Anambra State Governor Charles Soludo has asked Ndi Anambra and the entire Igbo to return to the tribe’s cherished culture of hard work as a means to honest wealth creation.
Soludo, who spoke Saturday in Lagos during the presentation of his three years’ scorecard as governor, said Anambra people “must go back to the first principles of hard work, enterprise and integrity by which our people are known” to regain what they have lost.
The governor noted that Ndi Anambra and the entire Igbo are known for painstaking and enduring business life, which yields wealth over time, rather than sudden wealth without good work.
Against this background, he insisted that “Ndi Anambra cannot continue to dominate the areas of commerce with the new philosophy and ideology that is fast enveloping our homeland.
Citing the Igbo entrepreneurship scheme, which incubates business skills and capital, Soludo explained that “it is a unique business model in which someone happily trains his future competitors and afterwards empowers them on graduation by setting up the same business for them.”
However, he regretted that Anambra youth have now abandoned that culture for sudden wealth through cybercrime, known in local parlance as yahoo yahoo, ritual wealth and kidnap-for-ransom, while people from other states are taking over the apprenticeship scheme.
According to him, Ndi Anambra are being systematically edged out of all the markets in the state following “this new ideology of wealth without work.”
Much of the criminality found in Igboland is linked to this clash of civilisation, values and principles, because the people no longer believe that wealth comes with good and enduring labour, he stated. “They now prefer easy ways – either drug trafficking, yahoo yahoo or kidnapping.”
On the economic sphere, he assured that Anambra under his leadership will continue with prudent management of its resources with its “doing more with less” mantra, while positioning the state for future growth and advancement.
To this end, he disclosed that the government “spent in the past three years 65 per cent of what was spent in 2013,” and has refused to borrow a kobo since inception. Nevertheless, it has also been reducing the debt inherited.
Explaining while he rejected the recent World Bank loan of about N44 billion, Soludo said the facility failed his two criteria for taking a loan: “it has to be concessional, and it has to be project finance.”
The governor said he told the World Bank Country Director that the loan, which was negotiated during the Covid-19 era, “would be the most expensive fund in the world. I told him in good conscience I was going to pull Anambra out of it. Last year, N438 billion (about N44 billion per state) was distributed to the 35 states, except Anambra.
“I have two problems with that loan. First is the term – the exchange rate reason, being a loan denominated in foreign currency, and then at N406/$, and I knew that it was only a matter of time before that exchange rate climbs to over N1000/per dollar, then the effective exchange rate is more than 100 per cent. Even if it was assumed interest, the exchange rate was much more multiple.
“The second consideration is the purpose of the fund. Much of it was for consumption.” In two years, the people’s condition will be far worse. It is too little to be impactful. I will borrow funds to build bridges to the future, not for consumption.”
Meanwhile, Soludo has called on Ndi Anambra to promote the government’s efforts at rebuilding and creating an enviable homeland by investing in the state. Likening the Igbo to the Jews prior to 1948, Soludo said they build wealth all over the place and develop other places without their own land.
Towards making their homeland attractive, Soludo listed among his administration’s remarkable projects in view as the ambitious Sky Train project. According to him, “the first bit of it linking Onitsha-Nnewi-Ekwulobia-Awka axis costs about $1.4 billion. The comprehensive feasibility study is completed, and some funding arrangement is being looked into.
However, he explained that because it affects a fully built-up area, about 6,000 houses will have to be demolished. He further disclosed that part of the masterplan is that all Trunk ‘A’ roads in the state are being gazzetted and dualised because “in the next 50 years, that place is estimated to be home to about 38 million people.”
He urged Ndi Anambra to come in by way of investments, adding that the government was also working on a Free Economic Trade status to the industrial city, for which relevant approvals were already being received.
According to Soludo, the other projects in view include the largest shopping mall in Africa, for which about 5,000 hectares has been acquired, alongside the logistics.
He further urged Ndi Anambra to pay their personal income tax to the state government to help achieve its dream development of the state for the people.
The governor listed his landmark achievements in the past three years to include the restoration of peace and security in the land through the establishment of Agunechemba security and the launch of Operation Udo ga chi, alongside other related security improvement initiatives.
Among the road infrastructure and urban renewal projects are the Okpoko Road, award and flag-off of 700-kilometer roads in 21 council areas, with 410-kilometers of it set for commissioning by the third year anniversary.
There is also the erosion control projects covering Ebenator, Nnobi, Ezi-Oko, Awka, Onitsha-Owerri Road in the Oba axis, as well as the Ozubulu axis of the Onitsha-Owerri Road.
Others include the new Government House Complex, five hospital in Anambra North Senatorial District, five urban water schemes – at Awka, Otuocha, Nnewi, Obizi and Greater Onitsha; and facilitation of the establishment of a 1.4 million-capacity/year private electricity meter manufacturing plant in Oraifite.
In human capacity development, the government recruited 5,000 highly qualified teachers for public schools, ongoing enlistment of 3,000 skilled educators.
There is also the ongoing two-skills-per-person comprehensive entrepreneurship and vocational training programme, which hast N1 billion seed funding allocation for 5,000 trainees. Also, there is an additional N2 billion working capital loan accessible through the Anambra Small Business agency, among others.
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