Governor Of The Year
Prof. Chukwuma Soludo is widely acclaimed to be imbued with the ability to provide solutions to knotty issues. That virtue manifested when he assumed office as governor of Anambra State.
Coming with the slogan “Solution is Here,” your administration is rebuilding Anambra State with a road revolution and infrastructure upgrade in all sectors moving at great speed.
Governor Soludo has awarded contracts for over 621.649km road across all the 21 LGAs, with state-of-the-art flyovers and bridges. The Ekwulobia flyover and bus terminal are some of his signature projects. The dualization of the 34-kilometre federal highway from Amawbia through Agulu, Ekwulobia and Uga to the Imo State border as well as the dualization of 36 kilometres from Nwagu Agulu-Nnobi-Nnewi, Ozubulu to Okija linking the Onitsha-Owerri highway are some of the road construction interventions he has made to open up the state. Nobody will lose sight of the construction of the link bridge at Aroma, connecting the two parts of Awka.
The Soludo administration has also been executing massive social and human capital development programmes. Of particular note is the One Youth, Two Skills Programme, which has seen the training of over 5,000 youths, who are also empowered with seed capital as new entrepreneurs.
The government’s Solution Innovation District (SID) has also trained over 20,000 youths and impacted about 80,000 young minds with technology-driven initiatives such as Code Anambra programme, level up Anambra and SID Teens Bootcamp. Also, the “Everything Technology and Technology Everywhere” programme resonates, with Anambra adjudged the Overall Best State in Digital Technology Development.
The healthcare system is receiving due government attention, with infrastructure upgrades and total makeover. Soludo has built five new general hospitals, modernized 326 primary health centres in the 326 wards, with solar, water, equipment and personnel; and employed over 1,000 medical professionals and employing technology/telemedicine.
Under his watch, Anambra is building a trauma centre at Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University Teaching Hospital. The government also offers free antenatal and free delivery services, including C/S operations for pregnant women in public health facilities, with over 70,000 women as beneficiaries already.
In the education sector, critical interventions have been made with the objective to make the state remain the leader in education and critical skills. Under Soludo’s watch, Anambra has employed more than 8,115 new teachers and systematically scaling up their digital tools/skills.
With free education in all public schools, (nursery, primary and secondary school), enrolment in public schools has gone up by 18.7% and Anambra now has the lowest percentage out-of-school children among the 36 states of the federation and FCT. The Soludo administration is also transforming 22 secondary schools into smart schools.
In the agricultural sector, there is also an ongoing revolution aimed at taking millions of people out of poverty. The governor has re-invented M.I. Okpara’s palm economy by aggressively pursuing the palm and coconut revolution and Farm-to-Feed programmes to promote economic growth and sustainability.
Soludo’s vision to make Anambra a destination rather than a departure lounge is becoming a reality with the development of the Solution Fun City, designed to be West Africa’s largest leisure and amusement park, and embarking on the construction of 10-storey Marriott Hotel in Awka.
Prof. Chukwuma Soludo is a winner of The Sun Governor of the Year Award.