Paul Nwosu, Commissioner for Information
_Reacts to call for Federal and State Governments to prioritize security and food_
Rose Oranye :
Activities marking the second year in office of Governor Chukwuma Charles Soludo, CFR, of Anambra State have commenced with the commissioning of roads and a plethora of other completed projects.
Anambra State’s Commissioner for Information, Paul Nwosu, who disclosed this in an interview said the governor, on Tuesday, distributed 2000 laptops to teachers and commissioned Port Harcourt and Niger Streets on Wednesday, and will proceed to Amansea-Ebenebe-Ugbenu-Ugbene-Awba Ofemmili Road on Thursday the 14th of March to perform the same function.
According to the Commissioner, “the unique aspect of the road commissioning is that, unlike some states that will fly in dignitaries to cut the tape, Governor Soludo believes that no commissioning can be better than the one done by regular members of the public such as the bus and keke drivers who ply the roads as well as the villagers who are having a tarred road pass their communities for the first time.
He said that the climax of the anniversary events will be an interdenominational thanksgiving service on Sunday, which will attract a lot of dignitaries, after which the commissioning of projects will continue, since there are quite a lot of them.
“To mark the occasion, we will soon release a document, cataloging over 100 sterling achievements of Governor Soludo within the two years for people to see and appreciate. Our indefatigable Governor has done a humongous amount of work within this short period and it’s important that our people should know,” Nwosu said.
Reacting to the call by some politicians for federal and state governments to suspend everything they are doing and declare state of emergency on security and food, Nwosu said he would not speak for others but what he knows for sure is that when Soludo came into office, he declared a state of emergency on security. He created the Ministry of Homeland Affairs, appointed a retired Air Vice Marshall as Special Adviser on Security and reorganized the Anambra Vigilante Group.
“He also developed a very good working relationship with the local commanders of the armed forces and the police. The result we see today is that seven out of eight local governments hitherto under siege by criminals have been liberated. Ndị Anambra in the diaspora can now return home to attend funerals and different social functions.
“At the inception of this administration, Governor Soludo came with a new concept to growing and producing food. He calls it Regenerative Agriculture.
This kind of agriculture enhances the organic nature of the crops we farm because natural manures are used. So when people are thinking of just producing food, Governor Soludo is thinking about the quality of the food we produce.
“For the Governor, it’s not just about consumption. He also thought about economic empowerment through agriculture. This led to the procurement and free distribution of 1,140,000 early fruiting varieties of hybrid oil and coconut palm seedlings to over 100,000 households of ndị Anambra. Another 1,000,000 will be procured this year, including 340,000 economic tree crops like ụkwa, akịlu, ọjị́ Igbo and pawpaw, among others”, he said.
The Commissioner further disclosed that the government, in partnership with IFAD, has empowered 27,800 small scale farmers across seven local governments with subsidized seedlings that have significantly jerked up agricultural production in the state.
“So, the argument that other aspects of governance should be suspended except provision of security and food is flawed. You know why? In the first place, there is no economy, even the best in the world, where people are kept in their houses for government to knock on their doors every morning and supply them food.
“Secondly people are economically active by nature. That’s how God created man. The purpose of government is to create the conducive environment for man and his economic activities to thrive. And all of these, our progressive Governor has achieved through his policies and programs in the last two years. They are such that have created jobs through the many construction sites. They have empowered youths through skills importation and start-up grants. They have employed thousands of teachers and medical personnel whose salaries have been running uninterruptedly. They have supported a vibrant civil service whose regular salaries were increased even before the advent of palliatives. The free education has enabled the unprivileged child to acquire basic education. The free antenatal and delivery services.I can go on and on.”
The Commissioner concluded thusly: “Those politicians are entitled to their opinion but I am sure they were not directed at Soludo.*