By Vincent Ujumadu
AWKA—Governor Peter Obi of Anambnra State said yesterday that he would never borrow money to finance projects during his tenure because he would not like to leave a burden on the administrations that would come after him.

Speaking during an inter- agency meeting with top government functionaries and development partners at Government House, Awka, Obi said he believed in developing the state through donations from international agencies, adding that they had proved to be of great assistance, having discovered that Anambra State had created a conducive atmosphere for them to operate.

“We have not borrowed any money since we came in and we don’t intend to borrow. That is why I am running around looking for agencies to support us. The good thing is that the state has achieved 100% in the payment of counterpart funds which is what we need to attract enough funds from the donor agencies.

“We have a vision and we have the strategy and we are happy that our partners believe in us and that is why they are supporting us to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, MDGs, by 2015 through the Anambra Integrated Development Strategy, ANIDS.

“My mission here is to take the right decisions and not to border about what people will say because if I begin to worry about what people will say, I will end up not achieving anything for the state.

“To you who are manning the various government agencies, our plans must be to achieve good results. And since I am in charge today, I want you to plan things the way we want things to be. When I leave, you may begin to listen to those who will be in charge then,” he said.

The governor also briefed the officials on what he described as the paradigm shift of his administration in the implementation of development partnership programmes, as well as his planned expenditure for 2011.