Placid Onyema
27 November 2008
analysis
When on March 17, 2006, Mr. Peter Obi took office as Governor of Anambra State after a three-year legal battle, he was under no illusion as to what he wanted to do with the state.
But whether he was prepared with the level of decay and lack of institutional framework is another issue. Three years down the line, critics are agreed that Anambra State is waking from a charred past; a past of brigandage, political intolerance, insecurity and deep-seated animosity.
Faced with a political class that was accustomed to political patronage and godfatherism, Obi was faced with the difficult task of building a new political thinking anchored on using state resources for the greater good.
This new approach remains antithetical to those whose main source of income has been to drain the state dry through their parasitic clinging to government's purse. The opposition proved their mettle as he was 'impeached' by the State House of Assembly a little under a year after taking the reins of government.
He bounced back when the court ruled that he was illegally impeached and scored another legal victory when he reclaimed his mandate back in June, 2007 via a Supreme Court judgment that says his tenure ends in 2010 and not 2007 according to the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC). He set a precedence for people like Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.
Given the long years of neglect of Anambra State, Awka is far from the picture of a state capital. But all that is changing now as the Obi administration through the Anambra Integrated Development Strategy (ANIDS) is repositioning the state.
It is to his credit that 17 years after the creation of Anambra State that it now has a State Secretariat. Before now, civil servants conducted government's business from anywhere and wherever. The result being that government's business was shoddy, uncoordinated and lacked focus.
Besides the State Secretariat, training and re-training has become a part of the civil service process while pensioners that were hitherto forgotten in the emoluments process are now first on the pay-roll of the state government.
Owing to the enormous capital challenge of his administration, Gov. Obi revealed that his government was determined to reverse a situation where over 60 per cent of the state's resources are expended on overhead rather than on capital projects.
To this end, the government is working on how to improve the internally-generated revenue profile while working towards streamlining its civil service to be more manageable and result-oriented. On infrastructural development, the Governor is concen-trating on the overall development of the state rather than concentrating on Awka as some states are wont to do.
In this regard, he has been able to build over 250 kilometres of roads scattered across the state. According to him, this is the highest by any governor in the state. Some of these are the 31kms Omor-Igbakwu-Ifite Ogwari Road; the 24kms Nibo-Umuawulu-Awgbu-Amaokpala-Oko Road with a spur to Agulu, including two bridges and the 18kms Agulezechukwu-Ogboji-Akpu-Ajali Road. These also include the 32kms Amansea-Ebenebe-Ugbenu-Ugbenu-Awba-Ofemili Road.
With simultaneous development as his mantra, the Governor is evidently facing all sectors. In housing, he is working assiduously to provide accommodation to both medium and high income earners. For instance, the Hill View Housing Estate, comprising over 100 housing units is ready for occupation as well as the Judges' quarters which is almost ready. This is beside other housing initiatives.
As a means to boost economic activities in the state, his government helped in the building of the Nigerian Stock Exchange building in Onitsha. The electronic trading platform began operation on February 15, 2008. On the health front, there is massive subsidy on drugs, procurement of new equipment, upgrading of hospitals like the Amaku General Hospital.
Speaking on his strides thus far, Obi said: "I have had a difficult two years but we are committed to serving the people. Service is difficult but we serve the people faithfully. My aim is to build a human infrastructure and whenever I fail to deliver on the promise I made the people I will quit".
Indeed, Anambra people have not had it so good. For the first time, a consummate personality who understands the niceties of development is the Governor. Anambra is thus moving from the past characterised by unplea-santness to a future that is very bright and promising.
Mr. Onyema, a public affairs analyst, writes from Awka, Anambra State.
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