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Governor Obiano Of Anambra State |
By
Comrade Aloysius Attah
Anambra is a state blessed in
quantum with pace setters, trailblazers and the finest in all. No wonder when
the elites and best minds of the state became spectators and watched arms
akimbo in 2003 as people of questionable characters and educational
qualifications took the center stage and became godfathers rapaciously
installing both the executive and legislative arms of the government
single handedly with Aso Rock backing, it was like a moment that a collective
spell was cast on everybody, the days of the locust. But because no
condition is permanent, the journey to Anambra’s redemption began after the
reclamation of the stolen mandate of Mr. Peter Obi on March 17, 2006.
Obi while in the saddle of
leadership had his own strengths and weaknesses but as he was about to hand
over power to Obiano on March 17, 2014, what was incontestable was the fact
that even the blind and the deaf could testify that the state has made
significant progress and has been taken to a higher pedestal under him.
Obi presented to us Gov. Obiano and
Dr. Nkem Okeke and with their academic qualifications and backgrounds,
expectations were high that if the tempo of Obi’s development style was
sustained, Anambra will surpass even the oil producing states as there will be
a solid and enduring turn around in all sectors.
Obiano also offered hope when he
came with the slogan “Forward Ever” and the 4 C’ s of Continuity,
Complete , Commission and Commence new projects.
The Continuity aspect was maintained
partly in some projects like the construction and beautification of the Upper
Iweka axis and some other road projects started by Obi. Remarkable
consolidation in security leading to the gradual return of night life in the
state and efforts to revitalize agriculture are all commendable steps by
the Obiano administration but going by the happenings in recent times and
certain actions of the his administration, the CLO can say that Anambra people
have boarded “One Chance bus” and unless the driver is redirected, the
passengers will be bruised badly by the time the bus applies its brakes, that
is if by luck, it didn’t end in a ditch after a crash but we say God forbid.
Former Governor, Mr. Peter Obi in
his handover note on March 17, 2014 summarized the state’s financial statement
as at March 3rd 2014 as “Local investment N27,000, 000,000, Foreign
Currency Investment of 156 million US Dollars and certified State/MDA
balances of N28,165,985,574.06 as well as FGN approved refund of N10
Billion totaling N91,665,985,574.06 (Before the deductions for March Salary and
other charges ). Obi said that the financial statements will supplement any
gaps related to financial matters that are not included in the handover
report. The former Governor concluded that the state as at the time he
was handing over was strong financially, economically and indeed psychologically.
He added that there was sanity, political civility and overall decorum which
was far from where he took over in 2003 saying that Anambra under his
administration has shown that with clear vision, proper planning and frugal
management of her resources, a lot can be achieved.
Obi also while also speaking during
the thanksgiving service preceding the handover ceremony at St. Patrick’s
Cathedral, Awka made it clear that he did not sign any pact for
godfather/godson arrangement with Obiano and for that reason, Anambraraians
should hold Obiano responsible if he fails to perform as the machinery has been
prepared for him to do well.
As Obiano took over the reins of
power, he never punctured the financial statements presented by Obi and also
never denied the documental evidence backing Obi’s financial records which was
later made public by some online media platforms.
But settling down to work, Obiano by
his actions and inactions has shown that he is not only in a hurry to discard
all the vestiges of his predecessor in office but he is a direct opposite
of Obi in prudence and management of human and material resources.
His convoy is one of the noisiest in
the South East; the office of the first lady has been created with its own
distractions and meddlesomeness in governance. Not only that, political
appointees soon spiraled and became over bloated that as at the last count,
there are nearly 200 aides if not more and still counting.
Among the aides are
cases of duplicity where there will be about 4 Special Assistants on a
particular sector including the most ridiculous style of appointing an SA on
Fish and SA 11 on Entertainment known as Ogbu Oja (the flute
blower). Millions of tax payers money are frittered away weekly in
maintaining front page appearance in some national dailies and other public
relations with sometimes funny stories lacking substance planted therein.
The governor and his media aides abhor anything negative publicity like
plague while authors of stories they felt was not written in their favor
are regarded as enemies of the government.
Now before one could say –Akpokuedike,
the 2014 budget which was prepared under Obi’s regime was jerked to N145.3
billion in April 2014. As if that was not enough, on 2nd September,
2014, the state House of Assembly passed another supplementary budget of
N13,769,000,000 (Thirteen Billion, seven hundred and sixty nine million naira)
into law. Investigations by Anambra CLO revealed that the initial
supplementary budget was N13.5 billion but the extra N300, 000 million was
allegedly added as pocket money for the legislators who allegedly collected the
cash upfront of N10 million each before they could pass the bill.
The
2015 Budget of Anambra State:
The budget is described as the most
important macro-economic policy tool of any government but when the government
begins to play Kalo, kalo with such instruments, the citizens are in for
bigger trouble.
On Monday, 24th November, 2014,
Chief Obiano, the state Governor presented the 2015 Appropriation bill to the
House of Assembly. Tagged “Budget for Wealth Creation and Social Cohesion”, the
state intends to spend N164.496 billion. Out of this, N110.979billion is mapped
out for capital expenditure while N53.517 billion is for recurrent
expenditure. Breakdown from the budget shows that the state is expecting
total earnings of N102.039billion in the 2015 fiscal year- N48.040
billion in statutory allocations and the most annoying, N54billion from
Internally Generated Revenue.
The Governor noted that there have
been a decline in the federal statutory allocations due to falling oil prices
but he intends to make up the shortfall in the budget through capital
receipts of N112.459billion but yet failed to explain what he meant by capital
receipts during the presentation.
From verifiable records, the highest
Anambra state has realized in the fiscal year for IGR is N8.831 billion at
N880million per month but now, they are jerking the expected revenue to N54
billion, N6 billion naira higher than the Federal statutory allocation and at
N4.6billion per month in 2015.
The grim situation is that
government wants to inflict untold hardship on the citizenry by jerking up all
revenue windows with harsh price tags beyond the reach of the people.
While many concerned citizens raised
eyebrows over the budget and called for a proper scrutiny of the entire
document, the Obiano government spent millions of tax payer’s money again
taking center spread adverts in various newspapers analyzing the budget with
several graphic details whose accuracy remains in doubt.
In continuation of the ongoing rub
my back, I rub yours relationship between the executive and the legislature,
the House against public outcry that trailed the appropriation bill speedily
passed into law the bogus budget thereby confirming the insinuation in several
quarters that the governor allegedly hosted them before presenting the budget
and allegedly promised them another N10million each if the budget is passed
within 2 days.
We maintain that the 2015
Budget of Anambra State as passed into law is frivolous, bogus,
unrealistic, untenable and drips of several signals that Anambra is now back on
the path of hedonism, years of the locust and no one should be surprised if the
state begins to raise bonds and external borrowings very soon. The
capital receipts mentioned by the Governor in the budget presentation are
simply pseudonyms for borrowing.
As if the budget drama was not
enough, the people were treated to another circus show recently during the
decoration of promoted senior police officers in Anambra state where the
governor presented 20 horses to the police command for crowd control.
Shortly after the presentation, news
from insider sources revealed that the horses were actually 100 in number and
were procured from Niger Republic. According to the story, the horses were
penciled for sharing among the 21 local governments, governor’s lodge, the
police in Awka, Onitsha and Nnewi while a Special Assistant (SA) will be
appointed to take charge of the horses apart from 21 people sent to Niger
Republic for special training on handling the animals all at a whooping sum of
N85million.
The Christmas decoration around
Bridge Head, Upper Iweka, DMGS Roundabout and Awka was also reportedly executed
at the cost of some say N67million naira or N670M as the case may be.
Surprisingly, since this report came out, the government through any of its
media aides has never denied, refuted nor clarified its position on the issues
while the public deserves to know the true picture thereby lending credibility
to the news report.
All these and more are pointers to
the fact that Anambra is fast becoming a classical example of how not to govern
a state but the dangerous thing in this is the fact that sycophants are
praising the governor to high heavens that he is not only on track but that he
is the best thing that has happened to Anambra State.
(Excerpts from the 25 page report of
the 2014 End year/UDHR Report of the Civil Liberties Organization (CLO),
Anambra State Branch. 08035090548, attahcomrade@yahoo.com)
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