Shettima Seeks Fed Govt, States Collaboration In Fight Against Insecurity

Vice President Kashim Shettima has stressed the need for collaboration between the federal government and states in the fight against insecurity in the country.

He spoke yesterday in Awka at the inauguration of Anambra State governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, for a second term in office.

The event was held at Alex Ekwueme Square in Awka, the state capital.

The ceremony was also attended by former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan,  deputy governors of Enugu, Imo, Ebonyi, Delta and Kaduna states, as well as the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogwunusi, a former secretary-general of the Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, the Obi of Onitsha, Alfred Nnaemeka Achebe, former governor Chris Nwabueze Ngige, Sir Emeka Offor, Air Peace boss, Allen Onyema, Chief Ernest Obiejesi and Obinna Iyiegbu (Obi Cubana).

While describing Soludo as a man of “great ideas”, Shettima applauded his achievements during his first tenure.

In apparent reference to the Soludo administration’s fight against insecurity, including money-making ritualists, known in Igbo palace as “Okeite”, Shettima said, “It is time to come together to fight insecurity that has cast shadows in the country.”

He charged Soludo to use his second term to consolidate on the strong foundation for state development he laid during his first tenure, describing the second-term inauguration as not necessarily about continuity; “it is about responsibility”.

After he was sworn in, Soludo declared that his administration within the next four years would perfect its master plan for developing Anambra State as “African -Dubai-Silicon Valley”.

He also said that his government would annihilate the evil culture of ritual money-making, which he noted had become a very sad development in the Southeast region, particularly among the youths.

He said, “Over the next four years, we are changing to Gear 4.0 to consolidate the ongoing transformations across all sectors, accelerate actions to secure the spaces and pillars for the prosperity of generations yet unborn, and institutionalise change within a ‘built to last’ framework.

“We move with urgency—running at the speed of 1,000 km per hour in multiple directions simultaneously. Security and electricity will remain priorities. Anambra’s landmass is rapidly being developed in a haphazard, chaotic manner, making a physical master plan an emergency.

“That is why we are intentionally securing strategic land spaces as a ‘Land Bank’ for future developments. With an estimated population of about 40 million by 2070 and nearly 50 million by 2100, the state will require at least three airports, but in the next 10 years, there will be hardly any space for them unless we act today.

“We have already planned and invested in four new cities and a district simultaneously: New Niger City near Onitsha, Awka 2.0, the Anambra Mixed-Use Industrial City (AMIC), an Aerotropolis, and the Innovation District– our own Silicon Valley.

“The CPCS of Canada has completed for us the Anambra’s Rail Master-plan, and our Gas Master-plan is also ready.  Electricity remains a national binding constraint, and we are determined to find some local solutions in partnership with private investors and the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN),” Soludo said.