On the 17th day of March, 2022, Governor of Anambra State, Professor Chukwuma Soludo and his Deputy, Dr. Onyekachukwu Ibezim were sworn-in at the Government House Awka to serve the people.
Governor Soludo campaigned on disruptive change, innovation and progress, anchored on the three documents which are the people’s manifesto, vision 2070 report and the transition committee report.
Governor Soludo’s administration is driven by five pillars of Security, Law and Order, Economic transformation, human capital and social agenda, governance and value system as well as environmental sustainability.
With his team assembled and his agenda set, the Governor set out to fulfill his campaign promises and made an immediate impact on the people of the state. He worked for over eight hours on the very first day of his swearing-in ceremony, and on the following day, he visited Okpoko which is the largest urban squalor in Nigeria, if not in Africa.
On assumption of office, eight local government areas, largely in Anambra South and North were under siege by non-state actors. The local government areas include; Aguata, Ihiala, Ekwusigo, Nnewi North, Nnewi South, Orumba North and Orumba South and Ogbaru.
Governor Soludo immediately embarked on correcting the “dysfunctional” security system in the state and liberated these local government areas, starting by creating the Ministry of Homeland Affairs, which further strengthened the Anambra Vigilante Group.
The Governor’s adopted multifaceted strategy of combating crime and criminality, including the use of contemporary security technologies, cooperation with security agencies, and the hiring of two thousand physically fit individuals to beef up the Anambra State Vigilante Group.
Today, as a result of the security architecture put in place by Governor Soludo, the inhabitants in most of the areas that were held hostage by hoodlums for many years have heaved a sigh of relief and many of them came home for the last Christmas in droves without apprehension and there were mass returns and festivities in many communities, while the Christmas fun fair attracted thousands of people into Anambra State.
Governor Soludo in his first official interview granted to a national television, revealed that he met an insolvent state, with debt running into billions of naira, owed to multiple contractors who have either delivered projects or were at different stages of completion of their projects. This is to say that the new administration met a state that was not fiscally sound or financially sustainable.
For instance, at the time Governor Soludo’s administration came into office, the pension and gratuity liabilities for both State and Local Government were at about twenty billion naira which accumulated from 2018.
centralizing the payment gateways and doing away with cash base revenue generation which gives way for fraud and embezzlement.
and forty seven kilometres have been completed, representing ten kilometres of roads monthly.
Recruitment of five thousand teachers nine months into his administration, to end the era of schools without teachers is another milestone worth celebrating. Three thousand more teachers are on the verge of being recruited as well. His administration equally recruited one thousand health personnel, to end the era of hospitals without doctors and nurses.
Governor Soludo’s enactment of free antenatal care and delivery services in public health facilities, free education for basic school pupils and students in public schools, empowerment of five thousand youths with skills through the one youth two skills initiative, among others are efforts of this administration to build a state where people can live, learn, work, relax and enjoy.
The administration has also distributed one million, one hundred thousand hybrid coconut and palm seedlings to over one hundred thousand households.
In short, Anambra state has witnessed significant economic growth under Governor Soludo’s watch, and he has been successful in gradually attracting foreign investments into the state.
Anambra State, under Soludo’s leadership, is poised not just for progress but for a transcendence that will leave an indelible mark on Anambra State landscape. it is time to unite as One Solution Team and sculpt a future where Anambra stands far better than it was met.
The development focus is encapsulated in the mantra, “One State, One People, One Agenda.” As the gears continue to shift and accelerate in 2024, the promised Transformation Agenda is fully on course in Anambra state.
Written by EJIKE ABANA
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