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Anambra
2010: I’m the change Anambra needs –Ekwunife
From AMOS DUNIA, Abuja
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
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Ekwunife,
PPA candidate
•Photo: Sun News Publishing |
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New hope
If you consider PPA logo, you will see two hands clasped together
praying to God Almighty. This is because we believe that, for everything
we want to do, we must start with God. That is why in every part
of Igbo land, at any meeting or gathering we start and end with
prayers. PPA is a party ordained whose members strongly believe
in God. Having said that, PPA slogan is “Prosperity to the
Nation”. When you talk about prosperity that is where everything
comes in. You cannot have prosperity without security of lives and
property.
You cannot have prosperity without creation of wealth, infrastructural
development, and human capital development. And you cannot have
prosperity without industrial development. So, all in all, PPA is
a party that believes in transparency and collective progress.
You can recollect that our primary election was adjudged
the freest in recent times, not just in the state but nation-wide.
When you talk about democracy, it starts with internal democracy
of each political party. Any party that doesn’t entrench transparency,
accountability and internal democracy in their party cannot do well
in any general election. So, democracy starts within political parties.
Therefore, from what happened at the primaries, PPA has shown to
the good people of Anambra State that they are transparent.
Doing things differently
In the past eight years in Anambra State, there has not been any
significant change; nothing has worked, including lack of peace
and development. One of the major retardants of the development
of the state is because we don’t have peace. There is no unity.
People are not carried along by the government. The government programmes
are met with the peoples’ inputs, where government should
be for the people. The government should be the unifying factor
and it cannot be achieved without the people. Then consider the
issue of security. The security we have presently is temporary in
the sense that the influx of mobile police men are there now. But,
they cannot be there forever. The only permanent solution we have
in trying to solve our security problem is to provide jobs for our
youths.
There are a lot of families with up to four graduates who have been
searching for work for more than four to five years. Frustration
would force them into kidnapping, through which they make hundreds,
thousands, and millions of naira. From there, the tempo rises and
they ,even form cults. They now create a cabal. How then can they
be stopped?
Only by gradually removing and putting them where they would be
useful to themselves, families and the society. So, without providing
jobs for youths around us, the issue of security will come to worry
us.
Also, all over the world, there are Anambra indigenes who
own manufacturing outfits but because there is no deliberate policy
of the government to create enabling operational environment in
the state, they have not been able to bring their industries here.
We need to open up industrial areas, create infrastructure to attract
these entrepreneurs to come and set up in the state. By the time
we have about ten of such industries around, about 80%of our youths
would have been gainfully employed. We also think of setting up
and equipping skill acquisition centres in all the council areas.
We also need to establish links for the community policing network
– to encourage the communities to safeguard people living
in their areas. Traditional Rulers and President Generals of town
unions would be held responsible for any crime committed within
their vicinity – because they need to know all the people
living around their domains. We also give targets to the various
Divisional Police Officers (DPOs) of every Local Council. Everyone
needs to sit up; give account of everything that happens around
their environment. In a situation where you don’t give set
targets to the people with responsibilities, things would continue
to go wrong.
My Government would be a target-driven administration. I will run
open/target-driven government where youth monarchs, police, civil
defence and other security agencies are involved. They will all
have set targets that must be achieved. As the Chief Executive Officer
of the State, it is my duty to safeguard the lives and property
of every citizen here. So, everyone in the state will know that
it’s no longer business as usual.
I think the people are in a better position to assess my
contributions. I have attracted sizeable federal government presence
to my constituency. I have single-handedly moved two (2) motions
on the floor of the House of Representatives in favour of the state.
They both helped to improve the quality of life of Anambra citizens.
I was the one who moved the motion on the alarming cases of armed
robbery attacks on the citizens, thereby calling on the federal
government to intervene immediately because my people were dying
silently.
It was after that motion that the police headquarters sent
in a crack team of mobile policemen which has now improved the security
of lives and property in the 177 communities and 326 electoral wards
of the state’s 21 Local Council Areas of the state.
I thank God that I made the move. Before this time, Anambra was
under intense siege. Now everyone can go about their normal businesses.
That motion and the police response changed a lot of things. I also
moved a motion on the Nanka-Ekwulobia erosion menace, which has
since gingered the federal government into doing something significant
there. The FG is now giving the problem a priority attention.
I also sponsored a bill on the National Projects Monitoring Agency,
because I felt that no matter how much that was appropriated, if
the funds were not utilized well, or end up in private purses, the
people would be short-changed-they won’t get the necessary
dividends of democracy. So if you have the Project Monitoring Agency,
which would be an independent office to monitor and assess all projects
of the federal government in ensuring that the tax-payers’
funds are utilized well, it would help us get value for our resources.
I have also attracted other constituency projects to my area like
boreholes, rural roads, electricity transformers, solar-powered
street lights, etc. I have assisted our graduates to get employment
in Federal establishments like the Immigration, Police, NECO, etc.
Considering these and many others that I cannot list out here, I
think I can give myself an excellent score on the performance chart.
Campaign promises
I think time has come when the electorates should look inwards and
know exactly what they want. We have to critically assess the antecedents
of anyone who is presenting himself for a particular office. Like
now, many of us are running for the office of governor, but you
have to look at each person’s lifestyle, managerial ability
before now. This is because anyone who has not been patriotic in
the past cannot transform immediately just because he’s now
in government. If you had a little responsible position in the past
and you didn’t use it for the benefit of the people, there
is no how you will use the bigger one for their benefit now.
So I believe time has come, when people should think of who
has patriotic ideals, interest, or who can give them the kind of
change needed to move forward. The issue of the electorates is paramount
because they hold the aces. They are the ones to decide who rules
them. They are the ones that know the quality they want in their
leaders. Personally, I am happy to say that I have always used every
chance I have, no matter how little, to the benefit of my people.
So if given this chance to govern them, it would be to their greater
benefit and advantage. I have never been associated with failure;
I have never been associated with any unpatriotic conduct. Therefore,
as Governor of the State, I will use the mandate to the greater
benefit of the entire electorate on a larger scale.
The LG lacuna
It is unfortunate that the state government want to ensure they
organize it in a way that it’s only their people would sweep
the stakes. That is why it has become almost impossible. I know
the huddles I crossed to get to the Federal House of Representatives.
I am someone, who strongly believe in my efforts and ability to
achieve success. If I become the Chief Executive of this State,
come February6, 2010, I will encourage people to go and run for
the council offices of their choice. I will encourage everyone in
every party to put in their best to win. I will not have a hand
in who becomes what, because, administrations in the state have
been looking for a way to corner the council election and make their
cowries to become Chairmen and councillors, that’s why Local
Government election have not been held.
We have people from poor homes, people without Godfathers/mothers
but with great potentials. Such people need to be given opportunities.
It will be thrown open so that the best will emerge. My government
is going to de-emphasize money politics in the state, so that good
hands that have no money can attain positions in the state, because
we need a functional Local Government system for the state to move
forward. That is the level of government closest to the electorate,
and therefore, we need to get them on place and working. I will
ensure that dividends of democracy will get down to the people.
Then, for the education sector, we do not even have a dependable
well-fenced and equipped school in any of the three senatorial zones.
It is clear that if you put computers and laboratories in a school
that is not well-fenced and protected, armed robbers will come and
carry everything away the next day. We need a well secured environment
for our children to have confidence. Our children are currently
been sent to Abuja, Lagos and even Ghana for their primary and secondary
education. This now creates an ugly situation where they find it
difficult to speak Igbo, as such cannot even get their bearings
right as they simply know they are from Anambra State. They don’t
know the name of their town or villages. My administration will
restore the glory of education in the state so that people can be
proud to send their children to the schools as was the case in the
past. In all these, we also have professional teachers in mind;
people who can impact knowledge. And we also need to train and retrain
our teachers so as to be abreast with modern technology.
We’ll give serious attention to our hospitals, because, sometime
ago when a colleague was shot in the state by armed robbers, all
those who were shot along with him and were taken to hospitals in
the state all died. It was only him who was rushed to Enugu that
survived. It shows that we don’t have functional hospitals
here. Most of our doctors here concentrate on their private hospitals
because the public hospitals are not well equipped. The hospitals
also need to be fenced and provided with adequate security because
you cannot have equipments in an environment where there is no security.
In addition, we have to step-up provision of other infrastructures
like link roads and massive investment into agriculture. The Northern
part of the state; Ayamelum, oyi Anambra East, West and Ogbaru are
all exceptionally fertile.
We need to encourage them, especially with the mechanized system
of farming, particularly when majority are known to be women. It
will make things easier for them. Then we go to Nnewi, Ekwulobia,
Nkpor, Onitsha, etc. where you have markets, we need to provide
them with infrastructure that will assist their operations. Whatever
helps them helps the revenue base of the state. We need to also
establish centralized mechanic workshops/villages, with fence. At
least it will help us have their data-base.
We need to create a data-base to help us know our student and where
they are; how many they are; how many our graduates are and their
discipline. There are so many other things we are going to do but
we need to prioritize them, according to the practical needs of
the people. There’s this issue of women empowerment. Some
are asking how can a woman become the Governor of Anambra State,
but it is the same wisdom, God gave men that he gave to women. And
it’s on record that women all over the world have always performed
whenever they are in positions of authority. In the Benin Republic,
you have the Amazons who were reputed great warriors; in Cross River
State, you have late Mrs. Margaret Ekpo, an associate of Dr. Nnamdi
Azikiwe.
The Calabar Airport was named after her. Mary Slessors’ wisdom
brought about cessation in the barbaric killing of twins. Today,
we have quadruplets or more. You have Ransome Kuti, Late Afro-beat
king; Felas’ mother. She was the first woman in Nigeria to
drive a car. In Philippines, you have Mrs. Corazon Aquino, Mrs.
Johnson of Liberia, Mrs. Margaret Thatcher, a three-time Prime Minister
of Britain. The United States of America has Mrs Hilary Clinton, a
former First Lady, Former Senator, Former frontline Presidential
aspirant, now as Secretary of state, so was Condolessa Rice
and Maudeline Albright. Remember Mrs. Indira Ghandi, who was the
longest Prime Minister of India.
She established a political dynasty which she inherited from her
father Jalwaal Nehru. In Israel, Queen Esther intervened and saved
her people; same was the works of Deborah. So when situations become
critical, women come in to make the difference, I must promote the
issue of credibility where there is no Godfather or mother.
Anambra in the last ten years
I think it’s both problems of leadership and followership,
because when the people know what they want, whether they see light
there or not, they will follow their hearts. If the electorates
start following their hearts, then they consider what they actually
need. Therefore, they will stop making mistakes, but when they continue
to value persons based on the size of his/her pockets, or how much
they were given, then they would continue to mess things up. And
in leadership, it’s collective. After all, the Governor is
just the arrow-head. It doesn’t mean he knows it all. Governance
is all about the people.
If you run a closed-door administration, especially in a state like
Anambra where you have all manner of people; men/women of timber
and caliber, you can never do well. Part of the problem here is
that once key persons that need to be recognized are not recognized,
then, you have started on a very wrong footing. Everyone has some
value to add to governance. No one knows it all. Anambra State truly
needs a mother now to balance the situation on ground, because it
is only the mother that can balance the good child and the bad child
and get them back on to work together. So, all in all I can say
it’s both the leadership and followership problem.
Negative forces in Anambra State
It’s a great pity really if that is true. Though, I don’t
know because nobody has ever used me against the state. However,
why should I allow myself to be used against my own people?
Electoral reform
That’s why I sincerely commend Mr. President on his stand
in championing the Rule of Law, because rule of law is the basis
of everything we do. Our problem is not constitution, but the people.
Even if you reform all our electoral laws and the people are not
ready to adjust to the laws, then they would continue to go
against it. We need attitudinal change. That is the only way we
can make progress. However, I urge Mr. President to also make the
environment conducive for those who go against the law to be reprimanded
and disciplined. In the United Kingdom and USA, people do not obey
the laws because they want to, but because the system will catch
up with them, if they don’t do that. And with that, the system
will be moving on perfectly well. So, the major issue now is the
re-orientation of our people for us to be able to adopt the electoral
reforms.
Gender
To me, my gender is an advantage because the women feel that this
is their time and women and youth form the backbone of the voting
population of Anambra State. All the places where women were challenged
in the past, they performed very well.
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