Anambra: Broken contraception in the course of transformation

By Iduh Mathew

The Aristotelian concept of good governance is political stability but reversal is the case which implies that if the true definition of governments according to Abraham Lincoln is “for the people and by the people’’ it’s therefore implies that every successive government ought to bear the interests of the people at heart thereby creating an horizon of three dimensional growth which should focus on short-term mid-term and long-term.

And so every visionary leader who focuses on the above dimensional stages of growth is truly a transformative leader because he will not only focus on the presence of his administration but the administration of his successor and is successor’s successor which I call “the future” in other words the long term dimension. A society that experiences bad governance is already at doom as such society experiences political instability and decay which impedes indispensability and national growth.

I could rightly say that Aristotle in his political philosophy had the vision of Nigeria in his thoughts as there seem a conspicuous gap between demands and the practical realization of good governance and in the light of Chinua Achebe’s things fall apart by paraphrasing the very moment envy sets in there can never be a point focus in servitude but a phenomenal growth of pride such that those from the trench see the political positions as a libration from generational poverty that has be clouded them for long, thereby creating astute poverty where there was none. Presently, Nigeria is faced with the challenge of integrity and accountability among public officeholders.

It is important to note that it is difficult for a democracy to thrive in Nigeria in the context of the severe crisis of confidence that afflicts governance and the doubtful integrity of today’s leaders in the public sectors. This situation is at variance with the philosophies and legacies of past leaders and nationalists who have contributed to the development of democracy in Nigeria. And Nigeria is currently suffering from a serious challenge of bad governance coupled with corruption and lack of accountability in governance. Corruption (the abuse of public office for private gains), democratic dictatorship, economic woes, decayed infrastructural facilities, and poor welfare of citizens, but this loss of perception of what good governance entails in Nigeria is tied to the question of integrity.

Nigeria have largely focused on the apparent problems bedeviling democratic governance in Nigeria , the general processes of governance in Nigeria concerning the political, social and economic infrastructures in the country , synthesis of donor support to good governance in Nigeria within the context of a political economy analysis of Nigeria , and the democracy-good governance nexus in Nigeria . But we have not linked good governance in Nigeria to the concepts of integrity and accountability under the ambit of Awolowo and Azikwe. Every contractor understands pretty well that the strength of his job is on the foundation which means that his attention should be to get the foundation right as it would carry other structures that would also birth other structures; this off course is the case of governance in Nigeria.

While visionary leaders like our Zik and Obafemi of the present democratic system are working round the clock to debunk the 2016 evidence that categorically rated Nigeria as a sect with poor governance among the 19 poorest, unhappiest, unhealthiest, and most dangerous nations in the world despite being the largest oil producer in Africa having realized that the foundation of governance in Nigeria is broken and making efforts to rebuild, others have vowed never to allow stability or national development thrive.

An Africa adage says that there is no smoke without fire and this is the case of Anambra states; no doubts that the people of Anambra state are happy to have the former CBN governor as their new governor after Willie Obiano, the excitement is of greater expectation by surpassing that of his predecessor Dr. Peter Obi, what an irony? Why not Willie Obiano.

The one time vice presidential candidate under the canopy of the people’s democratic party in 2016 have become a household reference point of good governance as he left an indelible mark in the state. It will be clearly recorded that upon handover to the administration of Willie Obiano the state of Anambra had millions of dollars in a treasury and in Obiano’s hand over to Professor Soludo the state owes millions of dollars what a broken contraception in the transformative bridge, how feasible is the realization of the people’s expectation from the present administration that began few days back considering the current status of her treasury has revealed by the new governor. Could this be another cold war in the South East when we are yet to understand the one in Imo State.

The transparency policy of Peter Obi is clear evidence why he cannot stop sharing with public his strategies for achieving such great feat. We could recall that in 2014 in an interview as documented in his hand over reports to Willie Obiano, Ndi-Anambra and Nigeria that his government is handing over a whooping sum of $156 million which he was able to acquire from foreign and local bonds and these should have been disputed if the figures were wrong and implicating no managing director of the banks have done that till date, “A true political giants he is I must say” breaking down these figures he stated that he left $50 million and seven billion Naira in the states access account, $55 million and 10 billion naira in the state fidelity account and $50 million in Diamond account, all in bid to eradicate poverty by 2050 in Anambra. No civil or pensioner has risen up his or her head to claim non-payments from his administration I wonder how many will soon troop out in number to the government house to bugle Soludo over non-payment in few weeks from today.

Dr Peter will be was and still is a leader with the three dimension of national growth as he placed value in saving in foreign currency with a long-term vision because he knew by now Anambra state should worth more than $600 million by investment, a mission that has been broken and the people are espouse to poverty through lack of vision in the transformative process, he had the need to borrow yet he saw reasons to save because he knew that with the 70% effort is administration have put in place subsequent administration can comfortably pay back without knowing or feeling that any amounts left the state’s treasury knowing that the state would be worth more than a billion dollars by 2050 he applied to the world bank for 120 million dollars loan and 40 million dollars was initially granted for building the educational sector how thoughtful he was? And today, what Obiano left for prof. Soludo is a huge path of debt.

Where lies then the vision of eradicating poverty by Dr Peter Obi? These would have been the stage of massive success in Anambra because Soludo would have reasonably exceeded the expectations of the people by bringing national development and state growth by preventing the poverty contraception from breaking.

The question then is Obiano rightly built some projects that yielded profits were then is the profits. It is a pity, to hear from a newly sworn- in governor in his first interview on AriseTv that the treasury of the state is suffering when he was ask about the challenges on ground in terms of infrastructure and other developmental approaches. But we know Soludo is a man who is intellectually fortified with finance issues and would do all in his capacity to redeem the transformative image of Peter Obi on like his immediate predecessor.

Soludo has describe Obiano as a good man with the interest of the people of Anambra at heart but then he commented that he didn’t do well and as a member of same party their duty is to make amend and continue the trajectory as he is willing to private investors and make use of the commitment of the good people and the good will of Anambra.