On Thursday, August 27, Anambra State will mark 35 years since it was created. Over the years, the State has continued to make progress in various spheres. Some have argued that since 1999, Anambra State is the best-governed state in the Southeast geopolitical zone. Yet, others are of the impression that Anambra has simply been “lucky” in getting “good leaders” to govern the state. However, Anambra was once the ideal case study on political godfatherism in Nigerian politics. The State once bore the marks of public vandalism and high-level criminality featuring armed robbery in broad daylight across major commercial cities in the state. Despite these odds, Anambra has continued to make progress.
Importantly, each administration in Anambra State since 1999 has dealt with the same challenges, making governance revolve around the same fundamental questions for nearly three decades. For instance, between 1999 and 2003, the Government of Anambra State under Governor Chinwoke Mbadinuju was faced with an intense security challenge. In response, Governor Mbadinuju invited the Bakasi Boys, whose reign of terror lasted for about three years before they were disbanded. Governor Chris Ngige, who spent over two years in the saddle as Anambra Governor, faced the same security challenges and engaged some hybrid tactics in managing the situation, but his approach ultimately proved to be unsustainable. Then came Governor Peter Obi, who struggled with various forms of insecurity, including threats by MASSOB to the extent that they attacked his convoy. This challenge remained till his exit. Nevertheless, Chief Willie Obiano’s administration quickly consolidated the gains of Obi’s administration on security through a structural war against crime and criminality in Anambra State, but just before his exit, IPOB miscreants almost overran the government and went as far as claiming territories they administered according to their whims. The situation plunged the State back into its earliest struggles with insecurity. This was the situation before Governor Soludo assumed office in 2022. The gains against insecurity by past governments were lost, pointing to a formidable enabler of insecurity in the State.
Upon assumption of office in 2022, Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo was faced with the same security challenge as the governors before him. But, in the last 4 years and 5 months of Soludo’s administration, there is a fundamental shift in the fight against crime and criminality in Anambra State. Insecurity in Anambra State is structural and fundamentally linked to things that have no security threat on their face value. Polluted spirituality under the cover of traditional religion or the Church has quietly powered disorder and chaos in Anambra State, exacerbating moral weakness, encouraging money without enterprise, and ultimately powering a cycle of lawlessness and insecurity through an attitude of disdain towards the government and the law. To this end, moving from merely solving the problem of insecurity to restoring law and order, capable of bequeathing a safe and secure state, the government must be decisive, and the people must take ownership of their state. This is exactly what Governor Soludo did with the Anambra State Homeland Security Law. Today, the government is addressing the fundamental enablers of insecurity in Anambra State.
Another recurring challenge throughout various administrations in Anambra State since 1999 is road construction. Every government in Anambra State has been confronted with failed roads and an urgent need to construct/rebuild roads. Despite the humongous amounts spent on roads by previous administrations, Governor Soludo in 2021 acknowledged that Anambra roads have broken down and then pledged to turn the State into a construction site; a promise he has largely lived up to. The problem is not road construction because all other previous administrations engaged in road construction, linking various parts of the state. The problem is the quality of roads constructed, which fails even before the end of the lifespan of the administration that built them. Again, this challenge forces successive Anambra State Governments to expend energy and scarce state resources on road construction. This is closely related to the severe environmental challenge facing Anambra State, which can be addressed with solid, well-paved roads and drains.
The state of the environment in Anambra has moved from bad to threatening over the years. Every previous administration has taken cognizance of the situation and offered palliatives or, at best, interventionist remediation, leaving erosion to ravage the State with more intensity. Today, the challenge posed by erosion in Anambra State is more severe, but it is still the same old challenge, which prompted Governor Soludo’s pledge to declare a state of emergency on the environment in the Solution Agenda.
As Anambra marks 35 years, Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo is declaring a state of emergency on the environment just as he pledged. Essentially, what the Governor is doing is to help the people and residents take full ownership of their environment so as to engage in healthy environmental practices that will match focused government long-term environmental action.
In essence, Anambra State, at 35 years, has Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo, who is leading Ndi Anambra into taking ownership of their State and environment. This ownership manifests in the form of enforcement of law and order, security of lives and property through a surgical approach to the fundamentals of insecurity, rapid construction of durable roads, and sustainable environmental action involving collective ownership of the environment against what the Governor correctly referred to as Anambra’s existential threat. What this means is that Governor Soludo is dealing with the sustainability question that has forced successive governments in Anambra to focus primarily on solving the same challenges. From here, Anambra’s great leap is only a few steps ahead.
