ColumnsNewsOpinionOPINION: Governor Obiano’s Achievements that the Incoming Government Must Build On

Avatar PilotnewsAugust 12, 2021
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Governor Obiano in the near eight years on the saddle as governor of Anambra state has made some marks that the incoming government ought to leverage, to move the state forward.

―Ebuka Onyekwelu

Governor Obiano in the near eight years on the saddle as governor of Anambra state has made some marks that the incoming government ought to leverage on, to move the state forward. Although the expectations were a lot higher than the actual achievements, yet, good governance is a function of steady progress and improvement upon recorded progress by previous governments. Therefore, for the most part, the importance of building on what is on the ground already can hardly ever be downplayed. That the Oba (Oba is a suburb in Idemili South Local Government Area of Anambra state) international airport and Oba international market are yet to materialize almost two decades after, speaks to the general conception and consigning of governance and indeed government, to tenures of office or perhaps, other political considerations that are then obstructions to good governance as much as a threat to diligent allocation of scarce resources.

In Anambra state, each government seems to simply focus on its own programmes and policies, while paying little or no attention to the legacies of the past government so that it can build on them. Although this does appear to be the norm with political leadership in Nigeria, in which political office holders do everything possible to erase the image and significance of their predecessor. Political leaders usually do not acknowledge the progress made by their predecessors, even when of the same political party. It is worse when the opposition political party takes over. In Nigeria for instance, when President Obasanjo handed over to the late President Yar’adua, soon after, even though they were of the PDP, yet, the new government did not build on the successes of the former government. In fact, in 2011 when President Goodluck Jonathan constituted a committee for assessment of abandoned federal government projects, the committee discovered that over eleven thousand projects of the Nigerian federal government has been abandoned.

In Anambra state, each government seems to simply focus on its own programmes and policies, while paying little or no attention to the legacies of the past government so that it can build on them.

The costs of those abandoned projects were placed at over seven trillion Naira. Another report by the Chartered Institute of Project Management of Nigeria years later, averred that there are over fifty-six thousand federal government abandoned projects in Nigeria and this was in 2017, thus remarkably affirming that the problem is only getting worse. With a handful of political hangers-on and chronic sycophants, each new government always has reasons to be at war with its predecessor, consequently,  abandoned projects are just one of the upshots of this vain superiority contest of a political war. This situation is of significant note in Anambra politics. The former governor of Anambra State Dr. Chinwoke Mbadinuju could not complete the Anambra state secretariat he started. Since then, the buildings which were already roofed and plastered are lying in waste and have remained in that state till date, over some legal battle involving Chief Chris Uba. Also, former governor Peter Obi did everything to show that governor Ngige whom he succeeded did not do much to move the state forward. Projects initiated by Ngige were left by Obi’s government, who started off trying to deny Ngige’s claim that he left about twelve billion Naira in Anambra coffers for the incoming governor.

When Obi handed over to Obiano, soon, the new governor moved to stamp out Peter Obi’s name and footprints from the government and replace those with the name of the current governor. To date, although Obi and Obiano were of the same political party and Obiano ran his campaign on four Cs of Continue, Complete, Commission, and Commence, which is to say that the governor will continue and complete inherited projects, commission them and then commence new projects. Yet, so many projects inherited from Obi’s led government by the Obiano’s administration are yet to be completed. Not that any kind of work is going on there, they are now abandoned. The Ikenga hotel in Awka, the shopping mall in Awka, and Nnewi, among many others, remained abandoned as not a single block has been added to any of these projects since 2014, which is nearly a decade now.

With a handful of political hangers-on and chronic sycophants, each new government always has reasons to be at war with its predecessor, consequently,  abandoned projects are just one of the upshots of this vain superiority contest of a political war. This situation is of significant note in Anambra politics.

The governance template developed by Obi under the umbrella of Anambra Integrated Development Strategies- ANIDS- was totally abandoned, never mentioned, or considered in any way whatsoever by the current government. The implication of this when observed more critically is that there is a high level of government personalization, in which government and governance are designed to revolve around the governor or the chief executive. Under this very circumstance, the entire system is attuned to respond to power and personal directives, body language, and whatever in the estimation of policy implementers serves the interest of the governor or his foot soldiers. So it is not exactly about good governance or about the people’s welfare. This by far, is not a known method of building a sustainable government, one whose consummate objective is to meet the needs of the governed. So we see a sharp shift from government of the people to the government of those in power. True to it, it is their government and they do not intend to entertain anything from the previous government which is considered to belong to the past with its own works, both good and bad. Hence continuity in government has suffered a great deal to the disadvantage of the people who have to learn to master new focus, priorities, and responses each time there is a change of government.

If the incoming government in Anambra state must succeed beyond political rhetoric, then, it must build on the successes of the previous administrations, especially the outgoing government of Chief Willie Obiano. The current government has created a lot of agencies that should champion delivery of governance in the state, with the right individuals in charge and also funding in place. The ‘choose your community project’ scheme should be refined to do even better, as a major tool for community development in Anambra state. The incoming Government should research and match each community’s identified needs to its (government) priority funding. Government should not be spending tens of millions of state scarce resources in this age and time to build community hall, when it can actually build a tech incubation centre. For the Anambra Small Business Agency –ASBA, the incoming government should set up a venture capital domiciled with the agency, to manage and oversee loans, grants and other financial aid to young entrepreneurs for the purposes of starting or expanding their business or viable ideas in tech invention and innovation. The selection process must be meritorious and utterly devoid of any form of politicization.

Government should not be spending tens of millions of state scarce resources in this age and time to build community hall, when it can actually build a tech incubation centre.

Anambra’s major economic centres of Nnewi and Onitsha, has to be hugely supported for expansion. Gains in the education sector have to be maintained and even extended by instituting scholarship opportunities for bright indigent Anambra students. So many organizations within and outside Nigeria will be more than willing to partner with the government in this scholarship venture. Anambra can indeed afford to train a handful of its best and brightest in some of the best universities around the world. Education excellence must be a priority in any drive for sustained development. In the health sector, the Anambra health insurance scheme is a good and innovative effort that should be built on. With more awareness efforts and ease of registration by members of the public, millions of Anambra people can be on the scheme.

Anambra’s major economic centres of Nnewi and Onitsha, has to be hugely supported for expansion.

For the incoming government, the challenge is how to best organize these structures and existing programmes that are viable, to serve Anambra people better. If the goal is the wellbeing and prosperity of Anambra people, then, it is of absolute importance that we make the best of what we have instead of going to expend the lean resources to go all the way to start afresh, when we do not have any need to.

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