My beloved people of Anambra State, it gives me a great pleasure to welcome you to the New Year. As we all open our eyes and our hearts to behold the promise of the New Year, we must thank the Almighty God for seeing us through the past year.
Even with all the achievements we recorded in physical and material terms, year 2015 was indeed a challenging year for Nigeria and our beloved Anambra State.
Apart from being a difficult election year, it was also a year of severe economic recession with oil prices dropping to an all-time-low of $35 per barrel and analysists predicting that it would take years before it returns to $90 per barrel. It was also a year of austere times as most states failed to meet their financial obligations and had to apply for a bailout from the Federal Government. But to the glory of God, Anambra State has maintained a healthy profile, paying workers’ salaries and pushing through all our massive development projects. By the Grace of God, we shall continue to meet all our financial obligations in the New Year and beyond!
Looking back, 2015 was a particularly difficult year for Nigeria. The bitter electioneering campaigns that led to the last general elections sought to deepen the country’s fault-lines and widen the ethnic gulf between Nigerians. The situation was made more intense by the rising audacity of Boko Haram which led to more attacks against soft targets. The country tottered on the brinks for long moments and was only saved from total collapse by sheer providence.
Interestingly, for us in Anambra State, the narrative was somewhat different. We had foreseen the approaching storm and made adequate preparations for it. That was why in my New Year Broadcast for 2015, I had assured Ndi Anambra that our dreams would not crash with the falling oil prices. I had assu
red that with our enormous human and material resources, we would not surrender our ambitions to the falling oil prices in the international market. To the Glory of God, we have kept our promise. Not only have we paid salaries regularly while other states are looking for bailouts, we were courageous enough to increase salaries in the midst of economic adversity.
We also imposed our full weight on the security situation in Anambra State in the outgone year with a highly successful Regional Security Summit that attracted the governors of the South East and Delta State. We further strengthened our hold on security by donating 25 American-style patrol cars to the Nigerian Police. The cars are fully equipped with Speed-guns and Alcohol Testing Devices that will help us enforce minimum standards to check the carnage on our roads. We also donated a gunboat to the Outpost of the Nigerian Navy in Onitsha to keep vigilance over our waterways which have been identified as the main conduit through which illicit arms had flooded the state in the past. We took our campaign for a safer Anambra higher this Yuletide Season when in partnership with the Nigerian Police we launched an aerial surveillance with a helicopter hovering across our skies, ensuring a total coverage of the entire state. With this effort, we have effectively made a rapid transition to crime detection and prevention in the war against crime and criminality in Anambra State. As it stands today, Anambra is the safest state in Nigeria! Ndi b’anyi, Anambra adigokwanu nma!
Ndi Anambra, this is obviously why even with the great economic recession in the country, our beloved state has continued to attract investors. The influx of foreign investors began early in January 2015 with the arrival of a 28-man Trade Delegation from Thailand. Unmoved by the bleak domestic economy, we continued to push for more investments, leading to the visit of the Irish Trade Mission and finally the arrival of the UK Trade Mission in November 2015. As would be expected, Anambra has continued to maintain its reputation as a haven for investors in Sub-Saharan Africa, attracting massive investments to the tune of $2.5bn in 19 months and ranking only next to Lagos and Ogun States in investment inflow.
Ndi Anambra, we also kept our eyes on the ball with regards to some legacy projects and today, two of the three flyovers in Awka are 95 percent completed while the longest bridge in Anambra State which cuts across the Omambala River to Aguleri Otu and the oilfields has also been completed. In Education, we awarded scholarships valued at N30 million to over 200 students and disbursed the sum of N733m to Mission Schools for the renovation of the Universal Basic Education school blocks. We also directly renovated a total of 862 units of 10-classrooom blocks across the 21 Local Government Areas.
Similarly, we kept our promise in the Healthcare delivery sector where we added new units to the Onitsha General Hospital and built a helipad for air ambulances to handle emergency cases. In addition, we built several blocks of houses which we designated as the Centre for Tropical Disease Control. The Centre will serve as Isolation Units during an outbreak of epidemics. In partnership with Rise Health Incorporation of America we are laying down the structures that will strengthen healthcare delivery in Anambra State. Arising from this, we have refurbished Orumba General Hospital to deliver a world class medical service to our people and established an ultramodern clinic in Adazi Ani and Onitsha respectively. The General Hospital, Ossamola in Ogbaru will be given a similar attention in this New Year.
Umu nnem, the year 2015 also represented a watershed in our Agricultural Revolution in Anambra State. Not only did we witness the first rice harvest from mechanised farming, we also increased our rice production from 80,000 metric tonnes to 190,000 metric tonnes. I am optimistic that by the next harvest season, we would have surpassed our local consumption of 320,000 metric tonnes and commenced the process of exporting Anambra Rice to places where they are on demand. At the moment, Anambra Rice has flooded our markets and competes favourably with the imported brands. I urge Ndi Anambra to support our farmers by patronizing Anambra Rice and other farm produce from our beloved state.
In the transport sector, we launched our Mass Transit Scheme with 200 brand new taxis and 40 luxury buses to ease the transport challenges that our people face. We also expanded the scope to marine transport with the launching of 15 Speedboats and 7 Water Ambulances to open access to the riverine communities.
Similarly, in the outgone year, our great party, APGA showed a great capacity for growth. We energized the party with new officers whose immense political experience and enthusiasm showed tremendously during the last elections leading to the great comeback we recorded in the House of Assembly Elections. Indeed the new APGA has not only demonstrated a healthy appetite for winning but also a great capacity to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. We have re-invigorated our internal democracy and strengthened our cohesiveness as one big ideological family.
Ndi Anmabra, the year 2015 will also be remembered for the several avoidable losses of lives. We deeply regret the large scale loss of lives in the various road accidents that took place at Upper Iweka, Umuchu, Agu Awka and Nnanka and pray that such tragedies do not visit us again this year and beyond. We also acknowledge with the deepest regret, the Christmas Eve gas explosion in the Chicason Group LPG plant in Nnewi. We deeply mourn our sons and daughters who lost their lives when the peaceful demonstration staged by the members of the Independent People of Biafra (IPOB) in Onitsha was hijacked by hoodlums. These spates of deaths will remain dark spots in our collective memory of year 2015.
Looking Forward…
Ndi Anambra, on all accounts, the year 2015 was a phenomenal one for our beloved state. It brought out the best in us as an enterprising people whose progenitors had survived the adversities of war. It challenged us to look inwards and seek creative ways to ensure our collective survival. We responded with a commendable increase in our internally generated revenue from N500m to N1.3bn. This helped to cushion the hardship that would have befallen us from the decline in allocations from the federal government. However, if we must progress beyond mere survival this New Year, we must seek creative ways of increasing our Internally Generated Revenue to N3bn per month. We must weed out all the bad eggs in our markets who pose as revenue agents to extort money from unsuspecting businesses. We shall robustly deploy technology to seal all the leakages and enhance efficiency in revenue generation.
Ndi Anambra, my administration is determined to pursue a more aggressive growth in our fundamentals. We shall explore new growth prospects and review government policies that are inimical to domestic production. We shall stimulate production in the real sector through a strategic collaboration with select MSMEs. Already, the Anambra Small Business Association (ASBA) is spearheading this quest. In June last year, ASBA disbursed the sum of N1bn in small loans to MSMEs in the state in the first phase of our programme to galvanise that important segment of the economy and boost job creation.
This year, we shall push for more of the firms that have signed MoUs with us to move in with their investments and set up shops in the state. This will also lead to more jobs. We shall continue to tighten our hold on security as it is the panacea for all the good things that will come to Anambra State. We shall complete all the major roads and flyovers and refocus on other key projects. We shall concentrate on bringing all the Four Pillars of my administration and the key Enablers to fruition.
Ndi Anambra, we have a lot to look forward to this New Year. We shall rise above the present difficulties to reclaim our position as Nigeria’s true centre of innovation and excellence. We shall do this when we continue to earn the confidence of our brothers and sisters at home and in the Diaspora and win them over to become the champions of the change that we have brought to Anambra State. No other state in the federation has half of the human capacity that Anambra has scattered across the world and pushing for positive change in their respective communities. This great state needs just one third of what our gifted brothers and sisters can offer to leapfrog into the frontline position in Nigeria.
Umu nnem, this is a task that must be accomplished. The government alone cannot give us the change we need. We must pull all our efforts, talents and resources together to build a better Anambra State in 2016 and beyond!
I wish you a Happy and Prosperous New Year!
God bless Anambra State
God bless Nigeria
Thank you
Willie Obiano
…Making the Most of this Turning Point by Chief Willie Obiano---a Speech unedited
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Tuesday, January 05, 2016
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Reviewed by Unknown
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Tuesday, January 05, 2016
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