•Former governor now reference point in good governance

By Prisca Sam-Duru

Anambra State has been trending for positive reasons since former Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo, assumed office as the fifth governor of Anambra State.  

While the excitement continues, a good number of people, even outside the state, have not hidden their high hopes that Soludo will perform very well and hopefully, match or outperform one of his predecessors, Dr Peter Obi who has long become a reference point when it comes to good governance and quality leadership in the state and beyond. 

But how feasible the realisation of that expectation is at the moment, is a different matter especially considering the current status of Anambra state’s treasury which isn’t fantastic at all, according to the new governor.

Since leaving office, Dr Peter Obi has not stopped sharing to the public, the strategies he employed to make exploits in the state as well as what he left in the state’s reserves. For instance, he had in an interview with Vanguard, way back in 2014, explained that as documented in his “End of Tenure Report”, which he presented to Nigerians, his government saved $156 Million through buying local and foreign denominated bonds. 

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According to him, “the Managing Directors of the banks where the money is- Fidelity, Access and Diamond Banks, were present” and so, would have refuted his claims if he lied. He however clarified that “I did not say I left all cash in the banks. I made it clear that some were by way of investment”.  

Breaking down the figures in a viral video, Obi said, “The day I left office on 17th March, 2014, I left in Anambra Account in Access Bank, $50 million, and about 7 billion naira. In Fidelity bank, I left $55 million and over 10 billion naira. In Diamond bank $50 million”, all of which he described as future generation money that are supposed to terminate by 2050.

He added that “the day I left office, as at December 2013, I did not owe any teacher, anybody at the Local government level, gratuity. Nobody in the Civil Service was owed gratuity, or pension or salary and no contractor had a certificate that was pending”. 

He also stated categorically that “those funds, being long-term investments backed by law, if they are still available in the banks, and I earnestly wish they are, presently should be worth about $200 Million”. Obi’s administration from all indications, placed high value on savings in Foreign Currency and this he explained, was necessary whether the state had enough or not. 

“So, our calculation was that if the state would be able to save a particular amount ($18 – 20 million dollars) as we did in eight years, up until 2030 at the average interest rate of a little over 6%, we would be able to achieve about a billion dollars in savings and earnings. We would then use about 50% of this amount to attract investment. Our goal was that if we would be able to invest 25% in each enterprise, which is $500,000, we would be able to achieve 1000 SMEs facilities scattered all over Anambra State, which would jump start aggressive economic growth within the state, especially as income from oil is coming to an end”.  

Even while there was need to borrow, his administration still saw reasons to save.  

“We were seeking a 40-year non-interest loan of $120 million from the World Bank, especially targeted at supporting Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education and tackling our devastating erosion problem.

“The idea of $40 million education loan was hatched based on the United Nations report that there would be about 20 million jobs vacancies in the fields related to STEM studies by the year 2020, and having critically observed our solid achievements in education, the World Bank readily agreed to provide this facility while the $80 million was to effectively tackle the erosion menace around the state.

“Even though the World Bank approved the $40 million dollars for Education and initial $40 million for erosion, my administration did not draw down from it. These facilities were to kick-start with the incoming government and we were certain that savings in foreign currency would help the state in meeting up with her obligations of payment without any impediment to her financial stability. This is because we would have so much still left after meeting with the obligations.

“Since we are going to pay this money in the future, we carefully projected and started saving. Because we are going to earn a billion dollars by the time the loan matures; $500 million will go to these SMEs, $200 million will go to others, $300 million will be left. Everything being equal, by 2050, we will be hitting almost $2 Billion. Meanwhile, we have 1,000 SMEs out there, of which about 80% of them would survive, and if they do, shall be producing for export that would change the state,” he explained.

These figures Dr Obi dealt with and what he claimed to have left for his successor, Willie Obiano, is nothing compared to the amount Prof Soludo revealed he met in the State’s account, laced with huge debt. Interestingly, some reports have it that rather than save like Peter Obi, Willie Obiano employed the funds Obi left, for projects and such projects, when utilised, would yield returns to Anambra State.  

When Rufai Oseni, asked Soludo, during an Arise Television interview, what the level of challenge he met   on ground was, in terms of dearth of infrastructure, funds available, and everything, his mien alone indicated bad news was coming. 

“First, in terms of finances, there is an audited account which is public document which anybody can access, the audited account of Anambra State as at 31st December, 2021, is already published…everybody knows that the state finance is not quite robust, to put it mildly. The debt is probably in the range of one hundred and something billion and, cash that I saw is a few hundred million. But we are still going to have reconciliations and accounts from January till the date that we took over. If I remember correctly, the cash in various banks, about 300 or 400 million naira; the audited account as at December put the debt at about 109 billion; that’s what I saw”.  

The amount he met in the Anambra State’s coffers notwithstanding, with “The Soludo Solution”, the new governor of Anambra State appears ready to perform to the best of his ability, to transform the State further than his predecessors. 

“The resources are paltry, almost zero; but we are undaunted, we will get water out of the stone with the people working with us. We will mobilise the people to work with us, we will be able to get water out of the stone and make a very important beginning. Anambra has all the potentials but also equally matched with the challenges”, he stated.

Here is an individual who nursed the ambition to serve his people for over a decade, something he described as almost becoming a passion; a lifetime passion to be able to get down to work. “For those years”, Soludo explained further, “I have reflected on what those issues and challenges and problems are and they are quite enormous. 

They can be quite daunting, in terms of the magnitude of the challenges. But I have a single-minded conviction that they are not insurmountable; we can do something about it”. The resourcefulness, enterprise, commitment of people of Anambra State and love for the home he noted, are key resource he hopes to mobilise to drive development in the State. In other words, private investment will be the key and as he declared, his government is prepared to provide the enabling environment to develop the state further.  

His pledge to concentrate fully on service to the people of Anambra not only means total improvement on what is on ground but also, means that those who have been warming up to be entertained by the usual fights among successors and their predecessors in office, will be disappointed this time around. Prof Soludo told ‘The Morning Show’ crew that he cannot have issues with Willie Obiano. “Governor Willie Obiano is a good man, I will say this over and over, he is an honourable man. My relationship with him which I wrote in my inaugural address… what is rare in Nigeria today is that people don’t keep their word. When he and I met in August, September, October, and finally in November 2016, I accepted his proposal for us to work together, politically. And in 2017 I did everything to keep my own part and many people didn’t expect, just in the usual Nigeria way of things, that he will keep his own part of the understanding partnership but, he did after five years and for me, that is really historic. It’s very easy for people to just walk away but he remained committed,”, he said.

  Soludo described Obiano as a person with great love for Anambra and Nigeria, who “did his own best to the best of his ability and thank God this is APGA, we are on a continuity. We continue with the strong foundation he laid and where we think he didn’t quite work well, our job is to make amendment and continue the trajectory. I will eternally be grateful to him and entire Anambra people for remaining an honourable person and a leader”.