Commentary: As Osodieme Tours Anambra

No doubt, the success of every government hinges on the connection with the wellbeing and support of the governed. This fact is never lost on Governor Willie Obiano (Akpokuodike), who, in the course of five years on the saddle, maintains an enviable touch and relationship with stakeholders of Anambra state.
Conscious that regular direct contact with Ndi Anambra is an uphill task, the Governor seems to have engineered a seamless system to ensure that his wife, Dr. Ebelechukwu (Osodieme), the Advocate-in-Chief of Anambra women, is in regular touch with Umunwanyi-Anambra to get regular feedback from that critical group.

Thus, began Osodieme’s annual Community & Local Government Tour in collaboration with the Ministry of Women Affairs. This project is now in its fifth year. The advocacy and empowerment tour, normally sees Osodieme reaching out to women, youths, widows, the physically challenged and the less privileged.

The annual tour is a firsthand feedback mechanism from Anambra communities to the government and vice-versa, and the 2019 tour, which commenced on August 5, 2019 with a visit to Awka South Local Government, is no exception. Supported by the Commissioner for Women Affairs, Lady Ndidi Mezue and her team, the wife of the Governor will crisscross the state under rain and shine to touch and feel the pulse of Ndi Anambra, particularly their women. These experiences and keen observations are taken back to the table of the Governor.

In the course of the tour, Osodieme will talk about the just concluded 2019 Mothers’ Summit and the lessons there from, and remind the women of the need to work hard, alongside their husbands, to keep the family stable. It is also an opportunity to demonstrate her unflinching commitment to the welfare of the average woman.

She will advise and exhort those who have nothing to do to come under the roof of her NGO, Caring Family Enhancement Initiative (CAFÉ), to be trained free of charge in any field of micro enterprise and enjoy the free start-up capital and enabling equipment like the over 4,600 earlier beneficiaries of the scheme.

Also, Osodieme will remind Ndi Nne Anambra that ‘Health is wealth’. She will advise them to embrace the wonderful opportunity created by our working Governor to make healthcare available for all through the Anambra State Health Insurance Scheme. The annual registration for the services per person is twelve thousand, five hundred naira. This arrangement provides a very good avenue for philanthropists amongst Ndi Anambra to take health burden off the poor.

Being a marriage counselor, Osodieme will enlighten the women on Genotype awareness and the need for pre-marriage test to avoid the avoidable sickle cell disorder. Thankfully, the Anambra State House of Assembly has given legal backing for mandatory test for prospective couples to avoid the occurrence of sickle cell.
The tour is an opportunity to talk about government programmes and projects in the communities. It helps elicit challenges faced by the various towns and preferred interventions they expect from government. Such exchanges were useful in the past years, leading to quick intervention by the government in identified areas of need.
Osodieme will also exhort the need for communities to take ownership of government projects and ensure their safety for the people to enjoy the benefits. It was this channel of engagement that gave rise to intervention of her NGO, CAFÉ, in the construction of over fifteen rest rooms in rural markets to promote hygiene and healthy environment and to protect the dignity of the womenfolk.
During the tour, many agencies of government, including the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Anambra Health Insurance Agency, are collaborating with the wife of the Governor in taking the messages of avoidance of substance abuse, road safety imperatives, especially in the rainy season, and health consciousness to the people.
Above all, Osodieme will empower select indigent widows, children and the less privileged, especially the physically challenged, with food items and stipends to help sustain them. The benefits of the Local Government tour to the communities and the government as a useful resource for interaction and feedback cannot be over-emphasized. It is therefore a vital cycle of extra-governmental engagement that facilitates Governor Willie Obiano’s determination to continue to expand the frontiers of good governance in Anambra State.