The Governor of Anambra State, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo today, had his second media chat in just seven months in office.
My impression of the media chat is that it is the governor’s own way of giving his seven months of stewardship. Why is it even important? Now, there are rising concerns that the governor has not been living up to expectations. Most people are not conversant with governance processes, therefore they are always in a haste to see results. So, what the governor did was to basically reassure ndi Anambra that he is focused on delivering good governance, as promised.
In seven months, Soludo is being faced with insecurity. Then there are questions about IGR. Third is infrastructure needs, especially road construction, and finally, flooding across many parts of the state. Generally, everything about the government in the past seven months revolves around those key areas and adjourning issues. For instance, IGR is directly related to the problem of touting.
For insecurity, the situation has remarkably improved, but far from over. The Governor acknowledged this. In a way, what that means is that there is no replacement for the process. For IGR, the issue with Keke and bus operators are being resolved, but there are questions. On road construction, the Governor has awarded several roads but no work yet. The roads are very bad, so people are impatient. Then flooding is a national disaster, but he explained what he has been doing for affected communities in the state. He also challenged NEMA to establish an office in Anambra. Then, promised to engage the Federal Government on dam construction and other long-term measures against flooding, insisting that it is no longer an emergency. This creates an impression that he has carefully thought about the problem and has developed action plans, only that implementation is not going to be magical.
In the chat today, what Soludo did was to say basically that the government under his watch has been doing what it ought to do, so far. He also admitted that more needs to be done but in all, it’s a work in progress. For instance on road construction, he said roads have been awarded and contractors mobilized. People are concerned about the quality of road construction in the state, therefore he assured that this time, the roads are designed to last longer while explaining that construction is yet to commence because of the rain.
It is perceptible that the government of Prof. Soludo is trying to grapple with some realities of governance in Anambra State. Clearly, many of his initial ideal propositions did not fit in. For instance, the government after trying to automate the entire IGR system was confronted with the reality that it cannot be achieved as initially theorised. So, they came up with the same approach adopted by his predecessor. That’s why the government went back to contracting revenue collection which bidding he said he personally supervised to ensure transparency. That sounds good, but the governor’s personal involvement in processes like this should not be encouraged because it is not sustainable. Those the governor has employed to do certain jobs, should be able to do it.
In the final analysis, for seven months, Soludo’s government has been testing the ground to see what works and what does not work. The good thing is that Prof. Soludo has the drive and knowhow to redirect the cause of his government and immediately seek a workable alternative. This is something many political leaders lack; the ability to switch to something that can work when an initial plan fails. The truth is that fine idea are good, but not all can work as planned, given our specific realities.
Essentially, what the media chat today serves is to reassure the people of the government’s singular commitment to them, despite the challenges and the fact that there is as yet, nothing tangible to hold on to. More so, considering that the past administration for eight complete years did not even for once had any kind of media interface with the governed, Soludo’s government might be making a remarkable inroad in the hearts of the people, such that he might enjoy the most costly thing the people can give to a government; patience.
But ultimately, after some time, say from the mid-next year, if there is still not much to point to as tangible achievements, then, the government might go the way of other governments and begin to enjoy maximum distrust from the governed, with attendant consequences. However, there is hope that Soludo might stair the tide towards people’s expectations, within the shortest possible time.
He is a Technical Assistant to Governor Willie Obiano’s Special Adviser on Legislative Matters, whoonce was a Special Adviser to a former Deputy Speaker of Anambra State House of Assembly. Ebuka is a second class upper division graduate of Political Science from University of Calabar, Calabar Nigeria and holds a Masters Degree in Political Science with specialization in Government and Development Studies, from Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka Nigeria
