With $2,295 GDP per capital, Anambra would be 17th biggest economy in Africa, if it were a nation- Commissioner

….Says state is the most secured, fourth stable economy in Nigeria

By Bonaventure Melah

The Anambra State Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Mr. C Don Adinuba has said the state would have been the 17th biggest economy in Africa, if it were to be an independent nation.
He said such an economy would have put Anambra ahead of countries Ghana, Tanzania, Kenya, Senegal and the Democratic Republic of Congo, among many others.
The Commissioner stated these while speaking at a conference with the theme, “Criminality and Violence as Growing Phenomena in the 21st Century Globalised World” which was put together by the Grace Uzoma Okonkwo Foundation in collaboration with the Department of English & Literary Studies, University of Nigeria Nsukka.
At the event, which took place Monday, July 29, 2019, Adinuba said the recent national recession had minimum impact on Anambra state because the government, under the leadership of Governor Willy Obiano, introduced a stimulus package which caused the most vulnerable in the state to be exempted from tax and some other official payments, adding that the state’s upward salary review- the only State to do so in the last six years- as well as the regular salary payment ensured constant circulation of money in the State.
According to the commissioner, “The massive influx of investments into Anambra State, amounting to some $4 billion, is another significant factor in the impressive economic performance in recent times. To state the obvious, all these would not have been possible if the security situation in Anambra had not been exemplary.
“Our State is today adjudged the safest in the whole of Nigeria. Our new status is a huge leap from what the security situation was, less than six years ago. We were almost overrun by kidnappers and armed robbers, who were variously reported to be better equipped than most policemen,” he said.
“Our most successful men and women were compelled to abandon their communities. We saw entrepreneurs like Sir Elvis Emecheta from Abatete in Idemili North Local Government Area take their factories to places like Abuja. For the first time, we saw even custodians of our culture conduct their daughters’ traditional marriages in faraway places like Lagos. An example is Chief C. C. Ifeanyi, an Ichie in Ihiala and a former President of the Association of Anambra Town Unions (ASATU) in Lagos.
“Umunne m, I regret that even to this day, we have not known the whereabouts of the traditional ruler of Ihembosi in Ekwusigo Local Government Area who was kidnapped six years ago,” the Commissioner lamented.
Continuing, he said, “Within two years of assuming office, the present administration made, not just kidnapping, but also armed robbery other violent crimes practically a thing of the past. A lot of thinking and innovations went into making our beloved Anambra Nigeria’s safest State within a short period. This is a noble example of the difference which effective leadership makes in every society. Anambra is no longer just the safest State in Nigeria; it is the most peaceful, the most united and the most socially harmonious. Let the facts speak.”
According to Adinuba, Anambra’s current GDP stands at $13.77 billion out of Nigeria’s $375.8 billion which makes its economy the fourth healthiest among the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Narrating the processes that led to the current positive deviations in the state, he described events leading to the swearing in of Governor Willy Obiano for the second tenure as a ‘rainbow coalition,’ as it was those he described as ‘everyday people’ that made the Obiano, Nigeria’s first “21-Over-21” Governor, adding that those who ran against him in the historic March 17, 2017, gubernatorial polls. Like Godwin Ezeemo of the Progressive Party Alliance (PPA), was one of them.
“In the VIP Stand were also distinguished politicians from the so-called opposition parties like the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Quite a number came from outside the State like Senator Ken Nnamani, a former Senate President, as well as various state governors. Most leading entrepreneurs from Anambra State like Dr ABC Orjiako, Chief Allen Onyema and Mr Cosmas Maduka, who, as a matter of principle do not associate with any political party, were there in solidarity with- not just him- but the good people of Anambra State.
“It was the first time in recent decades in our country that leading members of the opposition, including the very candidates who contested against the winner, demonstrated such magnanimity and solidarity. It is needless to mention that, for the first time in our recent history candidates of the main political parties did not challenge the election result but rather wrote congratulatory messages to the winner,” he said.
Going down memory lane, Adinuba recalled that, “Hitherto, our politicians and candidates would go all the way to the Supreme Court on flimsy grounds. Olusegun Adeniyi, Chairman of Thisday Editorial Board, reported ex President Goodluck Jonathan as stating, in an interview for his book on why Dr. Jonathan lost the 2015 Presidential Elections that Anambra politicians used to obtain contradictory court judgments making each person the candidate of his or her party in an election. The court action in most cases lasted throughout the term of office in contention. But things are now different. A new spirit is at work in Anambra State,” Adinuba said.
He said that the new communal spirit in Anambra signifies another massive leap from the dark days of bitter partisan politics in the State, adding that the state is so peaceful and cohesive today that many have forgotten that this is the same place where, only a few years ago, a sitting governor was abducted by his own party men over political differences.
“This is the same State where the governor-elect was taken to a shrine in the dead of the night by his own party leaders to swear an oath of perpetual and uncritical allegiance to so-called godfathers over spoils of office. This is the same State where some politicians carried out mayhem for three days- destroying in broad daylight such institutions and facilities as Government House in Awka, the Governor’s Lodge in Onitsha, the House of Assembly Complex, the Judicial Complex and the Anambra Broadcasting Service. We thank God that our State is today an oasis of peace, tranquility and growth. A new spirit is, indeed, at work!
“The new spirit is reflected in the elegant and elaborate farewell which the Anambra State Government accorded former Vice President Alex Ekwueme (GCON) early last year. He was deserving of the great honour. Dr Ekwueme was one of the greatest statesmen ever produced on the African Continent. In rolling out the drums for him, the Anambra State Government, controlled by the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), did not mind that the fallen former Vice President was a member of a rival party (PDP), a party which he led and practically founded.
“In fact, Dr Ekwueme’s first child, Mrs. Chidi Onyemelukwe, practically ran against Gov. Willie Obiano in the November 17 election. She was the PDP deputy governorship candidate. Dr Ekwueme died only two days after the election. In the new Anambra State which is now evolving, we do not discriminate or harbour bitterness.
“The late Professor Ali Mazrui, the most published African scholar, would refer to the new Anambra State as a good example of what he called ‘Africa’s short memory of hate’. In the new Anambra State, we make reconciliation, peace, tranquility and harmony a way of life. This is why Obiano extended the Olive Branch on Friday, August 4, 2016, to his friend and predecessor, Chief Peter Greg Obi, CON, KSG, when it was reported in the media that the former governor was bearing a grudge against him over an issue which he still has not been able to comprehend.
“Chief Obiano chose to show the Olive Branch on an auspicious occasion: the burial mass of their common principal at Christ the King College in Onitsha, Reverend Father Nicholas Tagbo, which was attended by a large crowd. The governor was inspired by the golden words of Pope John Paul the Second expressed during his visit to Nigeria in March, 1998, to beatify Venerable Michael Cyprian Iwene Tansi, a proud son of Anambra State. It was a tense moment in Nigeria’s history. Chief M.K.O. Abiola, the winner of the June 12 1993 presidential election, and many other prominent Nigerians were in incarceration.
“In his homily entitled “Be Reconciled”, Pope John Paul admonished the General Sani Abacha military government and other African governments to reconcile their peoples, “All Nigerians must work to rid society of everything that offends the dignity of the human person or violates human rights. This means reconciling differences, overcoming ethnic rivalries, and injecting honesty, efficiency and competence into the art of governing… when we see others as brothers and sisters it is then possible to begin the process of healing the divisions within society and between ethnic groups. This is the reconciliation which is the path to true peace and authentic progress for Nigeria and for Africa. This reconciliation is not weakness or cowardice. On the contrary, it demands courage and sometimes even heroism. It is victory over self rather than over others,” Adinuba recalled.