A BROADCAST BY THE
GOVERNOR OF ANAMBRA STATE, HIS EXCELLECNCY, CHIEF WILLIE OBIANO TO NDI ANAMBRA
ON THURSDAY, APRIL 17, 2014
My good people of Anambra State, I am
greatly pleased to speak to you this morning.
Exactly one month ago today, I was
sworn in as your Governor. I am delighted that I finally have a good
opportunity to thank you for giving me your votes, your prayers and your
support during the elections that made me your governor. I am here
today because you made it happen on the Election Day and I thank you for that.
I also wish to thank you for turning
out en masse to cheer me and my Deputy, Dr. Nkem Okeke during our inauguration
at the Alex Ekwueme Square. It was a historic day, made even more so by your
presence and goodwill messages and prayers. Umu nnem, unu emeka! Dalu nu!
Umunnem Ndi Anambra, I further must
thank you for the good-will you have shown me since I became your governor. I
am encouraged by the warm receptions and various little acts of kindness
you extended to me during my recent working visits to Onitsha and Nnewi, and
during my movements in and around Awka. Your support is very important to
me and I will never take it for granted. I will work to continue to enjoy your
support.
Fellow Anambrarians, with the
swearing-in of the members of my cabinet 5 days ago, my administration is now
finally in place, ready to serve. I have a team of highly distinguished men and
women with a track-record of excellence in their chosen careers. Anambra is
lucky to be blessed with them and many others who may not be directly involved
in the daily operations of governance but who nonetheless are making critical
interventions in this government as the need arises.
Fellow Anambrarians, my team and I
have our work cut out for us, namely – to reposition Anambra State to a
point where its high promise in human and material resources can be finally
matched by the lived experience of its people.
To achieve this, my administration
has outlined four major policy planks that will change the story of Anambra State,
namely, Agriculture, Trade & Commerce, Industrialization and Oil & Gas.
However, these are medium-to-long- term plans. In the immediate term, my team
and I are also in a hurry to begin to improve the quality of daily life in our
beloved State, whilst pursuing the medium/longer term development plan of my
Administration. Consequently, we have outlined a number of immediate/short-term
projects to signpost the direction of travel of my administration.
Ndi b’anyi, my number one priority
for Anambra State is Security. In all civilized countries and societies,
the primary responsibility of the leaderships is to secure the lives and
properties of the people. As you are well aware, my administration has taken up
the challenge of securing Anambra State with an elaborate and sustained
crackdown on criminals in the State. We shall not relent until Anambra is free
from kidnappers, armed robbers, drug barons, extortionists and all enemies of
the society who are determined to shut the doors of meaningful progress on our
dear State.
We shall not stop until Anambrarians
at home can confidently and safely go about their legitimate businesses and
activities without fear of any form of criminality befalling them. This must
happen and shall happen.
Tell this to your families and
friends who have taken refuge in other Nigerian cities and in other countries
that the WAR against all forms of criminality and lawlessness in Anambra has
begun and that we are winning. Make no mistake about this, I am determined to
win this WAR - Anambra Shall Be Safe, the Light of the Nation Under God!
We have also
launched an elaborate campaign to reclaim our environment from the filth and
rubbish that have overtaken it. Just the other day, we organized a symbolic
launch of Operation Keep Anambra Clean in all the three Senatorial
Zones of the state to signal the fight-back against filth and dirtiness. TO
KEEP ANAMBRA CLEAN IS A TASK FOR ALL OF US, AND THE TASK MUST BEGIN WITH YOU.
No longer shall our people live in dirty, unhealthy environments that
constitute a dangerous threat to our personal and collective health and
overall well-being. WE ARE THE LIGHT OF THE NATION AND NOT ITS SQUALOR AND
FILTHS. And No longer shall our open spaces and parks be turned into
indiscriminate motor-parks and make-shift shops and hideouts for hoodlums. The
fight-back has begun!
Ndi be Anyi, Agriculture once
occupied a prominent position in Igbo-land. More than half of our people still
make their daily living from very rudimentary farming, cultivating various types
of crops and vegetables. Consequently, Agriculture, once again, will be
accorded a prominent position in the priorities of my government. We have
inaugurated a Special Committee on Agriculture with a mandate to revolutionize
agriculture in Anambra State. We followed it up with a visit to the Federal
Ministry of Agriculture in Abuja where I had fruitful deliberations with the
Hon. Minister, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina to explore the various areas in which
Anambra can benefit from a partnership with the Ministry on our numerous
agricultural initiatives. I have no doubt, whatsoever, that when fully
implemented, our agricultural programmes will not only give Anambra a level of
self-sufficiency in food production but it will also stimulate our domestic
growth and create more jobs for the youths.
Fellow Anambrarians, my
administration came into office on the promise of continuity. We promised
Anambrarians that we would Continue, Complete, and Commission the projects
started by my predecessor Chief Peter Obi as well as Commence a programme of
new set of projects and initiatives that would usher Anambra State into a phase
of accelerated economic and social development. We are determined to keep this
promise.
We have held fruitful meetings with
all the contractors handling on-going projects in the State and extracted a
commitment that all the projects would be completed and commissioned on
schedule. We have commenced a round of inspection tour of the projects and my
visits to Awka North, Ekwusigo and Anaocha Local Government Areas where some
roads and tourism projects are going on have convinced me that these targets
shall be met. Ndi Anambra, my administration is fully aware that true democracy
derives its powers from the people and that Africa’s democracy cannot succeed
without the stabilizing role of traditional institutions. In view of this, we
have consulted widely across the length and breadth of Anambra State. We have
held successful meetings with our traditional rulers, the council of elders and
the presidents general of our 177 communities and they have all endorsed our
campaign for a moral and ethical rebirth of Anambra State. I implore Ndi
Anambra to fall in line and together, we can rebuild the moral fabric of our
society.
They have assured us of their support
in our long and hard critical self-examination and questioning to know when
the rain began to beat us and when we should dry our bodies. Above all, the
royal fathers and all the custodians of our tradition have accepted the
responsibility to become the change they seek in their various domains by
lending a weighty hand to the battle against hoodlums and the wanton pollution
of our culture in their domains.
Ndi Anambra, my administration shall
be sensitive and responsive to your needs. To this end, we have realized that
our crackdown on criminals must go hand in hand with a robust plan for youth
employment. We are well aware that if we replace the guns in the hands of our
youths with employment letters and seed monies for small-scale businesses,
Anambra would be freer from criminals and social miscreants that have denied us
a peace of mind. In response to this, we have held fruitful discussions with
our famous sons and daughters whose industrial and entrepreneurial talents have
created employment for people across the world and they have given us their
assurances that they would redirect their investments to Anambra State.
Simultaneously too, we will be creating enabling business environment to
attract inward and foreign direct investments into the State.
We have also opened a Diaspora Unit
headed by a competent Anambrarian with vast contacts in Anambra Communities in
the Diaspora to facilitate the inflow of investments from our people in the
Diaspora back to Anambra State. I have no doubt that before long, these efforts
will begin to yield expected results and lead to the creation of jobs and more
jobs for the youths of Anambra State. Just the other day, we paid a courtesy
visit to SABMiller Breweries and received the assurances of the company’s
management that the number of Ndi Anambra in its employment would be doubled at
the end of this year. This is a huge victory for our youths! This is also one
good reason to be hopeful in Anambra State!
Fellow Anambrarians, in the coming
weeks, we shall do some new things in Anambra State. We shall commence a
campaign to retrieve all roads in Anambra State from the increasing threat of
potholes and make life more miserable for criminals in the state by installing
streetlights in the major arteries of our cities. We shall launch intra-city
transportation with new buses and taxis to make life easier for commuters
within the state. But Lawlessness and Indiscipline too must be banished on our
roads, and this is not restricted to commercial drivers (Bus, OKADA and KEKE
drivers) but also to private vehicle drivers. We shall be introducing stiff
penalties for such conducts on our roads. We shall install traffic
lights, clearly mark our roads and highways and erect road signs to guide the
flow of traffic and decongest our cities. We shall also rid our roads and
highways of potholes and abandoned vehicles and set up teams of Street-Sweepers
to free our thoroughfares from rubbish. We shall carry out a compelling
campaign to beautify Anambra State by creating new relaxation parks and
building botanical gardens, fountains and roundabouts that will restore our
sense of aesthetics and beauty.
Fellow Anambrarians, I dream of a New
Anambra State – a land of promise and beauty; a place where the creative
energies of our restless youths will find purposeful expression in the service
of humanity; a state where the wisdom of our elders shall serve as a beacon to
our fulfilled hopes and a state where our people’s diverse talents shall be
matched by an abundance of opportunities to showcase them.
Above all, I dream
of a safer Onitsha, Nnewi, Awka and all our 177 communities where the
entrepreneurial and creative impulses God has given our people in super
abundance shall no longer be overwhelmed by the crippling fear of insecurity
that has chased many of our entrepreneurs, sons and daughter, brothers and
sisters, and worst, ageing and frail parents and grand-parents, out of State
and/or in ‘hiding’ in other parts of the country or overseas. This is the
Anambra of my dream, and guns in the hands of a few criminals shall not prevent
its realisation!
So I say this to
KIDNAPPERS, ARMED ROBBERS, AND VILILANTE GANGSTERS - BE WARNED: IN THE NAME OF
GOD, GIVE UP YOUR CRIMES & EXTORTIONIST ACTIVITIES; REJOIN CIVIL SOCIETY OR
LEAVE ANAMBRA STATE FOR GOOD; IF YOU DO NOT, THE MIGHT OF THIS GOVERNEMNT WILL
FIND YOU! YOU ARE NOT BIGGER THAN THIS GOVERNMENT – MY GOVERNMENT IS DETERMINED
TO RID THIS STATEOF YOUR CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES FOR GOOD WHATEVER RESOURCES IT
TAKES.
I, Chief Willie Maduabrochukwu Obiano
and my entire cabinet are committed to creating the Anambra of my dream - A
Safe, Prosperous, and Environmentally Beautiful Anambra! Let this be our
Shared Dream; I realize that as your Executive Governor, I cannot achieve this
dream alone. I need your help and support: Therefore let us work together to realize
this Dream, our common Dream!
Fellow Anambrarians I pray you to
join me in creating this New Anambra State! Join me in Expanding the Frontiers
of Excellence in Anambra State!
Long live Anambra State!
Long live the Federal Republic of
Nigeria
Chief Willie M Obiano
Executive Governor
Anambra State
Obiano Gives Account of One Month In Office , Urges For A Shared Dream For A Prosperous Anambra
Reviewed by Unknown
on
Thursday, April 17, 2014
Rating:
Incredible, articulated and nostalgic, should his excellency transform these wisdom to action.God bless our state.
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