Okonkwo: Fixing Anambra’s Infrastructure Requires $10bn

Ugo Aliogo

The gubernatorial aspirant of Zenith Labour Party in the forthcoming Anambra State governorship election, Dr. Obiora Okonkwo, has expressed displeasure over the huge infrastructure deficit in the state, stating that fixing the infrastructural development must come from bulk funds.

Okonkwo, who disclosed this yesterday in Lagos at a media briefing said if elected governor of the state, the administration would be able to access such bulk funds and invest between $5-10 billion into Anambra and the entire Southeast to make them economically vibrant.

He stated that if the money is prudently used, there would huge multiplier effect and the return will pay off in four years, adding that his 10-point agenda is aimed at addressing all developmental aspects in the state.

“There is nothing in that 10point agenda that I’m not doing as an individual. If you talk about human capital development I do them. I’m involved in value reorientation, the biggest problem we have in Anambra state is that we have abandoned our virtues. Therefore, value reorientation is very important in what we are doing as a people,” he noted.

He further explained that the state needs a governor who can help the youths realise their God-given potential despite the odds, noting that on his part, he had positioned himself not only as a role model to people of his community, but has helped numerous youths to discover their paths and abilities in life.In his words: “In the area of education, my foundation has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Salesians of Don Bosco. They run the best and most popular technical schools in the world. I have approached the Catholic Archbishop, of Onitsha to give me Ogidi Technical School with a vision of transforming it into a Polytechnic. These are things I’m doing as an individual, if I’m a governor it is just a policy action. Diaspora population in Anambra is very much active. Diaspora remittance into Nigeria was much than revenues from oil and gas and 60 percent of it could be from Anambra state. A well-planned relationship will channel it to that state that is why we are pushing to have a special Ministry of Diaspora affairs. The focus of having this ministry is to engage our people wherever they are. For those that are Overseas, we don’t need to ask them to come back, we will just setup a liaison office overseas and direct them on what to do.

“Education is key, now we have our children sent overseas to study. By the time they are due to come back, if they don’t get jobs in Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), then they will leave the shores of this country, those are great talents we are missing. Whenever I see those children on the street who have taken to hard drugs, I see a crop of young sporting talents. This year Anambra State didn’t send contingents to National Sports Festival because they could not fund it and besides they don’t have the platform to develop such talents. Our apprenticeship system has collapsed. The likes of Coscharis and Chisco were apprentices in Onitsha main market. I have instituted a research grant to the Business School of Nnamdi Azikwe University to go and study the venture capital of Onitsha main market. It is the biggest venture capital in the world.

“Anambra State under former Governor Peter Obi didn’t experience improved economic growth, the inflation rate was high in the eight years he was Governor. There is no single legacy project that we can attribute to Peter Obi. All the roads he built are gone, but it is just one that is standing. He believes in the idea of building infrastructure without equipping those infrastructures and there is no training of manpower. Yet he goes about saying that he left a lot of money in government coffers. So for me, if we had somebody like Michael Okpara who was very visionary it will help the advancement of the state. Much of the long-term projects and blueprint for development to carried out in the next 50years by Governor, Willy Obiano which Prof. Charles Soludo is also sharing are what Michael Okpara did 60years ago.”

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