By Bonaventure Phillips Melah

Chinua Achebe was right when he summed up the problem of Nigeria as lack of leadership. But what is going on in Anambra State currently is a positive deviation from the mediocre service delivery by many leaders across all levels of government. It is however becoming very clear as days go by, that Prof. Chukwuma Soludo is not your everyday kind of leader.

Barely 20 months in office as the executive Governor, Soludo has demonstrated in practical terms, a commitment and willingness to transform Anambra from a cluster of underdeveloped rural communities to a model, ‘prosperous and livable homeland,’ just as he promised during electioneering campaigns in 2021.

It is true that Anambra has been blessed with some good governors who performed to the best of their individual abilities, especially in areas like road construction and education, even though time has proved that some of those acclaimed achievements where mere hypes.

Going by what the Governor has done so far and the huge developmental projects he is speedily pushing to complete, Soludo’s legacies after the first four years, would surely, dwarf a combination of all that his predecessors achieved in the past 25 years,

And this vision and projection would come true because, as Che Guevara said, ‘The revolution is not an apple that falls when it is ripe. You have to make it fall.’

From the first day he declared intention to govern Anambra State in 2009, Soludo has not shifted his focus from the big picture he created in his mind’s eyes, which is to put Anambra on the world map, by creating a single but massive city, that would have essential amenities, social and physical security networks needed for a people to live decent, secure and happy life.

Again, Soludo’s unbeatable achievements as the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), especially the consolidation of banks which helped Nigeria survive an unprecedented economic meltdown, is a reference credential that inspires hope and believability.

I am always excited each time I go back to read Gavrilo Princip who said – ‘I am the son of peasants and I know what is happening in the villages.’

One of the things that have helped to endear Governor Soludo to ‘ndi Anambra,’ is the ‘nwa Ngbafor’ metaphor. it translates to Ngbafor’s child- a reference to Soludo’s mother, who was a humble but popular woman within her rural community.

And talking about parents, may I excuse myself to condole Governor Soludo for the death of his father, Pa Simeon Soludo which occurred on Monday, November 6, 2023 at a ripe age of 92.

It is in appreciation of the importance of his background that Soludo is providing top notch leadership to Anambra State from the perspective of a ‘village boy’ who sees leadership as errand to the community and to his people who as Soludo would always say- ‘recruited me,’ to serve.

But, before we talk about the many massive physical projects being executed by his administration, let us peep into Soludo’s leadership mindset.

From his actions, Soludo has proved to be the most influential promoter and marketer of ‘made in Nigeria’ goods especially the ones from Igbo-land which include Akwete from Anambra and shoes from Aba and Onitsha, just to mention a few. Soludo is also the leading supporter and patron of INNOSON made vehicles, a true homeboy and patriot.

In the first week of November 2023, Soludo implemented the first phase of what would later be seen as one of the greatest legacies of his administration.

It was on November 3, 2023, that 5,000 young men and women from the 21 local government areas of state received a total of N2billion as start-up capital after they had undergone training termed ‘One Youth, Two Skills’ initiated by the state government.

Governor Soludo’s vision of the initiative was to create employment for the beneficiaries, give them a big push-up to become entrepreneurs, wealth creators and employers of labour themselves. In addition, the empowerment programme is one of the best strategies to curb youth restiveness and insecurity.

Before the November youth empowerment, Soludo had earlier in September, announced free and compulsory education from nursery to Junior Secondary School (JSS 3) in public schools in the state.

He made the announcement at Premier Primary School, Obosi, Idemili North Council Area, saying that his administration was passionate about actualizing an all-inclusive education and that no child within the school age range, from nursery to JSS 3, should be charged school fees or any other fees to acquire education in the state.

He said that- “The aim is to go back to the basics when education was used as the equalizer, such that children from poor and rich backgrounds will attend the same school and compete favourably, adding that -“This will increase the access of children to basic education and to ensure the fullest development of personality, talents, and mental and physical abilities of our children.” He also said that his administration had reduced tuition fees for senior secondary school students (SSS1-3).

Soludo had said during campaigns that he would make Anambra State a ‘livable homeland,’ and has followed that path on a big scale. He had inherited a state invaded by criminals with various forms of criminalities, worst been the so-called unknown gunmen. But immediately after taking over, Soludo first offered olive branch, urging them to give up arms and join him to develop the state.

Months after, when the Governor saw that the criminals were not ready for peace but rather intensified their rogue actions, Soludo issued stern warning, followed by mobilization of state and federal security might as well as employment of about 2,000 able-bodied men into the Anambra State Vigilante. These combined forces were provided with necessary equipments including modern communication gadgets and operational vehicles, among others. So far, crime and criminalities have reduced drastically and Anambra is fast becoming one of the safest states in the South East.

To understand how critical Soludo sees free and easy movement of persons, goods and services to the overall development and wellbeing of the people, construction of good and quality roads has taken centre stage in the Governor’s administration.

In the first year of his administration, Soludo awarded 250km across the state. While many of them have been commissioned, others are at various levels of completion. According to contractors working in Anambra State, all awarded jobs have timeline and quality measurements that must be strictly adhered to; and that Soludo does not accept excuses or tolerate disappointment with set targets.

One of the mega roads projects in the state is the Ekwulobia roundabout which residents say would be one Soludo’s legacy projects when completed and most of the roads being built by Soludo are fitted with street light.

As with roads, so is Governor Soludo dealing with issues affecting healthcare of the people, especially rural communities. To this end, the government has recruited hundreds of doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other medical personnel who have been posted to general hospitals and other healthcare centres across the state while building new ones as well as rehabilitating and equipping existing ones.

On Agriculture, the government is working towards ensuring food security and has launched the regenerative Agricultural system that is helping to boost massive food production.

The Housing sector is another area Soludo is working to achieve his ‘livable homeland’ mantra. To that end, Soludo has started work on his big dream of a smart city, with housing infrastructures that would parade several amenities and entertainment sites. The take off was the signing of a public private partnership agreement (PPPA) agreement with seven real estate companies to develop residential estates around the state capital territory. The idea is to decongest Awka town by ensuring that people move into others parts of the capital territory. The developers were allocated between 50 hectares to 110 hectares of land each, with a timeline of three years for completion.

The decision of Governor Chukwuma Soludo to name the Anambra International Cargo and passenger Airport Umueri after the late illustrious of Anambra and literary giant, Chinua Achebe received national and international applause, the same way the celebration of ‘Iri Ji, new yam festival was commended. Soludo even said that going forward the festival would be celebrated for three days as part of measures to boost tourism in the state.

One of the leadership qualities that marked Soludo out when he served Nigeria as CBN Governor was prudent management of resources which he has brought to bear on his home state. Through digilisation and other technology driven internal mechanism, the administration has successfully sanitised the otherwise corrupt revenue income and expenditure system. One of the painful but necessary steps adopted by Soludo was getting rid of touts and illegal revenue collectors the administration has also modernized ways of collecting levies and their remittances at the private and public transport parks for drivers of urban buses and shuttles, tricycle riders and commercial motorcyclists. The overall aim is to ensure compliance to international best practices as well as get the commonwealth working for the people.

Another area the people applauding Soludo is the sanity on the roads which was achieved through the reinvigorated Anambra Road Traffic Management Agency, Operation Clean and Healthy Anambra and the Anambra State Joint Enforcement Team.

The efforts of these outfits created or rebranded by Soludo have combined to reduce incidences of driving against the traffic, abandoned vehicles and other traffic irritations to the barest minimum.

In addition to empowerment of youths and women, the Anambra State civil service is having a good time as the Governor, apart from increasing salaries by 10%, has introduced several welfare packages for the workers. All these and many more to numerous to capture here are part of the ongoing revolution being championed by Governor Chukwuma Soludo in Anambra State.

Bonaventure Phillips Melah is an Abuja based journalist and Publisher of Nationwide Reports. Bonamelah123@gmail.com

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