Soludo tackling the fate of Anambra roads

By Nkiru Nwagbo

In the past two years and nine months, Gov Charles Soludo of Anambra state has turned the twenty one local government areas of the state into a huge Construction Site crisscrossing the communities and village in a bid towards making Anambra a Smart City state.

Recently the Ministry of Works embarked on a media tour of road projects both completed and ongoing which indeed showcased the determination of the Anambra state to link up all parts of the state.

Speaking earlier the Anambra state Commissioner for Works Engr Ifeanyi Okeoma noted that the vision of the Charles Soludo-led administration is to make the state a destination point, rather than a departure point as “it has been in the past”.he said.

He stated that in an effort to achieve the goal of making Anambra a livable place, the state government had awarded 621.445 kilometers of roads over the last two years and eight months, with 326 kilometers already completed and others near completion.

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He future added that government is working to open up the state for investors, and with the current progress, Anambra will return home to invest, creating opportunities for the youth.

“We are seriously building the Government House, and in the next few weeks, it will be operational,” he said.

Aside from the ongoing road construction, the government has also awarded and completed several legacy projects across the three senatorial districts. The government is building a water park and amusement park in Awka, addressing the lack of recreational facilities in the state capital.

“We are taking Anambra State to greater heights, where every Anambrian will be proud to live and do business. We are building Anambra State where the poverty level will reduce in the next few years. By the end of the first tenure of this administration, there will be less poverty, and our people outside the state will begin to return home and do business,” he said.

Meanwhile, in the past thirty months of Soludo’s administration, over 621.448 kilometers of roads have been awarded, and 326 kilometers have been completed.

About 104 roads have been awarded, with more than 60 completed, while the rest are at various stages of completion.

Among the areas where construction has been completed is the formerly neglected Okpoko community in Ogbaru Local Government Area.

Okpoko, which once lacked roads, is now accessible, and it now has a functional hospital, boreholes, and constant electricity.

The Mmiata-Nzam road, which was previously impassable, is now motorable. Nzam, an Igala-speaking community in Anambra State known for agricultural produce, had to travel through Delta State via Onitsha to reach Awka.

One of the residents of Nzam, a tricycle rider named Michael Jacob, said the new roads have helped a lot because, before, they could hardly move to the next community due to poor roads.

He commended the governor for his attention to their needs.

This is as the state Commissioner for Works, Ifeanyi Okoma disclosed that the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) led government had awarded a total of 621. 649 kilometers of roads out of which 316 kilometers have been completed while others are at various stages of being completed.

He said Soludo’s 50 years vision for development of Anambra aims at building a livable and prosperous home land, and to move the state from a departure lounge to a destination centre.

At the Awka Capital Solution Fun City the project has reached advanced stages with all the facilities being put in place which Awka residents and citizens described as magical.

A citizen, Samuel Igwedinma Nwaofor (Ozo Ebubechukwu) and the All Progressives Grand Alliance State House of Assembly candidate for Awka South 1 constituency during the 2023 election, said, “Our governor, Prof. Charles Soludo, has done exceedingly well, and has done so much in Oliver Twist wants some more.

“The people in Awka keep on emphasising that he has done so much, but for the area of insecurity, which is being tackled at the moment.

”Nobody knows what lies ahead, because so many people want to come back home to invest in Awka as a result of what the governor is doing.

“For example, just a few kilometres away from here is the Fun City that is coming up; nobody will come to enjoy the Fun City where there is no security.

”But if there’s enough security, you walk freely at every point in time. He is doing extensively well” he said.

At Onitsha commercial city a total of thirty roads have either been completed or are at various stages of completion cutting across Onitsha North and South local government areas.

The Secretary of Onitsha local government area, Paul Onuachalla, lauded Governor Soludo for his infrastructural strides that have opened the long abandoned Fegge, Niger, Iweka, Port Harcourt roads, and other densely populated areas of the commercial town.

He noted that all the listed roads were in bad shape before Soludo ascended the top seat at the Agu Awka Government House, but expressed gratitude that the roads are now back to life with a beehive of activities.

Onuachalla assured that Onitsha South local government residents and people within and around the council would reciprocate the kind gesture of the APGA-led government by voting massively for his second term bid come 2025.

At Okpoko town one of the slums in Anambra state the picture is different compared to what it used to be in the past . about twenty roads have been completed with street lights and public water boreholes located at different strategic points in the town.

Also Okpoko town for the first time is having access to good medical services following the competition of the Okpoko General Hospital.

The hospital which was commissioned in March this year has been rendering services to the people of the area with well trained medical personnel employed .

Apparently it is indeed clear that Gov Charles Soludo may have through this massive road construction booked his second term come November 2025.

For his political opponents they really need to work extra hard to convince most Anambra electorates about what they can do differently to unseat the Anambra Road Master Gov Charles Soludo.

As according to Engr Ifeanyi Okeoma Soludo’s fifty years vision for development of Anambra aims at building a livable and prosperous home land and to move the state from a departure lounge to a destination centre.