Governor Obiano recounts achievements in parley with journalists

About one month to the celebration of his two years’ stay in office, the governor of Anambra State, Chief Willie Obiano has recounted his performances in office attributing his successes in the face of global economic recession to his visionary attributes and adoption of creative approach in generating revenue and doing more with less resources

Governor Obiano who disclosed this while interacting with the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (Anambra State Council) at the Governor's Lodge, Amawbia, Thursday afternoon, February 11, 2015, bemoaned the dwindling fortunes of revenue accruing to the State since the inception of his administration unlike his predecessor who received a huge sum of N63.9 billion from the State’s share of the Excess Crude Fund from 2012 to 2014.

He stated further that the Federal Government owed the State about N34 billion being money spent by the State government in reconstructing the dilapidated Federal roads in the state, and appealed to President Muhammad Buhari-led Federal Government to take another positive look at the issue in order to alleviate the suffering of the people while lamenting that the reconstruction of the Enugu - Onitsha expressway was not captured in the 2016 Federal Government budget.

Though he was enthused with the increase in internal revenue generation from N500 million on coming into office to N1.2 billion currently, governor Obiano regretted that revenue allocation has continued to dwindle to its present 80 percent. just as he revealed that his administration was targeting N2.2 billion monthly from internally generated revenue while ruling out heavy tax burden on the citizenry.

Governor Obiano reiterated that despite the global economic recession, Anambra is one of the four states still paying salaries in Nigeria on a regular basis and meeting other state obligations..
"We are one of the four states in the country that are still paying regular salaries to our workers and carrying out meaningful projects because of prudent management of our resources in the midst hard times.
"It's not rocket science. We've been able to achieve all these by eliminating waste. If I was getting 100 percent of Federal allocation when I assumed office in 2014, it's now 27 percent, Obiano said.
The governor disclosed that in addition to 350 ghost workers found in the payroll of the State government, another 500 ghost workers were recently discovered in the personnel audit embarked by the State government to eliminate waste in its expenditure .

While praising the courage and determination of Nigerian journalists and media professionals over the years, governor described the ‘pen pushers’ as the true heroes of Nigeria's democracy.
He said he was highly impressed with the quality of reportage from the journalists and charged them to always cross check their facts with the relevant government authorities before sending out their reports.

The governor who used the occasion to highlight major achievements of his administration in the key four Pillars of Development, namely: Agriculture, Industrialization, Trade and Commerce and Oil and Gas, as well as twelve propelling enablers which he said was made possible by the creation of peaceful and secure environment and the establishment of the Anambra State Investment Promotion & Protection Agency (ANSIPPA) with the result that the State has attracted about 3.2 Billion USD from local and foreign investors through adoption of a more creative approach in revenue generation , with attendant job creation for the youth.

He laid to rest the insinuations in some quarters that the three flyover bridges conceived and being constructed in the State capital territory of Awka by his administration had gulped about N15 billion, clarifying that the three legacy projects are being handled at the cost of less than N10 billion.

While speaking at the session, the Honourable Commissioner for Information, Culture & Tourism, Dr. Barr. (Mrs) Uju Nwogu thanked the governor for deeming it worthy to host the media professionals. She also thanked the journalists for supporting the state by publicizing the various activities of the Anambra state government .

In his remarks, Mr Emma Ndukuba, Chairman of the NUJ Correspondents Chapel thanked the governor for hosting the journalists while hailing him for his resounding performances in all sectors of life across the state.
He pledged the support of the journalists to his administration through positive and constructive reportage while pleading with the governor to provide a vehicle for the Chapel to enable it performance efficiently.