Analysts believe that the essence of government is to cater for the welfare of the masses. They also position that the success of any government depends on the connection with the wellbeing and support of the governed. These facts are never lost on Governor Willie Obiano, who, in the course of about six years on the saddle, maintains an enviable touch and relationship with stakeholders across the youths, men, and the women of Anambra.

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. (Mrs.) Ebelechukwu Obiano (Osodieme) – the Advocate-in-Chief of Anambra women, is in regular touch with Umunwanyi-Anambra so as to get regular feedback from that critical group.

Thus, Dr Mrs. Obiano has kicked off her annual Community & Local Government Tour, in collaboration with the Ministry of Women Affairs. The project, which is now in its sixth year, is an advocacy and empowerment tour. Usually, the tour 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. This year, despite the debilitating effect of the COVID-19 pandemic and the fact that her husband is not contesting for any elective post now, Osodieme commenced the 2020 tour on October 5, 2020 with a visit to Awka South Local Government.

Supported by the Commissioner for Women Affairs, Lady Ndidi Mezue and her team, the wife of the Governor is currently crisscrossing with ease 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. That is the way to go.

In the course of the tour, Osodieme is talking about the pandemic and the need for parents to ensure that they abide by all the COVID-19 protocols by ensuring that they provide face masks, sanitizers, soaps and water before their children left for school or anywhere else. She is equally inculcating in the teachers the need to ensure physical distancing by spacing the children.

Osodieme reminds Ndi Nne Anambra that ‘Health is wealth’; she is advising them to embrace the wonderful opportunity created by our working Governor to make healthcare available for all through the Anambra State Health Insurance Scheme. Not just that. Osodieme is reminding 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.

More so, Osodieme has been urging 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 thousands earlier beneficiaries of the scheme.

Being a marriage counselor, Osodieme educates the women on Genotype awareness and the need for pre-marriage test to avoid the occurrences of avoidable sickle cell disorder. The tour is also 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 have been very useful in the past years, leading to quick intervention by the government in identified arrears of need.

Osodieme equally drums into the communities the need to take ownership of government projects among them and ensure their safety for the people to enjoy the benefits maximally. In fact, it was this channel of engagement that gave rise to intervention of her NGO, CAFÉ, in the construction of houses for widows and many rest rooms in rural markets to promote hygiene and healthy environment as well as protect the dignity of the womenfolk.

It is a thing of joy that in the community engagement, Osodieme, the wife of the governor, Mama Anambra is empowering select indigent widows, children and the less privileged, especially the physically challenged, with many items and stipends to help sustain them.

All told, 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.

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