Anambra Governorship: Powerful Politician Mentions Political party Anambrarians Should Support

• As Anambra prepares for governorahip election, a strong politician, Primus Odili, has suggested that APGA be supported for a continued transformation of the state
• He juxtaposed the woes that befell the state under other political parties with the gains accruing to it under successive APGA administrations
• Odili urged media practitioners to report correctly, and not to undermine the gains achieved under APGA governments in Anambra

A renowned politician, and Chief of Staff to former Governor Willie Maduaburochukwu Obiano, Chief Primus Odili, has called on Anambra people to continue to support the government of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) in the state.

Chief Odili, a senatorial aspirant in Anambra North senatorial district in the 2023 general election, made the plea while addressing members of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Anambra State council, at the Godwin Ezeemo Secretariate, Awka, on Thursday, October 2, during the monthly Congress of the union.

Odili calls for continued APGA support

He asked the media practitioners to be fair in their critiques and reportage of the activities of the APGA led government in the state.

"Anambra is on election season," he said.

"Journalists should pay attention to what they put out there as news report, especially on what concerns the activities and achievements of the government of Anambra State. We should make sure that what we put out there to the public is correct, and reflects what is on the ground.

"Successive APGA governments in Anambra state contributed a lot in giving the state a facelift, and we cannot ignore this fact. Journalists contribute in giving a society a direction. In doing this, we must be careful to give account of the succeses of APGA led government, so that residents and voters will be well guided ahead of the governorahip election."

In an exclusive chat with Legit.ng correspondent, Chief Odili noted that the political party that has done well, and has refused to be corrupted is APGA.

He said:

"There were governments of different political parties in Anambra before APGA government. Since the return to democracy in 1999, there was a government that refused to pay teachers for a period of one year, leading to total collapse of academic activities, and total breakdown of public schools. There was a government that did not build any road infrastructure anywhere in Anambra, not to talk of building schools, hospitals and providing other vital democracy dividends.

"There was also a government that introduced rascality in this state, with its major actors abducting a sitting governor, burning down existing government house, destroying public amenities, and dragging the state's chief executive to a deity. All these happened in this state!

"But since APGA government came on board in Anambra, starting with Peter Obi, the state heaved a sigh of relief, and transformation began in every area. From His Excellency, Mr. Peter Obi, rebuilding of the state began through the Anambra Integrated Development Strategy (ANIDS). From there down to Governor Willie Obiano, now to Prof. Chukwuma Charles Soludo's government, it was transformation all through. Several hundreds of good road networks were built, schools, hospitals, and everything good came to Anambra state, and rebuilding of the state began in full force.

"Just in three years and few months, government of Prof. Chukwuma Soludo achieved a milestone in many areas - from construction of over 800km of roads across different communities, to rebuilding and equiping many general hospitals, provision of good security network through huge investments in the security of lives and property, rebuilding of schools and giving free education in all public schools, introduction of transparency in governance, and a whole lots more. Therefore, replacing this performing political party with any other for whatever reason means dragging the state back to the days of darkness and distress."

Anambra’s digital economy growth gains praise

Also in an exclusive interview with Legit.ng correspondent during the Congress, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Anambra State ICT Agency, Mr. Chukwuemeka Fred Agbata, said that the impact of digital connectivity in the state under the administration of Governor Soludo has been positive across board.

According to him, Anambra went out two years ago and claimed all the awards at the Council of States meeting for ICT, portraying the state as one of the best in ICT and digital economy.

"What we're witnessing in Anambra state in terms of infrastructural and economic developments, as well as in governance is a direct revolution regarding what is happening in technology with robust broad band connectivity, digital skills training, digital empowerment training for youths and civil servants, etc.

"Anambra is one of the states that will always come first in terms of transparency because the state publishes its information very timely through the aid of ICT and digital economy. Again, it will only get better for the state because we have a lot of young people taping into the digital space. The beauty of technology is that once you key into it and nourish it, it will grow and blossom," he said, adding that the introduction of digital economy under Soludo's government has minimised cases of scam and other related activities because of special seal they introduced that cannot be replicated.

Earlier in his lecturer during the NUJ congress, a former director in the state's civil service, Dr. Azubike Nkala, guided journalists on how to prepare for retirement and old age.

In the lecture with the theme:

"Beyond the paycheck: finding meaning in retirement through self improvement and entrepreneurship: a memo to journalists," Nkala identified that Anambra journalists are practicing "under excruciating landscape and under extremely poor salary scale and wage conditions." He said that the peculiarities of Anambra media environment is that of poor paychecks to journalists, with non existing pensions and gratuities, which he said, creates difficult hornstrung for journalists.

"In a state like Anambra, the condition of a retired journalist can be best described as miserable and debilitating," he said.

As way forward, Nkala warned individual journalists to start building capacity and aim for multiple sources of income for their families in order to overcome poverty situation and torn coast syndrome associated with Nigerian journalists over the years.

Speaking, chairman of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, Emeka Odogwu Emeka, PhD, thanked the visitors and urged members of the union to assimilate what they learnt from the visitors, and to make the best out of them.

The event was attended by dozens of NUJ members, former and present officials of the union, as well as a former Commissioner for Information and Culture in the state, Prof. Chinyere Stella Okunna.

Community contributes N15m for Governor Soludo

Earlier, Legit.ng reported that the Nando United Brothers Association (NUBA), has endorsed the second term bid of Governor Charles Soludo, ahead of the November 8 election.

The group said Soludo did marvelously well in infrastructural development of which Nando community benefitted.

They assured of mobilizing men and resources to ensure Soludo's second term aspiration success.

Source: Legit.ng