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Reading through his election manifesto which according to him was not just for campaign to lure the people to vote for him but a social contract with the people, Prof Charles Soludo in the opening statement wrote ‘I apply for the job of governor’. The application formed the basis of him being hired on the 6th of November 2022 amongst the other qualified candidates by ndi Anambra as Mr. Governor of the state.
As his voice thundered through the radios and televisions across the length and breadth of the state on his inauguration day, he signalled the beginning of a new dawn. He committed himself to undertaking the transformation of Anambra and ensure impactful leadership based on merit, pragmatism and honesty. Not being the typical everyday politician, Soludo is not the man who will make promises that will not be kept.
He declared that his government and Anambra will only celebrate when our school children start receiving quality education that will equip them for the new economy he is projecting; when the hospitals are equipped with up to date equipment and the best health care officers providing quality health care delivery; when our roads are motorable and transportation made easy for the people; when the lives and property of law abiding citizens are safe and secured; when Anambra can boast of sufficient food to feed her population and enough for export; he promised to celebrate when our environment is transformed into a clean, green and sustainable environment. He wants Anambra to be the cleanest state in Nigeria. With these pronouncements, he went straight to work and thus far, it has been 365 days of work, work and work!
In line with his promises, he ensured that the team he chose to work with as part of the solution agenda were chosen based on merit. Mr. Governor isn’t the one to tell you what to do, but demand that you justify why you are the best suited for the job you seek. He has no patience for those who have no value to bring to table.
He left no one in doubt that he came prepared to bring about disruptive changes and to work for the people, hence he hit the ground running as nothing will stop the work for the people.
Empowering the youths is one of his main focal point. He is genuinely concerned about the future of the population of our unemployed youths and how their budding energy can be converted into positive force for good. The youths, he believes, need skills to be employable. They need to be redirected from crime to productivity. He believes government has a role in developing human capital.
For ‘Thomases’ asking whither the Dubai /Taiwan he promised. I dare say that neither Dubai nor Taiwan was built in 365 days. Building Dubai /Taiwan starts from a clear shared vision and aspiration, prudent management of resources, innovative work force, determination, hard work, consistency and patience. He well understood that to build a sustainable smart city, you need to create a new generation of workmen, crafts men and women who will manage the technology driven infrastructure that will follow.
Thus, within his first year in office, the solution team has trained and equipped over 20,000 youths under the One Youth, Two Skills initiative. The initiative is designed to equip young men and women with the right life changing and surviving skills that will not only provide them with jobs but turn them into entrepreneurs. The scheme will lift millions of youths out of poverty.
Not done with creating opportunities without boundary for the youths, he doubled down efforts to create a new generation of youths with enduring skills through the launch of the Solution Innovation district. The launch witnessed the signing of an MOU between the state, Microsoft and Wootlab foundation . At the occasion he emphasized the need for mental ability and manual dexterity among the youth as the most enduring skill anyone can possess is knowledge. Remarkably, within 24 hours of the launch of the youth and innovation skill, over 5000 youths applied to take advantage of the opportunity.
Anything worth doing, is worth doing well. It is my sincere hope that these programmes will be able to absorb the youth population that are hungry to take advantage of the opportunity. No one who needs the opportunity should be left behind.
I also think it’s important at this stage to ensure a follow up on those first batch of youths that graduated from the One Youth, Two Skill scheme so as to monitor their progress and understand their challenges if any. Whatever lessons learnt from the monitoring process can be incorporated into future plans for the programme which by all indices serves as the cornerstone of our future, especially if we must create a new generation of productive youths.
On coming into office, Governor Soludo inherited a state bedevilled by insecurity where 0.01% of the population held the state down with raw violence, thuggery, pay-for-hire killings and kidnapping.
He took the decision to confront insecurity frontally. Without security there will be no progress and development. No one in his right mind will invest in a state where investments and security of lives and property are not protected. In 365 days , the government has reduced the incidence of violent crime in the state. Despite the occasional last kicks of a dying horse, the security situation is much improved.
The governor is doing his level best to reduce insecurity but the society must vomit their own demons. In the face of lean resources, I call on our big citizens to join forces with the state to rebuild the destroyed security infrastructure and get the police and other security agencies back on their feet. This is not the time to give up or throw our arms up in the air and surrender our state to barbarians, but the time to resist the false narratives being driven and packaged by propagandist from the darkest wombs of history.
Mr. Governor, I know does not like to sound his trumpet and will not want to boast of his accomplishments. Me thinks you don’t light a candle and hide it under the table. The governor’s men should communicate his achievements and drive them down to the people because if you don’t tell your story, your enemies will tell your stories for you.
Governor Soludo in 365 days in office has done so well at a difficult time when the Federal Allocation has crashed by N240 billion. Contrary to opinions held in some quarters by detractors and enemies of the state, the governor has not taken a kobo as loan despite the approval by the State House of Assembly for him to secure a loan of N100 billion.
By sheer economic wizardly, the governor despite the dire financial situation faced by the state has been able to put the people first in his development agenda. He ensured our children are kept in school with the employment of 5000 primary and secondary school teachers. Pensions and salaries are regularly paid to civil servants and pensioners. The arrears of gratuities which were inherited are also being cleared.
All the 21 local governments have benefited from ongoing road projects totalling over 260km roads and still counting. So far he has awarded over N160 billion worth of road projects with the contractors mobilized with between 30 and 50 per cent down payment. His urban renewal projects including waste management, environmental sanitation, clean, green and liveable homeland remain on target. His mission to make Anambra the cleanest smart city in Nigeria is feasible and on course. He is focused on this agenda. What the governor needs is our prayers and support. As a leader, he understands the responsibility and weight of his office.
Finally, I observe a disconnect between the government and people in trade and commerce with regards to government policies. Moving forward, this disconnection needs to be addressed. I may not have all the answers but I suppose that a policy that will affect people in trade and commerce needs their input in the planning. Very often, people who are part of policy planning usually will not sabotage the execution of such policies.
