Anambra State Governor, Chief
Willie Obiano, celebrated one year
of his swearing-in last Tuesday at a
colourful ceremony at Ekwueme
Square, Awka. In this chat with
select journalists, he outlined his
achievements in the last 365 days,
his differences with his
predecessor, Mr. Peter Obi and his
quest to make the All Progressives
Grand Alliance (APGA) a national
party.
By Clifford Ndujihe
On the efforts he is making to
strengthen APGA
They made me chairman of the
Board of Trustees (BoT) and leader of
the party. Since then I have the
enthusiasm to establish this party
first all over the South-East. We are
very likely to win Abia State
governorship election. I have gone
for rallies for Alex Otti twice. There
will be one more in Aba.
We are doing very well in Ebonyi
with Senator Agbo, our governorship
candidate. What is going for us
there is that he is from Ezzamgbo
and that is where they have the
voting population.
We are also going to do very well in
Imo. Don’t forget Imo was APGA
until Governor Rochas Okorocha
moved to APC. We are still there
strongly.
The other thing that is making us a
national party is the interest shown
by Nasarawa State. That is an area
we can also win. Labaran Maku is
with us. When he could not get the
ticket in the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) he joined APGA. He
visited me once here. He has a
strong opposition but he is doing
very well.
Then of course, there is Zamfara
State where Sani Shinkafi is running
for the governorship.
For the first time, I went to
Abeokuta, our governorship
candidate, Professor Bamgboye, is
doing well. He was a key fellow of
the PDP until he lost the primary.
So, under my watch, we are going to
spread out from Anambra. We are
going to have senators all over the
place, some members of the House
of Representatives here and there
and that is a starting point. What
APGA is looking for is leadership. I
believe they found in me somebody
that can say something and do it.
That is the fellow I am.
When I took over, there were certain
things I gave to APGA people-jobs,
contracts, etc. To work for us you
must register as APGA. My
predecessor ran it differently. He
was the only one that brought out
money and everything revolved
around him. We are doing well. I am
quite confident that the results of
the coming election will be different
from what we used to have.
On recognising Peter Obi at the
anniversary event, their
differences, Obi’s absence and
whether he was invited
Obiano acknowledging cheers from
his supporters at a recent function
in the state
FILE PHOTO: Obiano acknowledging
cheers from his supporters at a
recent function in the state
We invited former Governor Peter
Obi. On personal note, we don’t
have any problem. He was three
years my junior in school. He was my
chairman at the bank. Honestly, his
vote made me an executive director
at Fidelity bank. He led the team
that invited me to join his
campaign. We are not fighting for
anything. He chose to go to PDP and
I am APGA. That is an ideological
difference, that is the main problem.
I can’t see him come here and say
APGA people should vote for PDP.
We sent an IV to him in his house in
Onitsha. He was there that evening.
I want to assure you that on
personal ground, we don’t have any
problem but we have ideological
problem because he believes that he
has finished with APGA and APGA is
gone. Then I assured him that under
my watch APGA will be better and
bigger than he left it. That is the
motivation that moves me to do
many things for APGA to prove a
point that you cannot rock the boat
that made you. You want to sink it
as you leave so they can say you
were in this party and when you left,
it died.
On the presence of uniformed
people on the streets cleaning the
environment….
We are putting permanent structures
in place. We are hiring seven
companies, dividing them among the
state. Before now, we were running
it ad-hoc. After the election, we will
begin to collect sanitation levies. We
did it for six months free for people
to see the benefits. If we now ask
them to pay I think they should be
able to pay.
On allegations that he is planning
to join the All Progressives
Congress (APC)
It is not possible. I don’t know how
to express it. It is absolute rubbish.
His dream for Awka as state capital
I started with setting up the Awka
Capital Territory Development
Authority headed by Chike Okonkwo,
renowned in Urban Development. He
worked with Malam Nasir el-Rufai in
Abuja. I thought that his experience
can be brought to bear here.
Supporting him are are some very
bright guys like the Managing
Director, Michael Okonkwo from
Orumba South among other people.
Okonkwo studied in the United
States. They have done a booklet on
what we should do and should not
do in Awka, which is the starting
point. We have done aerial mapping
of the whole state. But we started
with Awka so that you can use GPS,
direct the roads, see development,
etc.
If you look at Awka, you can see
three flyovers springing up. When
those flyovers are done, they will
look like the hanging bridge in
London. It will bring out the
aesthetics of the place.
We are in the process of selecting
somebody that will design Awka
capital territory. We foreclosed
Nigerians, we want them to bring
guys from Dubai, Kigali, Seoul, US.
When they come, they will draw
what nobody has drawn. They will
draw things from their dream. Each
time I say it, people will say ‘where
will you get the money?’ I will say,
‘do it first.’ They will draw a super
structure. I will tell them, ‘don’t
imitate anybody, just give me the
best in your profession better than
Dubai or any place you can think of.’
By the time they finish, they will
superimpose it on what we have now
and that will determine what areas
we widen with minimal
compensation.
On his increment of salary amid
dwindling economic fortunes
That is why I am an accountant. We
are increasing our internally
generated revenue. I met N500m per
month. I have been moving to N1.1
and N1.2 billion and targeting N3.3
billion monthly. After the elections,
there are a few things I will do and
the money will come. What I did
actually is all about adjustments.
The people in the local governments
earn more than the people in the
state so we just balanced their
salary.
His achievements in the last one
year
We have flushed out kidnappers
from Anambra State. We have cut off
their weapons supply lines and
sealed off their supply routes. We
have pulled down their physical and
psychological empires.
We have laid a solid foundation for
the provision of reliable electricity
that will help us recover our Midas
touch. Late last year, we concluded
arrangements with UD Independent
Petroleum Production Company
(UDIPPCO) to build a gas-powered
plant that will generate 80 mega-
watts of electricity. Similarly, barely
fortnight ago, we signed on Falcon
Corporation Limited to build another
gas-powered plant that will generate
100 mega-watts of electricity.
More importantly, we realized that
we needed a platform through which
we would transform the economic
and commercial landscape of our
dear state. To facilitate this, we set
up the Anambra State Investment
Promotion and Protection Agency
(ANSIPPA) on 15th May, 2015. The
results have been tremendous.
Investors today recognize ANSIPPA as
a one-stop business and investment
centre that coordinates all
investment related activities across
all arms of government in the state.
ANSIPPA is led by a Governing
Council which boasts of over 300
cumulative years of experience in
development finance, investment
banking, investment promotion and
policy formulation.
With the efforts of ANSIPPA,
Anambra is currently Nigeria’s
number one investment destination.
With over US$2.0 billion attracted
from 16 major investors in the past
12 months, we are well on our way to
achieving our economic mission. So
far, we have attracted over $660m of
investment to this sector. Some of
these investments are:
* A $150m investment in rice
production and processing in Anaku,
Ayamelum Local Government Area
(LGA) by Coscharis Group.
* Over $160m investment in the
defunct Omor Rice Mill and 5,000
hectares farmland for rice cultivation
and processing by Joseph Agro of the
Aiteo Group.
* The $220 Tomato and Cassava
production and processing farms in
Omasi Community, Ayamelum LGA
owned by Ekcel Farms Limited.
* The $40m investment by Grains
and Silos Limited to construct an
ultra-modern grains storage facility
to support our thriving brewery
industry in Onitsha and other parts
of south Eastern Nigeria.
* Delfarm Limited, who signed a $
50m agreement between Songhai
Regional Centre, Benin and the
Anambra State Government, will
transform the farming settlements of
Igbariam into another Songhai
agricultural marvel of Nigeria.
To ensure that our local farmers are
well positioned to take advantage of
the agriculture revolution in the
State, we have organized our farmers
into 1,500 cooperatives. We have
also equipped them with 100
Tractors, 45,000 tons of high-yielding
rice seedlings, 18,000 tons of highly
improved maze seedlings and 700
metric tons of fertilizers. Before the
end of this year, we would have
prepared over 1,000 hectares of land
in readiness for mechanized farming.
Five days ago, we also commissioned
the 1st Agricultural Training Center
in Anambra in Mgbakwu. 250 youths
are currently undergoing training in
this facility in the areas of staple
crop cultivation and processing,
aquaculture, piggery and
horticulture.
Our efforts in agriculture will enable
our state produce over 300,000
metric tonnes of rice, 150,000 metric
tonnes of cassava and 240,000 metric
tonnes of tomatoes in the next 24
months.
www.vanguardngr.com/2015/03/my-differences-with-obi-obiano/

Obiano is a Born Leader..i used to say d only born leader I know is Thiago Silva of PSG buh now I know anoda...d rest na rulers





Thank U Obiano...we igbos are proud of U..


Keep up d good works...U got me wishing I was an Anambarian

The only reason why I hate this man is that, his developing his state rapidly...kudos jor.....

This is a governor with vision and foresight, i ve got this feeling that this man achievement will eclipse all the governors in Nigeria.

Snake na hin dhe born snake, pdp obi passed d mantle of leadership to dis man. Pdp cum apga transforming anambra state since d days of peter obi!

........a metador,a wizard of persuation,a man of intergrity,an achiever,a true son of the soil!
Anambra adigo mma.

Obiano... Four hearts! Dats too much heart for one man! Nna dah flyover sh!t dey trip me first, Awka willl soon become a destination, plust if APGA pulls through in dis election my cousin go become house of rep member for sure. Hon. Ifeanyi Ibezi reppin idemili north/south constituency gbam!

Anambra State is moving in desired direction.
Thanks to the present govt of APGA led by the master strategist of our time, Chief Willie Obiano.

Great job as a National Leader but dont forget Aguleri and Umuleri...

No electricity in most parts of Umuleri in the last three years ...please do something

VcStunner:
Obiano... Four hearts! Dats too much heart for one man! Nna dah flyover sh!t dey trip me first, Awka willl soon become a destination, plust if APGA pulls through in dis election my cousin go become house of rep member for sure. Hon. Ifeanyi Ibezi reppin idemili north/south constituency gbam!

Abannaa! Ndelu?

News like this makes me proud of my State. In fact, if you ask me, the only notable achievement of Peter Obi is giving us a worthy successor. Somebody who can right all his wrongs and give the State a face lift.

Sorry, Idemili is APC.

VcStunner:
Obiano... Four hearts! Dats too much heart for one man! Nna dah flyover sh!t dey trip me first, Awka willl soon become a destination, plust if APGA pulls through in dis election my cousin go become house of rep member for sure. Hon. Ifeanyi Ibezi reppin idemili north/south constituency gbam!

Ninapha:


Abannaa! Ndelu?

nwanne I dey o

"obiano" - "obi" = "ano"

read this on the vanguard website this morning and was really impressed.