Willie Obiano: 100 Days of Excellence By James Eze

Ever since former US President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt ushered in a new sense of hope to Americans who were chaffing under the weight of the Great Depression in 1933 with his New Deal to mark his first 100 Days in office, democratising societies all over the world have to come to accept the practice as a useful barometer for measuring good governance. Faced with an economy that was tottering on the verge of collapse, Roosevelt had rightly divined that America of the early 30s needed a desperate act to save it from the brink. He responded with the New Deal; a rash of fifteen acts of the parliament that brought a huge relief to his fellow Americans who were wallowing in the throes of precarious existence. The concept of marking the first 100 days with a solid proof of ability to perform took on a new meaning from Roosevelt and has remained so ever since.

On Wednesday last week,

Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State marked his first 100 days in office with a shower of brilliance. Although unlike Roosevelt, Obiano had inherited some solid fundamentals from former Governor Peter Obi, he left no one in doubt as to his own interpretation of the historical call to lead Ndi Anambra.  But very much like Roosevelt, Obiano’s response was just as desperate. While Roosevelt’s America needed financial oxygen to save it from asphyxiation, Obiano’s Anambra needed a tough-talking crime buster to retrieve it from the firm grip of the underworld. Those who are familiar with the enormous human and material capacities of Anambra State must be aware that insecurity has always stood in the way of its becoming what it should be. So, while Roosevelt’s first set of legislations were aimed at preventing American banks from imminent collapse Obiano’s first courageous act was to inaugurate a Joint Task Force on Security which was later named Operation Kpochapu to save Ndi Anambra from criminals. This decision has since been hailed by even his critics as a visionary step that completely situated the perception of the role of the governor as the chief security officer of the state whose top priority should be the security of lives and property of the citizens.

His convocation of an all-important security summit where an Israeli security expert, Moshe Keinan, led discussions on security consciousness signalled his single-mindedness in pursuit of the goal of riding Anambra State of crime. He followed it up with loads of tough-talk and the provision of modern crime-fighting equipment to the state police command and 100 days after, 177 kidnappers are singing different tunes in the various police cells in the state. Before Obiano’s heroics, visitors to Anambra would naturally be surprised at the prevalence of kidnapping in the state. In a recent interview with Nwa Jesus; a big-time kidnapper who built a warehouse in Aguleri for his victims; it was revealed that most kidnappers are actually ex-armed robbers. “We found out that there was no money in armed robbery,” he said, pointing out that his resolve to dump armed robbery for kidnapping calcified after his gang raked in the sum of N165m in ransom from the relatives of their European victim. But with Operation Kpochapu breathing down their neck, Nwa Jesus and his gang have since been wiped out along with their warehouses and glittering mansions built with ransom money.

Interestingly, not many people are aware that Obiano’s campaign to cleanse Anambra of crime is intricately linked to his Vision and Mission statements. Obiano’s vision is for Anambra State to become the 1^st Choice Investment Destination and a hub for industrialization and commercial activities while his mission is to create a socially stable, business friendly environment that will attract both indigenes & foreigners to seek wealth creating opportunities in the state. Apparently, neither his vision no mission for Anambra could be realised without a fierce fight-back against the lords of the underworld. So far, he has won the war.

A clear indication that Obiano has won could be seen in the testimony of many people who either live or have visited the state lately. Upper Iweka used to be the metaphor for crime in Anambra State. But lately, myths have been woven around his success in riding the usually notorious Upper Iweka axis of the Enugu-Onitsha Expressway of fiendish criminals. It wasn’t surprising to hear such legends from the lips of otherwise reticent people like celebrated author and Orange Prize winner, Chimamanda Adichie. Wowing the audience in a lecture she delivered to mark Obiano’s 100-Days in office in Awka, Chimamanda had observed – “Most of us know how, for a long time, Onitsha has been a security nightmare. If you are travelling, you do NOT want to be in Upper Iweka after 6 PM because of the fear of armed robbers. But today, because of our new governor’s initiative, people in Onitsha no longer live in fear. True freedom is to be able to live without fear. A relative told me that you can drop your mobile phone on the ground in Upper Iweka and come back hours later and still see it there, which was NOT the case in the past. And which is one of the best ways to measure leadership – by the testimony of the ordinary people.”

From the encomium that has trailed his exploits, it is easy to assume that in 100 days; all that Governor Willie Obiano has done was to hunt down armed robbers and kidnappers. But this is very far from the truth. The truth however is that Security is an all-important enabler upon which Obiano’s economic agenda, otherwise known as the Four Pillars of Development, firmly rests. So, it deserved an immediate and focused attention because it is a precursor to other great initiatives. It must however be noted that even while the war on crime was ragging, Obiano was also pursuing his Four Pillars of Development – Agriculture, Industrialization, Trade & Commerce and Oil& Gas. At the flag off of this year’s farming season at Nteje in Oyi Local Government, Obiano ignited the fire of his agricultural revolution in the state with an inspiring speech and the a handful of seedlings. He has also commissioned the Coched Farms project that has the capacity to produce 120,000 metric tons of rice per annum and create 1000 jobs. On the heels of the Coched Farm Project comes the Ekcel Farm Project which will tackle which has acquired 3000 hectares of land for the cultivation of cassava.

Governor Obiano also appears to have acquitted himself well in his campaign promise to continue the projects bequeathed him by his predecessor, complete them, commission them and commence a new set of projects of his own. Perhaps, nowhere is this more manifest than in the area of road construction where he has flagged off the construction of 14 new roads, totalling 167.494 kilometres and commenced the construction of 3 flyovers in Awka and one bridge that leads to the oilfields of Aguleri.

Again to actualize his vision for Industrialization and Trade & Commerce which are two of his administration’s Four Pillars, Obiano has mapped out a 10-year Industrial development Plan and drafted a blueprint for the construction of modern markets in Ogbunike, Oba, Awka and Umunze. At the same time he has opened an intense lobby to ensure that Anambra becomes Nigeria’s 10^th oil-producing state and cleared all outstanding arrears of pension and gratuity amounting to N946,571,926.46k owed local government pensioners in the state.

Another area where the governor has done well is in the Environment where an intense campaign is on to reclaim the three cities in the state from filth and rubbish. Operation Keep Anambra Clean has effectively changed the face of Onitsha from a glorified ghetto to an emerging 21^st Century commercial city. The governor has also done very well in the Health, Education and Tourism with the planned development of the historic Ogbunike Cave into a world class tourist destination.

Again, in a bid to give his hard-hitting stance against criminals in the state a human face, Governor Obiano is waving an olive branch with the on-going gathering of data on the youths of the state with a view to placing them on meaningful employment. Youths of the state have been advised to visit their local governments and register in the on-going exercise for possible job placement in the nearest future.

The governor is also lauded for his grand plan to transform Awka, the state capital into a modern city with all the facilities that make for a 21^st Century purpose-built city. With the flag off of construction works on three flyovers and the 3-Arms Zone as well as the inauguration of a new Awka Capital Territory Development Board to envision a new Awka, Governor Obiano has indeed embedded himself in the hearts of Ndi Anambra.  

And he showed this awareness when he said in his welcome address at the lecture marking his 100 days in office last week that “we have tested our own strength and seen that indeed, like our fathers before us, we are capable of great things.”

Indeed it would be difficult not to connect his desire to give Ndi Anambra his very best with the symbolic launch of what he called the SPIRIT of ANAMBRA at the lecture. Unveiling a new emblem, a flag and an anthem for the state, Obiano reasoned that “if we build only roads and bridges and forget the building of our social and psychological consciousness, our foundation for future greatness would have been laid on quick sand.” He described the Spirit of Anambra as the “inherent kinetic energy behind the numerous accomplishments of our people in education, commerce and industry, sports, literature & the arts, politics and science and other fields of human endeavour. It is the light we bear to every corner of the world in pursuit of happiness and our readiness to absorb or be absorbed into diverse cultures of the world. The Spirit of Anambra is a high-achieving spirit that finds motivation in itself and fulfilment in the achievement of others. It is the spirit of Egbe belu, ugo belu!

Anambra is famous for its plurality. But today, there is only one consensus – that Governor Willie Obiano has done well in 100 days.