for about one year? Can they protest against the  only state government to launch a stimulus package in the wake of the ongoing recession in the country? Can they protest against, perhaps, the only government still employing people, especially graduates with physical disabilities? Can they protest against Obiano’s clearing of the N200m salary arrears owed the staff of the state water corporation for 10 years? Can they protest against a government, which has just released almost N1bn to the state radio and radio stations as well as the newspaper company for the payment of retired workers’ pensions and gratuities, which were not paid for decades? Can they protest against a government still building roads and bridges, as if the state were inoculated against the national recession?

Needless to state, there is no state in Nigeria today where the workers unions and the government have demonstrated so much affection for each other as Anambra State. Last May 1, for instance, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), among other groups, endorsed a second term for Obiano. They described him as a role model, the leader Anambra State needs. One of my relatives spent eight years at the Anambra State University Teaching Hospital to become a doctor but failed because the hospital could not secure the accreditation of the Nigerian Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria on grounds of insufficient staff and inadequate facilities. Today, he is a qualified doctor, thanks to Obiano, who provided the required funds. The state teaching hospital is not only accredited, it is training consultants. Willie is working.

Senator Ben Murray-Bruce from Bayelsa State is correct in recommending that both the Federal Government and state governments in Nigeria borrow a leaf from Anambra. Kogi State, for instance, has been sending its top officers to Anambra to understudy the state’s financial management. Even states like Lagos should learn from Anambra, even though both states are the fastest developing in Nigeria in terms of infrastructural development.  But Lagos is not as safe as Anambra. Lagos has in recent times been devastated by kidnappings and cult-related killings. Pupils and their teachers are now fair game to kidnappers in Nigeria’s commercial capital. In Imo State, kidnappers have been having a field day for several months. The Kaduna-Abuja highway has in the last five months been hijacked by robbers and kidnappers. Violent criminals used to enjoy free rein in Anambra State until Obiano found a solution, which turned out to be a magical bullet. But today the state has become the safest in the whole country. Therefore, various state governors as well as federal security agencies should find out from the current administration in Anambra State how it performed the security miracle and learn from it.

Let me end this commentary with a quote from the Holy Bible: “When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; when the wicked rule, the people groan” (Proverbs 29:2).

• Nzeribe, until recently a      manager with Keystone Bank, lives in Onitsha, Anambra State.

Anambra Moves To Start Rice Export By 2018

Jude Nwankwo, the acting programme manager of agricultural development programme (ADP), Anambra, says plans are underway to commence export of rice from the state in 2018.

Nwankwo disclosed this in an interview with NAN on Sunday in Awka.

“By the grace of God, Anambra will commence rice export after our harvest this year,” he said.

He assured that the state will produce more than 500,000 tonnes of rice in the 2017 harvest year based on projections from the field.

He said that the figure would be 300, 000 higher than what was recorded in 2016.

“In 2016, we projected 180, 000 metric tonnes of rice, but we surpassed it by 20, 000. In 2017 our target is to produce 500, 000 metric tonness of rice, but the information from the field indicates that the figure will even go higher again,” he said.

He said that more rice farmers were being supported by government to cultivate rice in Orumba north, Ayame­lum, Awka north, Anam­bra east and Anambra west local government areas and other communities across the state.

“We distributed hybrid FERO 44 rice, maize, cassava and yam to farmers, in addition to huge support the state gave to vegetable farmers who already are exporting pumpkin and bitter leaf to markets in America and Europe.”

NAN reports that many communities in Anambra such as Owusi, Omasi, Omor, Ifite-Og­wari, Enugu-Abo, Ufuma and Umuekete-Aguleri, among others have enormous potentials for commercial rice farming.

Nwankwo said a more cheering development in the state was that more youths especially graduates are now showing serious interest and passion in farming due to evident prospect in commercial agricultural ventures.

“In Anambra now, the involvement of youths in agriculture is affecting rural/urban migration. Hardly do I spend up to one hour in my office without receiving youths coming to ascertain how they can establish one agricultural venture or another.

“The state currently has more than 2, 000 registered Farmers Cooperative Societies and many jobs and wealth are being created in the sector in the state,” he said.

The Anambra ADP boss noted that the state is practicing e-agriculture which enables information on agricultural activities to be easily generated and transmitted to the state agricultural data unit.

On meteorological agency (NiMet) prediction that Anambra will be among states to record flooding which may lead to poor harvest, Nwankwo allayed the fears, insisting that it would not affect plants in the area.

“We already have the records of communities with high risk for flooding; our agricultural extension officers guided farmers from such locations to strictly adhere to agricultural calendar.

“And so farmers in these places like Ogbaru and FADAMA communities would have harvested their crops before the flooding will occur this time,” Nwankwo noted.

Anambra Blog

7 Quick Facts About Anambra Rice

1. Anambra State consumes 320,000 metric tons of Rice every year;

2. Before Gov Obiano in 2014, Rice Farmers in Anambra produced only 80,000 metric tons per year;

3. By early 2017, within 3 years of Gov Obiano's administration, Farmers started producing 290,000 metric tons in Anambra;

4. With the new JOSAN Integrated Rice Farm and Mill in Ufuma at full operation, Anambra State is producing 400,000 metric tons;

5. Yet, Anambra State Government targets to produce 513,000 metric tons by the end of 2017;

6. So, before next year, Anambra will be having self grown and milled Rice in surplus of over 93,000 metric tons;

7. Thus, in 2018, Anambra Rice will readily and officially be exported to other States in Nigeria and beyond.

Kindly note that; Self sufficiency isn't when everyone has it at home because some "unpatriotic" persons may still prefer the imported brands to our Rice Brands

So, self sufficiency is when the quantity of Rice produced by us is more than the quantity we consume.

Rt Hon Ifeanyi Aniagoh

Over 2,200 Pupils Receive Free Meals In Anambra State

No fewer than 2,200 pupils in Anambra State are currently benefitting from the Home Grown Feeding Programme in the state, the Programme Manager, Mrs. Ngozi Ekwenibe, has said.

The project is one of the social investment programmes of the Federal Government in collaboration with states.

Speaking to newsmen while supervising the measurement of the pupils’ weight, height and size by health workers in Awka, Ekwenibe, said government embarked on the assessment of the impact of the programme to ascertain the nutritional status of the pupils receiving free foods.

She advised parents on balanced diet, just as she solicited for more funds from the government to improve on the services.

By Emma Elekwa

Obiano Commissions Stanel Oil Multipurpose Facility In Awka [Speech]

In celebrating the fulfilment of 'Aku luo uno'! Which is a call for Anambarians within and outside Anambra to invest in the state Governor Obiano commissioned  Stanel Multipurpose Facility.

Below is his speech at the event......

I am delighted to be here to welcome yet another important investment into Anambra State.

I feel personally gratified to note that more and more sons and daughters of our great state are accepting the timeless wisdom of Aku luo uno and heeding our call to invest at home.
Indeed, the enterprise we have gathered here today to inaugurate is a clear demonstration of our people’s well-known drive for excellence and our capacity to change our environment for the better.

Ndi Anambra have proven this over and again in so many distant places that everyone is convinced that we have what it takes to change our story. But the only people that we have left to convince are ourselves…we need to convince ourselves that the enterprising excellence we have demonstrated in other places can sink roots in our own home.

Indeed, it is important to prove that the soil of Anambra State is receptive to progress, to prosperity and to human advancement. That is why it is very fulfilling to see that our brother Stanley Uzochukwu has joined the growing line of Ndi Anambra that have heeded the call to put our dear state on the map of rapidly developing states in Nigeria. Stanley, I must thank you for this. I must also thank all our brothers and sisters who have taken advantage of the conducive environment we have created in the past three years to invest in our beloved state. For those who have yet to consider the attractive benefits of investing at home, we are waiting for you. We are ready to help you. Anambra is ready for you!

It is common knowledge that Anambra is the safest state in Nigeria today. It is also widely known in the investment community that the Anambra State Investment Promotion and Protection Agency (ANSIPPA) makes the process of investing in the state seem as easy as a walk in the park. I urge you to heed the call to invest at home. Anambra needs you now! Don’t wait a moment longer!

Ndi be anyi, there are many reasons why I am happy with Stanley Uzochukwu for giving us this great place. The first reason is that this piece of investment has created over 500 direct and indirect jobs. The second is that it is a 24-hour Mega Centre which marks it out as an endorsement of the great efforts we have made to secure our beloved state.

The third but not the final reason is that it has not only added to the growing aesthetics of our capital city but it has also altered the emerging entertainment scene with its remarkably integrated offerings. It has therefore expanded the space for further exploration of the atmosphere of freedom that our investment in security has created for our people. Ndi Anambra, I think Stanel deserves our applause!

In conclusion, want to reassure our numerous entrepreneurs who have yet to remember Anambra in their investment plan that Anambra adigokwanu mma! My Team and I have cleaned up this state and established a strong foundation for economic and industrial growth. But the actual mechanism that will give us prosperity and progress is in the hands of the people.

All we have done is to catalyse the process. We are waiting for you to lend a weighty hand to the building of a New Anambra State! It is on this note that I declare the Awka office of Stanel Oil Multi-purpose Facility open!

Dalunu!

Chief Willie Obiano
Governor, Anambra State

Senate Considers Bill To Amend NYSC

A bill to amend the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, Act is being considered by the Nigerian Senate.

The bill, sponsored by Senator Stella Oduah representing Anambra North senatorial district, went through first reading on November 24, 2015 and second reading on May 17.

Deliberation is expected to continue any time soon and further deliberation may lead to its passage.

The bill seeks to split service year into two parts in order further develop NYSC members and sharpen their entrepreneurial skills.

The bill seeks to among other things, prepare Nigerian youths to rediscover their passions, talents and skills and not to dwell on their certificates.

The proposition for the service year to be divided is to enable corps members gain experience in the work environment in the first half and engage in free and compulsory acquisition of vocational skills in the second half.

Part of objectives of the bill is “to reduce unemployment among Nigerian graduates after their service year.”

It also seeks “to develop and place the graduates in the right direction and make them useful tools for the transformation of the economy.”

By Wale Odunsi