According to Rosalynn Carter, wife of President Jimmy Carter and former First Lady of the United States, ‘a leader takes people where they want to go and a great leader takes people where they don’t necessarily want to go, but ought to be.”
The revolution currently taking place in Anambra State under the leadership of the Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, CFR, is surely a tip of the iceberg when compared to the great promises that the ‘Soludo Solution’ project would unleash in the coming three years, towards the realisation of ‘the livable and prosperous homeland’ the Governor is building for the people of Anambra State.
While a greater majority is giving standing ovation to the Governor for what he has done so far, expectedly, there are a few voices saying ‘it should have been done this or that way.’
But like Rosalynn Carter said as quoted above, ‘a great leader takes people where they don’t necessarily want to go, but ought to be.”
Having said that, there is a need to state that the efforts of Governor Soludo to develop and transform Anambra state would yield greater and faster results if the leaders of the various smaller administrative units known as Local Government Areas, do their own parts by using the resources allocated to them to provide primary and basic necessities for their communities while the Governor focuses attention on the Big Pictures, his dream legacy projects.
To achieve that, leaders of the Councils need to clearly understand the visions, mindset and body language of the Governor in order to key in to his overall developmental plan.
It is on that backdrop that we have to commend Dr. Anselem Onuorah, the Transition Committee (TC) Chairman of Anambra East Local Government Area, for the great works he is doing which is simply, a replication of the giant strides of the Governor, this time, at a local level.
It would be recalled that Dr. Anselem Onuora was appointed to that position exactly one year ago, on 2nd August, 2022, by Governor Soludo.
Considering his young age, his appointment was seen as a reflection of Soludo’s “Youth o’clock” mantra in the Anambra State leadership calibration.
From his first day in office and through the 365 days so far, Dr. Onuorah has deployed his youthful energy, education and versatility to initiate several projects, especially in the areas of rural roads construction, water, healthcare and empowerment of young people and widows.
A few of Dr. Anselem’s numerous landmarks are grading and palliative works of Eziagulu-Otu-Enugwu-Otu-Mkpunando Road; Nnadi-Nsugbe Road; Nneyi-Umueri-Anambra West Road; Ngene-Okwazi Road; Igbariam-Achalla Road; Nsugbe-Onitsha Road and many others totaling to over fifty kilometers.
His administration has also rehabilitated gully erosion sites at Umueri Road, collapsed Okwazi Bridge and erosion site; and the embankment of Umueri-Nzam-Ngene Okwazi Road.
Also on record is the renovation of the Chairman’s office at the Council Headquarters, Otuocha; digitization of staff attendance register and general digitization of Anambra East Local Government Services as well as creation of the Local Government website as a tool for interfacing with the state and the world.
In addition to the above, the transition committee under the leadership of Dr. Onuorah successfully powered and activated the IoT-enabled Geospatial Intelligence mapping of the Council Area and the installation of Close Circuit Television, CCTV camera across communities in the area with a dedicated control and situation room to curb insecurity.
In a practical demonstration of the fact that his is following the footstep of Governor Soludo in leadership and vision, Dr. Anselem Onuorah launched the Clean and Green Initiative, CGI, after the state government led the way with its Clean, Green and Sustainable Anambra project, aimed at facilitating effective waste management.
The project was followed by a ‘street by street enumeration of houses’ in the local government with the ASWAMA Committee to ensure an efficient implementation and monitoring of the initiative.
Among initiatives to drive the cause are the Waste Management and Climate Action Committee; Waste Evacuation Committee; Waste Masters; Waste Collection Roadmap; and Tree Planting Committee.
To ensure steady food production, the council ensured effective distribution of palm and coconut seedling provided by the State government to farmers at ward levels in which over 2,800 coconut and 4,800 palm seedlings have been distributed.
In the area of perennial flood menace facing the area, the local government authorities, in collaboration with development partners and the State Government responded swiftly during the 2022 national flood disaster and provided an IDP camp to accommodate displaced persons, with the provision of food, medicine, blankets, sanitary materials and solar powered light to the victims.
In addition to provision of need infrastructure and other physical development projects, Dr Onuorah’s team are neck deep in the area of human capital development which he believes are drivers of grassroots development.
To that extent, the Council has organised a 3-Day retreat for the management staff and the Committee on Education, Economic and Community.
The retreat was meant to fast track the smooth take-off of the Anambra East Special Economic City (The Gateway City) which is aimed at opening up the economic corridors of the Council Area and get management team on board.
For the above and other numerous achievements, just within one year in office, many organisations and individuals have commended Dr. Anselem Onuorah and urged him to continue with the good work.
Among them is the President General of Umueri General Assembly (UGA), Ambassador Dr. John Chukwudi Metchie who in March 2023 commended the Council Chairman- ‘for the rapid development taking place across the communities in the area.’
Metchie also noted that Dr. Onuorah’s humility and loyalty to authorities, was responsible for Governor Soludo’s interest and the state government’s several interventions, especially on security, erosion and other areas.
* Melah, a journalist and author writes from Abuja.
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