Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra state is seeking the ticket of his party, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) for a second term. In this interview with some journalists, the governor reveals how he will defeat his rivals both at the party’s primary and the November 18 governorship election as well as his plans for the state. BODE OLAGOKE was there
How would you describe the processes for your second term in offi ce for now? I have just passed through a very rigorous screening exercise in line with APGA constitution. Th e exercise was very thorough and I am happy that every step in APGA constitution was followed to ensure that everything we are doing is consistent with the constitution which is the grand norm.
Th e party is supreme and every party runs on constitution that is appropriately approved so I am very happy that it concludes one aspect of the process. What is left is the convention on the 15th and other meetings by the secretariat of the NWC before we roll out the drums for the election. Once again, I want to thank the chairman of the screening committee and all the members of the screening committee, the National Chairman and the NWC members that are here for the warm welcome that I have been accorded in my there days here.
Of course, we are our brothers and sisters keepers and we want to make sure we continue to do so. I am confi dent that after my election the subsequent elections will bring many more APGA governors from Zamfara, Nassarawa, Abia, Imo, amongst many other places and APGA family will grow from strength to strength. So once more I want to thank everybody for this great opportunity and I thank God for passing through a very rigorous processes in these three days; God bless our great party. How would you react to what happened in Owerri, Imo state where a faction of the APGA held a meeting to elect offi cers? Well, I don’t have information on what you are telling me all I know is that there was nothing that happened in Owerri. If something had happened Police and INEC would be present and I am aware that it didn’t happen and therefore nothing happened and that is the best I can tell you.
We want to know your plans for women in line with affi rmative action to enhance their participation in your government? If you look at my present cabinet, women constitute 27 per cent, and I am coming up to 36 percent. So in the things we are doing women are given priority. By the way, the N1.5 billion that we gave to farmers in Anambra state, women farmers got 60 per cent of the money. So we are paying attention to women generally and improving their health. We are trying to reduce Anambra won’t depend on allocation after my tenure – Obiano “I am confident that after my election the subsequent elections will bring many more APGA governors from Zamfara, Nassarawa, Abia” Gov Obiano the maternal rate in Anambra state and how are we doing that, under my administration is that we got accreditation for the School of Nursing and graduated about 300 Mid-wives and these 300 Mid-wives will be sent to the primary health centres in Anambra state. Now we are going to ask those old women in the villages who didn’t go to school but help in child delivery that we pay them what the government would have paid them so that they can refer them to the proper Mid-wife so that those people can have good antenatal. If we do that you will see a very considerable reduction in the death rate of children and their mothers. So we are doing a lot of things for women. Your Excellency have been in power for almost three and half years one will like to know the milestones that you have achieved and also the most challenging aspect of governance that your administration has had to face? Well let me tell you; the last two years have been tough, Nigeria went into a recession and only four states could pay salaries and Anambra is one of them out of 36 states and we have consistently paid salaries, pension and gratuities in Anambra state as at when due. We are also working on other infrastructures and other things that are required in a recession.
So being able to navigate the challenges of a recession and keeping my state afl oat very well was a key challenge and I had to bring to practice all my banking experience to keep the ship afl oat. Awka Modern City is one of the cardinal projects you promised the people of the state and we have seen much done in that aspect. How optimistic are you that you would be able to execute this in your second term? I don’t know when last you came to Anambra state, you would have seen that Awka has transformed rapidly from a glorifi ed village to a proper modern city. Are you are aware of the three fl y overs? Are you aware of the street lighting at night that stretches from Amansea all through the length and breadth of Awka? You are aware of the shops that are opened that brought Shop Rite? Are you aware of the 24 hours fi lling station? Are you aware of the bumbling night life that has come to stay in Awka. Are you aware of the massive security that has been there? More importantly have you heard that someone has been kidnapped in Awka since I assumed offi ce as governor? We have been doing area mapping in the whole of Anambra state and we have started with Awka. Area Mapping Area mapping is very useful when you want to do GPRS and GIS. GPRS is for direction that is why we are labelling the streets so that when you come into Anambra state all you need to ask anybody is about the street, you will be directed accordingly. You just key in where you are going to and the taxi will carry you to where you are going to and the GIS is very useful for land and erosion cite monitoring. And we are doing so much more because we have development authority headed by a renowned American architect who is a Nigerian in Anambra. So we are doing more, in the second term we are going to deal with the inner roads of Awka and we have a plan to do another linkage to address the weekend traffi c jam. A lot of vehicles come into Anambra state during the weekends because of the night life, security and what have you and because of that we have plenty of vehicles on the road and sometimes you have some traffi c jam here and there. So we want to do some road intersects that will fl y across one or two towns so that people will be able to get their destinations faster. So we are working hard. Aguleri Bronze We are doing an event centre that will sit 6,000 people which is going to be the best event centre in the South East. When you come in there you will think you are somewhere in Dubai. Th at event centre is at the DPC level as we speak and I will fl ag it off once the DPC work is over, then you will begin to see the blocks and that is when I will fl ag it off but we are still on the ground, you know it takes a while to fi nish the foundation. So we are doing so much not only Awka but in other cities in Anambra state. We are currently modernizing the roundabouts and that is what we want to do in the next one month and we are trying to retouch all the roundabouts so that we can put things that depict what those people from the areas are known for. Take for example, you fi nd somewhere in Onitsha where we show ‘Odu’ and that is what Onitsha women are putting on. You go to other places like Aguleri we show bronze and fi shes because that is what they are known for and that brings tourism into the state. Why are you seeking fresh mandate? I want some of my projects completed so that I will be around to commission them. In less than three and half years, virtually all the communities in Anambra state have felt our presence to the tune of N40million, So we want to do more, so that by the time my 8 years is done every community would have very signifi cant infrastructures. Th is is outside the road that we are building, the street lightning that we are doing. In Anambra now virtually all the roads now are lit and we have continued to do more. By God grace we are going to win the election and that would enable us to actualize the vision we have for Anambra and that will make the state to be the fi rst choice in investment destination for economic and commercial activities and the mission when we go to work is to create a socially stable and business environment where indigenes and non indigenes can have the opportunity to create wealth. Th at’s our vision. If you check my mission and vision so far, you will see that substantially we have achieved that. So, my dream when I fi nish my eight years as governor is that Anambra will be self suffi cient in their revenue sources and will not be dependent on Abuja. I have achieved that 65 per cent already and in the coming years I will be able to fully do that and that’s the only way to move the process; making everybody productive, getting people to generate economic activities and creating wealth. Apart from securing lives and property, that’s the core business of the governor.
