There could, arguably, not have been any other person more prepared to govern Anambra at this time than Professor Chukwuma Charles Soludo, CFR. With backgrounds in academics, public sector consultancy at both local and international levels, and, as one-time czar of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, with multiple international recognitions, and historic banking sector reforms, the economist possess the hands on experience to deliver on the mandate given to him by Ndị Anambra on November 6, 2021.
It is now a full moon after he delivered that 4,700-word inauguration speech that could be described as the “Hope of the Anambra Spirit”. As Professor Soludo mounted the rostrum on that Thursday morning, March 17, 2022, he shared the long-borne vision of Ndi Anambra but with more specifications on how those visions could be accomplished. He was more than ever convinced that the state under his watch would be on the journey to becoming that prosperous homeland of everyone’s dreams.
Professor Soludo’s words echoed from the Agu-Awka Government House serenaded by his “One Anambra, One People, One Agenda” philosophy. He is deliberate in insisting that we cannot continue to allow Nigeria and Anambra State in particular become a dump site for different kinds of substandard products coming from different parts of the world. The vision is to make Anambra a manufacturing and production hub that other people can depend on for different goods and services. Determined to stand by his words of being the “Chief Marketing Officer” of “Made In Anambra” products, he arrived the venue of his inauguration in a vehicle made in Anambra State, alongside his deputy, while adorning his regular Akwete legendary fabric, now catching the rave of fashion in the State and South East.
Barely twenty four hours after inauguration, the governor proceeded to Okpoko. This is a place recognized as one of the biggest suburban slums east of the Niger, with over a million residents. A place he has held in his heart to give a face-lift, and give people living there a reason to truly say that they are part of Anambra State. This is the place he began work immediately after he was sworn in. His arrival at Okpoko is similar to Isaiah’s prophecy of the coming of Jesus and the good news it will bring to the people of Zebulun and Naphatali. “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.” The joy on the faces of children, the elderly, women and youths as he set foot on Okpoko was that of hope finally becoming reality.
His toured homes, stood on dump sites, entered classrooms, and shared the neighborhood air just to have the real feel of the needs of the people, and restated his resolve to change the narrative. His interactions with the residents and stakeholders of Okpoko opened his eyes to the work that must be done to give the people better opportunity to thrive in their own state. For a people long forgotten, this is the government they can call their own.
Not hours has he left Okpoko, Professor Soludo set up a committee led by his deputy, Dr Onyekachukwu Ibezim, to embark on a-three-day massive cleanup exercise of Ogbaru, Onitsha North and South and Idemili North Local Government Areas. The three-day exercise was strategic as these four local government areas boast the major concentration of the state’s economy and internally generated revenue, but were quickly turning into dump sites. The simple argument is that the journey to the Anambra of our dreams cannot be fulfilled with these four local government areas in their former state of ruins.
More than ever Anambra State was in dire need of peace. A state once reckoned as the safest in the country, and once in West and Northern Africa, soon delved into a theatre of violent crimes. Professor Soludo just days into his government convoked a one-day peace building and security dialogue that involved stakeholder from all levels to institutionalize peace, once again, in the Light of the Nation. He, also, immediately, set up the Truth, Peace and Justice Committee headed by a former Executive Secretary of Nigeria Human Rights Commission, Professor Chidi Odinkalu, to look into all genuine agitations in the state till far as back as 1999 and make recommendations to the State Government. It would not be long before these actions begin to yield positive results.
We, therefore, join in the collective prayers of Ndi Anambra at home and in the diaspora and all people of goodwill to say, “May Soludo Succeed!”
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