By Valentine Obienyem

Since its creation in 1991, Anambra State had an unhappy succession of leaders until the interregnum of Dr. Chris Ngige.  In spite of the near war situation under which he operated, he gave a good account of himself and showed marked interest in the emancipation of the state. It will be said of Ngige that he paid salaries, did not plunge the state into debt, paid contractors and did some quality work.

Obiano, Obaze, Nwoye and Ezeemo.

Under Mr. Peter Obi – whose mandate Ngige had encroached upon — the emancipation continued. Beyond roads where Ngige did well, Obi took all key sectors and sub-sectors and emerged as a champion in each. After his two terms totalling eight years, he is reputed as the only governor that left an extensive legacy of investments for the state; including foreign-currency denominated bonds, shares in   Fortune 500 companies, billions of Naira and millions of US dollars in  banks and no indebtedness to  civil servants and pensioners.

He successfully made Anambra  the epicentre of the activities of developing partners, which was possible because he had the likes of Mr. Oseloka Obaze, who explored his wide international contacts from his service in the United Nations systems for over 20 years. Besides, he cleared arrears of pensions and gratuities owed since 1999, almost to the tune N40 billion. Indeed, Obi aimed at varied development targets and scored many direct hits. If you are interested in the steps by which a  state moves from bedlam to greatness, you should be interested in  Obi.

Then  Governor  Willie Obiano came on board. But as a matter of fact, Obaze was Obi’s first choice, and Obiano was not even in the picture initially. Invariably, those who had a say on  who would emerge eventually identified  Obaze  as too meticulous and literally threw their hats into the ring to frustrate his candidature.   With the emergence of Obiano, the consoling thought was that the fact that he had risen to the rank of an Executive Director in a bank meant that he, at the least, should have and display some standards of competence, propriety and open-mindedness to wise counsel on how to sustain good governance in  Anambra.

Regrettably, Obiano  viewed the attainments of his predecessor as targets for destruction at all costs. All his reflexes have sadly pointed  to a determined supervision of the collapse of Anambra  – a task he has steadily and rashly undertaken since he assumed office as governor.

This is the pathetic Anambra  in which we have found ourselves. Resolutely hard-hearted, Obiano, in the twilight of his tenure, is yet to build on anything Peter Obi left for him to consolidate and expand on. He cannot boast of having completed a  three- kilometre of road in any part of the state except his home town, Aguleri. He abandoned – some report said – the major projects his administration inherited, including Agulu Lake Hotel, Onitsha   Hotel, Awka and Nnewi Shopping Malls. He has not attracted any major institution – national or international – to  Anambra.

While shouting that he attracted over US$7.5 billion in Foreign Direct Investments [FDIs], we never knew  until it was alleged that he had been selling the US dollars saved by his predecessor for the stabilization and future of the state. The tragedy of it all is that he cannot point at any meaningful thing he used the money to do.

While writing this article, it was alleged that Obiano  had sold the Anambra State House at 23-25, Martins Street, Lagos and that the Lodge at Onitsha is up for sale.   It is particularly disgusting that the Martins Street House under reference was built   during the time of the old East Central State  when Obiano was barely out of diapers. In all honesty, some of the things Obiano has  been doing defy logic and one does not know from which perspective to view them.

Would it be uncharitable to describe him as the most impressive failure of all times? When he became governor, Anambra was alive with ideas and   over-flowing treasury beyond other states in Nigeria.   By the time he was celebrating his first 100 days in office, over which the EXCO approved 5 billion Naira for him, the state  was already exhausted and is presently lying fallow.

*Obienyem is resident in Agulu