OreMI22:


The one-size-fits-all copy-and-paste approach to everything is what makes some analyses faulty. You or someone with a similar name argued something similar that Anambra airport would not be viable since it was so close to Asaba. In fact suggested that since Abakaliki airport was more than 100KM from Enugu airport, it was a more viable airport. The problem with such an analysis is that you based them on just one line of thinking "distance between them" and not the even more important factor which is the population and economic activities in the area to support even 3 airports. There is a very popular saying that has held for ages "If you build it, they will come!"

Agulu Lake Hotel was not a waste. If you like to provide free Keke to every location for the guests, it does not take away that it is located a little far away from any major city center. It is a resort and serves a certain niche for people to just go there and relax. That is why the effort should be around creating unique fun activities around the hotel such as boating, water parks, etc, to create its eco-system and drive tourism to the hotel and location. Not thinking about unsustainable ways to waste money hiring free buses or the guests to attend nightclubs in Awka and back to compensate for not being located in Awka.

Now all the hotels you see springing up in Asaba are largely due to Onitsha having so many economic activities but very very few hotels. Therefore, hotel investors rightly reasoned that building in Asaba would still put whoever needs to have a transaction in Onitsha within a reasonable distance. The hotels in Awka will not just grow the Awka economy, but will also tap into this good hotels deficit in Onitsha that is currently solely enjoyed by Asaba at the moment. Someone mentioned that Awka needs 3 five-star hotels and he is right! The truth is that there are many hotels in Awka but not so standard. They are mainly nosy nightclubs at night and are mainly used as brothels for hookup girls. I know this first-hand because is visit Awka regularly and stay in many hotels in the city. Apart from the BON hotel and about 2 or 3 more, we don't have any decent places to stay with a family in Awka. Many Awka hotels with big buildings are filthy, with roaches in the rooms, dirty-over used towels, and not even basic wifi! I am glad that Parktonian and Geo Gold are gradually improving their standards and even now offer basic services such as wifi for their guests. If you have never been to other cities even within Nigeria such as even Owerri hotels, you will not understand this deficiency because most people in our locale view a hotel as some type of eatery or nightclub. Not a place for high-quality lodging to attract decent tourists to the city.

I am glad that Soludo has a mindset that is different from the typical local governors. Who only think about how to compete with the next local enterprise. Soludo seems fixated on the future and how to establish what will make Awka attractive to global tourists and not something that is just a little better than existing local hotels based on "Awka" standards. That is truly something I have not seen in many Nigerian governors who compete among themselves in mediocrity. I see Soludo's vision as the equivalence of the vision of Obasanjo in 1976 when he declared that Nigeria would build a brand new Federal Capital Territory in Abuja that would be a modern city comparable to similar capital cities in Europe and America. The good thing was that he meant it. Otherwise, all Abuja roads would have been designed like Lagos roads of single carriage roads at the time, and houses would be allowed so close to the roads just like in Lagos. Of course, Soludo does not have the funds to achieve all he says. But Like Rwandan President Paul Kagame who knew in 1995 that Rwanda didn't have the money to build a modern capital city in Kigali. But it could achieve greatness eventually if it begins ensuring that every new road has walkways and trees planted in the road median etc. Every major hotel built by the government was designed to attain the best global standards. Even when people criticized him at that time for aiming "too high". Today we have seen the new Kigali city emerge even though Rwanda had no oil or any tangible resources to fund its emergence quickly. But just ensuring that every new project was done in the best global standard would eventually get you there. I have written a long response. But it takes such long responses to make the very fine point that it takes a visionary leader with a modern mindset and not just the available resources as the most critical ingredient in developing a society into a world-class society. From America to Japan to China to Singapore to Malaysia to Rwanda to Dubai etc, it took just one visionary at a point in their history to decide that they had to leapfrog into a modern society regardless of their income at the time. They had the idea and gradually followed their plan until it happened. That is what I am hoping that Soludo will be for Anambra and Southeast Nigeria.

In summary, we have to think higher than our current environmental situation if we hope to become better and achieve a greater future that we will no longer be called "Third World" or something less than the best. We have to aim to be in the league of the best. We can do it. So let's support those leaders who dare to dream big even when the resources seem not to be immediately available.

The ICC should be fully utilized and busy before you build a hotel otherwise that hotel will be a waste of money and that's speaking as a businessman. The location of the ICC itself is isolated from the town. If the ICC is lonely few will want to lodge in its grounds.

ANSG should focus on utilizing the ICC fully by partnering with a proper events management company not one connected to government officials. Ensure one event per week.

Comparing Awka to Nairobi or Kigali is exaggeration. Nairobi hosts UNEP and has for over 40 years been a regional center for aid agencies. There are over 50,000 whites living in NBI more than in Lagos and Abuja combined. Kigali in the aftermath of genocide had over 100 foreign NGOs working there and the country receives billions in aid support.

Awka has to design it's own narrative within the regional and national context. If I were ANSG, the play should be the premier business services city in the East.

What do I mean by business services? Awka should be hosting regional banking and finance, insurance, telecommunications, research institutes, advertising, ICT firms. Basically catering to the knowledge economy.

None of the Eastern states are doing this particularly well. Awka would need to show a high level of sophistication to attract this type of activity and the government has its work cut out to stamp out cultism, the chaotic transport system, the unruly market in the center of the town.

Soludo at least is building roads that showcase sophistication but he has to tackle the transport sector and deal with unruly hawkers.

OreMI22:
I heard that Soludo also wants to build a 10-storey 5-star hotel in the capital city.

I wish he would use the structure to complement the Awka International Conference Center (ICC) by building the hotel within the area reserved for a 5-star hotel inside the ICC. Although Agulu Lake Resort is a very standard hotel, because it's far from most things, it attracts only those who specifically want to go and sleep in Agulu. A 5-star hotel in the middle of town means that people could easily lodge there and still enjoy the benefits of going to Solution Fun City or Ibiza nightclub at night and still get back to their hotel room without risking their lives by driving far from the city at night. This is the huge disadvantage of why people only go to Agulu Lake to stay there and not really to commute to Awka at night from there.

Such a big 5-star hotel inside the ICC center will give life to the ICC and the venue will quickly become the best events center in the southeast. Globally, major hotels are situated very close to International Conference Centers to make them attractive to host international conferences where people don't have to worry about transportation to get to the conference venue. There is accommodation of more than 200+ rooms and a world-class international convention center really within walking distance from where people could lodge.

In an era of declining revenue it would be foolhardy to build another hotel and one that will render the huge investment in Agulu Lake wasted.

Agulu Lake should be maintained however the government should provide free buses to bus guests between that place and ICC and other parts of Awka. It is less than 15 minutes from the core of Awka. After all the distance of hotels in Lekki to VI is almost the same.

My concern is why the police continue to block one lane of Zik Avenue near Amawbia roundabout rendering that axis a traffic mess while Soludo does nothing? They should build a new Police HQ in the Executive Business District to complement the governors lodge, state and federal secretariat and free up Zik Ave.

The other hard decision he should take is to relocate Eke Awka. The size of trailers that enter that market on narrow roads says that it is incapable of handling the type of activity happening there. The market has become a wholesale warehouse rather than just a retail place. There are too many shops squeezed into a tiny space.

Unbiased1:


All these things you mentioned are good for the growth of Igboland but I'm still not comfortable with Igboland not having, at least, the 3 major assets that sustain every economy which are electricity, fuel and telecommunications. I hope our industrialists look into it because even if we have 1 million industries that employ millions of our people all the Nigerian government needs to do to kill our growth is to shutdown the grid delivering electricity to us and order NNPC to end delivery of fuel to the SE and watch how our millions of industries will shutdown within a week.

The federal government can't do same to the south west because the SW will immediately take control of the Powerplants in their region, they have the worlds largest oil refinery, infact, the South West is currently the most structurally independent region in this country and I respect them for that. They have mastered the Art of using every opportunity they have to attract the most critical infrastructure and industries to their land. Obasanjo built a gas pipeline to Ogun state to power the industries there, Osinbanjo used his influence to ensure the railway in the south west is working fully, they quickly provided land for Dangote to build the world's largest refinery in Lagos which is the smallest state in the country.

I commend those Igbo sons who are building their industries at home and I know that one day we will have those critical assets I mentioned earlier and I hope they come fast. There is small hope now that Imo and Abia state governments have said that they are working on seaports in their various states. I just hope they were serious about it because eastern governors are more of talking with less action. Thank God we have Airports . With 3 standard international airports even though they barely get international flights, there is stil hope.

On electricity, SE is not badly off. Abia has Alaoji power plant and Geometric IPP both roughly 800 MW combined. Enugu has the old Oji power plant which can be rescuscitated.

For refineries, the SE doesn't have much crude feedstock. Imo has a small 5000 BPD modular refinery in Egbema as does Anambra in Aguleri. People hail Dangote but he built a refinery that will be doing a lot of importing of crude. NNpc cannot supply half of it's capacity.


As for telecommunications capacity, the SE is one of the best connected parts of Nigeria. The fibre backbone from MTN, GLO touches all major cities.

Again the sooner we have an industrial plan the faster we prioritize supporting infrastructure. Anambra, Imo, Abia have a lot of gas. But operating in silos does not help. The Shell gas pipeline in Imo can easily be extended to feed Asaba, Onitsha, Nnewi, Awka which are less than 60 miles. Obasanjo connected Ota to the WAGPCO for the same distance.

Unbiased1:


How do you explain that the governor of Enugu built an oil farm in Ogun state when the only oil farm in Enugu (and the east in general) is not functioning? The issue with Geometric Power had to do with both electricity generation and transmission. The federal government has provided the license for states and other independent contractors to build power plants. What is stopping those in Igboland from building their own? Egbin Powerplant in Lagos is indigenous, there is another indigenous power plant in Ogun. These are just private Powerplants excluding those built by the governments of Ogun and Lagos. In the East, we don't have state owned neither do we have private owned and you are blaming the Federal Government? I beg to defer from what you said about the Federal Government being the main thing hindering our progress, we Ndigbo are our own problems. If the Federal Government could not stop Anambra from building an International Airport, why do you think they will stop Anambra from building a power plant? If Anambra can budget billions to build an Airport, why can't Anambra budget billions to build, at least, a 100mw power plant? What is stopping that daft Imo state from doing same? With all the natural gas we have? Disgrace.

Egbin was built by the FGN, Omotosho and Papalanto power plants in Ogun was built by the FGN with Chinese loan.

Geometric was the first attempt at a private power station and was blocked by Emeka Offor who claimed that when he bought 40% of EEDC, Aba was included despite an earlier agreement between FGN and Geometric.

I think what ails the SE is industrial development. Industry traps capital and creates massive job opportunities. Innoson motors alone generates 10-30 billion in Nnewi. If Nnewi had just 50 companies of that size it would be a massive economy. All the cash generated would fuel retail, housing, schools, etc. There is a reason China looks like USA.

Industry should be Anambras priority and they should learn from the Ethiopians of how to go about it through industrial layout designed and funded by the Chinese.
https://www.oceansking.com/product/88.html

Anambra should have industrial parks for textiles and garments, electrical components, auto parts and integrated circuits.

The vision should be 200 companies providing 100,000 jobs. It would massively boost the state.

IGBOSON1:


Impressive....will compliment the state airport nicely!

Hope it gets built though!

Obi Jackson and other Anambra billionaires should be less parochial. Why not build that hotel and golf course near Awka where it would draw more visitors than okija?

In fact it could be part of a broader Anambra plan to make the Awka metro area a conferencing, hospitality and services destination.

Less prominent towns like Okija makes sense for schools, hospitals, light industry or agroprocessing.

Abufo:



That is like 5 - 10 million dollars raised for roads ........its not a small sum but it will not scratch the surface of our road deficit! Sales tax is the only way to raise sustainable funding for capital projects..........the whole sales tax thing must be designed by IT experts! Who says we cannot deploy AIrtificial Intelligence to make the work easier!

5-10 million dollars will build you 15-30 urban roads not the measly one or two built now.

Most urban roads are less than 300m in length.

osita76:
See Why Gov Soludo Is The Most Prudent Governor Now In Nigeria.

In the first nine months of 2023, Abia spent N17.61bn on housing/rent allowance, meal subsidy, entertainment allowance, wardrobe allowance, social benefits, pension, gratuity, internet access charge, telephone charges, local and international travels, office stationeries, maintenance services, consulting and professional services, fuel, financial charges, miscellaneous expenses, and others.

In the first two quarters, Akwa Ibom spent N92.54bn on allowances and social contributions, social benefits, travel and transport, utilities such as electricity chargers, Internet access charges, and more, materials and supplies such as office stationery, drugs, laboratory and medical supplies, maintenance, training, and more. So far, the state has spent N10 million on hosting/mobilisation of political associations and interest groups, N841.83m on entertainment at meetings, and more.

Adamawa has so far spent N40.90bn on non-salary expenditure as of the end of Q3, 2023. Part of its recurrent expenditure which includes allowances and social contribution includes N1.29bn on furniture allowance, N1.19bn on travel and training including domestic and foreign, N214.37m on office stationery and consumables, and N413.32m on refreshments and meals.

Anambra’s non-salary spend was N15.17bn as of the end of Q2, 2023;

Bauchi was N70.25bn. By the end of Q2, 2023, Bayelsa had spent N58.26 on non-salary recurrent expenditure. These expenses include N2.18bn on training and travel, N1.81bn on welfare packages, N78.60m on burial logistics, N1.48bn on town hall meetings expenses, N48.20m on praise night/thanksgiving expenses, N17.70m on marriage ceremony support, and more.

Benue’s non-salary spend was N34.44bn. It spent N387.55m on special day celebrations, N434.17m on welfare packages, N7.06bn on security votes, N1.23bn on materials and supplies such as office stationery, books, and more.

Borno’s non-salary spend as of the end of Q3, 2023 was N32.63bn, Cross Rivers was N43.71bn, Delta was N152.15bn, Ebonyi was N30.91bn, and Ebo was N41.11bn. As of the end of Q2, 2023, Ekiti’s non-salary spend was N31.33bn. Part of this expense includes N2.74bn on local and international travel and transport, and N1.97bn on miscellaneous such welfare packages, refreshments, honorarium and sitting allowances, and more.

Enugu’s non-salary spend as of the end of Q3, 2023 amounted to N33.36bn, Gombe was N24.73bn (for Q1 and Q2). Imo was N58.21bn, where N1.21bn was spent on refreshments and meals, N866.81m on welfare packages, N3.26bn on allowances and more. Jigawa’s non-salary spend was N49.64bn which included allowances of N22.07bn, N1.18bn on transport and travelling, N1.83bn on materials and supplies including drugs, vaccines, medical supplies, stationaries, and more.

Total non-salary spend in Kaduna was N27.87bn as of the end of Q3, Kano was N17.79bn (Q1 and Q2), Katsina was N40.49bn, Kebbi was N24.51bn, Kwara was N41.19bn, Kogi was N58.02bn. Lagos’s non-salary spend was N289.49bn. These expenses include N741.34m as severance pay for political office appointees, N340.95m on aircraft maintenance, N8.07bn on plant and generator costs, N1.13bn on special days/celebrations, N107.79bn on special duties, servicing of meetings N11.45bn, N2.53 on welfare packages for the public, N3.69 on enforcement expenses, and more.

Nasarawa’s non salary spend as of Q3, 2023 was N28.13bn, Niger was N23.43bn (as of Q2), Ogun was N49.27bn (as of Q2), Ondo was N59.70bn, Osun was N42.59bn, Oyo was N24.52bn, Plateau was N17.99bn as of Q2, Rivers was N51.96bn (as of Q2), Sokoto was N20.89bn, Taraba was N24.73bn, Yobe was N25.07bn (as of Q2, 2023), and Zamfara was N29.14bn.

Anambra’s non-salary spend was N15.17bn as of the end of Q2, 2023 least among the states, he is yet to borrow 1 Kobo still performing more than them.

I hope the state government will get a seasoned advisor to expand the fiscal space through targeted philanthropy and fundraising for hospitals, public schools, waterworks and roadworks.

For city roads they need to create a roadworks fund raised from both residential and commercial property tax and vehicle tax. Awka and Onitsha have at least 50-100,000 rental units each and more than 20,000 shops. They should be able to raise 5-10b for a road fund per year.

For those willing to tar their roads they should give them the privilege of renaming it after themselves.

IDENNAA:
Soludo started very slow but he is picking up the pace and I know by the end of his administration Anambra state will witness a massive change in the areas of road infrastructure. I am more concerned with Onicha and Awka. If he can transform these two cities I will be please because that would have solved about 35% of our road infrastructure headache

They need to do something about Keke, shuttle and buses. Roads are being messed up by these animals. Keke and shuttle operators need to be licensed and subjected to written tests.

Awka and Onitsha should restrict Keke and shuttle to the outskirts.

earthrealm:


There are too many unknowns in the case to have a definite cause of fire..

Eg, i received a batch of lfp cells from china, that were improperly packed..and this resulted in one of the cell terminals getting slightly depressed and puncturing the cell...with resultant leakage of few drops of whatever liquid the cell is made up.

However the cell didnt have an obvious damage.
A greedy person or seller could have simply wiped off the leakage and used or sold that cell....

That cell when then used to build a pack could be quite unpredictable. So i simply laid it aside...and its gathering dust in my store.

Nb: nobody shud ask me to gift them the cell...cos i won't

One factor they don't talk about with lfp is heat. According to literature it shouldn't be in a place with over 40 degree Celsius. The guy stored it in a metal cabinet in a basement that didn't have ventilation near a boiler.

ChimaAdeoye:


Yes, we are saying the same thing. If the traders in these commercial cities are convinced that their taxes are used to fix their roads, hospitals or schools, and they are not stolen or diverted to other towns as it was done in the previous regimes. The traders should reciprocate the good gesture by supporting government through paying taxes.

If these hitherto forgotten and abandoned commercial cities are now being massively rehabilitated and rebuilt, government deserves to be supported in continuing this new developmental strategy that now includes our commercial cities. Not just developing only the state capital while the commercial cities contribute the IGR for it.

Awka has not seen the type of infrastructural development that befits a state capital outside cosmetics. Onitsha till date still has far better and a wider road network than Awka.

So the question is what has ANSG done with it's capex year in and year out.

It is why I think a very different approach is needed. I advocated before for agencies like ACTDA to run the cities totally funded by locally generated tax and state counterpart funding.

If 30 billion is raised from Onitsha by Onitsha Capital Development Agency then let it be spent there. Roads are ancient technology. What you need are competent city managers who live and breath in those cities because they know what and where the problems are.

If we follow this vested approach you would see better and more creative tax collection and utilisation LOCALLY.

ChimaAdeoye:




You made a good point about having a tax ID system that also qualifies residents for some social benefits such as free or subsidized ante-natal or other medical services. This is an excellent proposition in a country where proper identification of individuals exists and the people honestly want to pay their taxes to support the overall good of the society. That atmosphere is still very much lacking in our society. The issue of properly identifying people and preventing people from using other people's tax ID numbers to obtain services remains a huge challenge. Perhaps with the NIN or BVN numbers, individuals can be properly identified. However, I still see a lot of room to use other people's NIN or BVN to access services by those who are not paying taxes.

There is still a huge mistrust of government and its institutions, especially in the hitherto neglected commercial cities that were never state capitals. Thus, people in commercial cities resist paying taxes no matter how little. Can you believe that Enugu City (not Enugu STATE) generates more IGR than Aba or Onitsha commercial cities? Meanwhile, Enugu city has just about 20 to 30 percent of the volume of commercial activities in Onitsha or Aba.

The biggest challenge in Anambra and Abia states is that an average trader absolutely hates to pay even one kobo in taxes to the government. This attitude perhaps started in the past when successive governments neglected the commercial urban centers of Aba and Onitsha. Thus, the traders also resolved never to pay any taxes to the government. However in the current dispensation, we have seen these two states begin to pay massive attention to their commercial cities, thus it is time for traders to reciprocate the gesture and begin to pay their fair share of taxes.

Soludo will be one of the greatest Anambra governors if he succeeds in the current effort to rebuild the hitherto forgotten major roads, especially in the commercial cities of Onitsha and Nnewi. This will revitalize the commercial cities and make Anambra an indeed liveable homeland.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKYg30RX0Zc

The focus on tax without benefits is why people don't pay tax. Tell the Onitsha trader that all tax goes to a pot called Onitsha Roads, another pot called Schools in Onitsha and another called health care centers and public hospitals in Onitsha and watch people pay. That's called bringing govt closer to the people.

Same goes for Awka, you have estates like Udoka, Ngozika with multi million naira homes and rubbish roads. But if you charged every property in those estates a one time road development fee of 2m and an annual road maintenance fee of 100,000 a year then those estates would have befitting roads.

You cannot tax cities to build rural roads or bridges in the middle of nowhere. Tax should stay local. Markets should be taxed to evacuated their rubbish, police the perimeter not taking it from FAAC. Same goes for commercial roads. All shops along those roads should be taxed to clear the gutters then they would not be so filthy

ChimaAdeoye:


Hopefully, the anti-touting efforts and other strategies to streamline IGR collection will yield fruit and block the massive leakages in the system. Anambra with the volume of commercial activities in just its key urban centers of Onitsha, Nnewi, Awka, and Ekwulobia should be performing somewhere ranked between Delta and Oyo.

I am glad that efforts made to block obvious leakages of IGR through the removal of touts in IGR collection and increased use of POS payment systems have shown progress. But a lot still needs to be done in this area to capture at least 75% of government revenue.

In this digital era, states are in a haste to setup tax identification systems to tax payers without looking at the other role of government which is SERVICE DELIVERY!

An ID should not just be for tax payments but for social benefits. An Id for a child for example can be used to gift and track subsidized school fees, track immunizations, etc. An ID for a mother can deliver public antenatal care, drugs, etc. For residents it can provide access to subsidized state transport.

An ID system should provide govt not just with a view on IGR but a fine grained view on how public services are delivered.

I want to see charts not on IGR but how much each state spends per resident on education, health, waste collection, on roads, water, etc.

abuzz33:
Anambra clamps down on sanitation offenders, seals shops
20th October 2023
OFFICIALS SEALING SHOPS
By
Ikenna Obianeri
Kindly share this story:


He Anambra State Government through Operation Keep Clean and Healthy (Ocha Brigade) has arrested no fewer than 30 street hawkers and shut over 100 shops in the state for environmental offences.

The Managing Director of Ocha Brigade, Mr Celestine Anere, on Thursday, disclosed that the offenders violated hawking and trading laws of the state at the popular Eke Awka market in Awka.

Anere, who led the operation, said the state government would no longer tolerate street traders who blocked roads and shop owners who keep their environment dirty.

He said, “We are here to decongest streets and stop hawkers and traders from blocking access roads. We are tired of begging them not to trade on the main roads.

The state government should be requiring all businesses located along major roads to pay the monthly sanitation fee and then desilt the drains on a monthly basis. There are literally hundreds of shops on Zik Avenue, Oby okoli, club road etc.

They should seize the wheelbarrows of street hawkers since that is what they now use as their shop.

Anambra clamps down on sanitation offenders, seals shops
20th October 2023
OFFICIALS SEALING SHOPS
By
Ikenna Obianeri
Kindly share this story:


He Anambra State Government through Operation Keep Clean and Healthy (Ocha Brigade) has arrested no fewer than 30 street hawkers and shut over 100 shops in the state for environmental offences.

The Managing Director of Ocha Brigade, Mr Celestine Anere, on Thursday, disclosed that the offenders violated hawking and trading laws of the state at the popular Eke Awka market in Awka.

Anere, who led the operation, said the state government would no longer tolerate street traders who blocked roads and shop owners who keep their environment dirty.

He said, “We are here to decongest streets and stop hawkers and traders from blocking access roads. We are tired of begging them not to trade on the main roads.

Jcoleworld911:



Awesome!!!! But It would have been more beautiful if the road is dualize and there’s enough space at both sides

Anambra state needs dualize roads, I love the fact that Soludo is dualizing upper iweka flyover down to main market in onitsha
Soludo is really trying, I just finished watching the ongoing Ekwulobia flyover/road dualize

I pray he completes all his projects, Anambra will wear a new look then

You cannot dualize Club Road because it is next to the high tension cables.

Soludo is doing remedial work nothing substantive thus far.

Wake me up when he does transformative work such as a ring road connecting Ifite to Mgbakwu or a bridge connecting Amudo Rd to Ifite Rd.

Kossyso:
Any completed project? Abi we still dey "we will" level?
Owerri Road is completely in a mess and no effort whatsoever to help the situation.
Which way Soludo?

Soludo is a fraud. He just recently appointed his relation from Isuofia as Commissioner of Finance. God knows how much they will steal from that office.

Sirchibuzo:
He recently awarded contract to the same contractor that has abandoned the ICC since Obiano left contract for the Solution Fun City. He would have compelled them to finish up their work at the ICC. Instead he gave them new job, who does such thing. Before Obiano gave them the contract to build the ICC, they had already completed the Agulu lake hotel project, both the buildings and the entire landscaping. So Soludo should have done same thing. And he has been using this place for different event, when he has not been able to complete the project to the designed standard

The ICC should be run by ANSIPPA and their budget tied to the revenue generated from it. They should also move their offices there.

The ICC needs to do better for events. They need to engage an event management consultant and target 30-50 events a year and develop a lawn next to it for weddings, society bashes, conferences.

Bestmanfornow:
Ongoing Solution Fun City Awka lot 1, 2, and 4 update

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRkTROoGY7Q?si=tE_zPBFdDlJrxq05


Lot 1

What experience does GSS have in building country club, football field and volleyball court?

Armon:
Those who support desilted covered drains are best and exposed.. trust me we have to accept development


Those who don’t accept open gutters … my question is still unanswered… and I repeat since Anambra has 98 percent open drains … how has that stopped erosion?
Why is erosion still at it peak?
Why is there still so much refuses dumps in the gutters? All the time ANSG says gutters are clogged
Is obvious their theory is not helping them…

And still they are championing what is not working… it is obvious mentality is very poor.

Anyone who supports open gutters ask them these questions… one of them said in reply boldly he cannot answer it .

Many problematic things in Anambra cities is poor planning or management.


SAND

Gutters will always be silted up if connecting roads are made up of dirt. In Cotonou what they do is that they tar the entrances of all connecting roads up to 3 meters to reduce sand buildup on the main road.

PLASTIC

The greatest generators of trash dumped in gutters are informal traders. How is it that you go inside somewhere like Main Market or Eke Awka and you don't see rubbish everywhere but then you step out to the perimeter and entrance and rubbish all over the place? Lawlessness breeds lawlessness. All those illegal hawkers dump waste on the ground and in the gutters and get away with it by pleading poverty. But poor villages are not full of filth.

ANSG needs to use a hard hand on hawkers. How is it that the cities were a lot cleaner under the Obi administration but filthy ever since? Restaurants dump their oily waste into the gutter and get away with it.

Nelsolala:
Everything for you is mediocre. You can do your due diligence rather than basing your criticism on half backed information. The entrance to the facility is on the express,
just after one decends the kwata flyover. The attached layout of the park shows it.

Am not a big fan of the present administration, because they have not met expectations. But will always acknowledge any positives no matter how small.

Where did you get the site plan from?

TundeBricklayer:
I don't know who owns this new industry at the back of ICC, with Staff quarter

The ICC Should plant trees at that back fence to block that industry. They should also plant ornamental palm trees and flowers in front of it's front fence to make it look nice when you approach the facility.

That huge roof should be tapped for solar. You could easily put 50kw of panels there to generate 150-200kwh of solar energy daily for lighting, audio visual, office use and basic cooling.

TundeBricklayer:

I guess is been long you came to Awka this very hotel is at Agu Awka roundabout opposite Juhel filling station, there is another one onging hotel before Life international life

I was in Awka for the AnambraInvest Summit. If you read what I wrote, I said that the state government doesn't need to build a 100 room hotel next to the ICC when lots of hotels are popping up within 5 minutes of it.

They should concentrate on marketing Awka and the ICC for high value events. It's a wonderful facility but it's underutilized.

I said that the huge space of around 5,000 sqm next to it should be divided into two. Convert about 2,000sqm space on the left of the building into a lawn with flowers for outdoor events. People could hold weddings, birthday parties there.

ANSIPPA should move into the ICC, compete the landscaping including flowers in front and trees and get their thinking caps on events to hold there.

hammerFC:



WITH THE KIND OF HIGH PROFILE EXECUTIVE, THEY ATTRACT, THE VENUE SHOULD BE HOTEL AND CONFERENCE CENTRE.



LOOK, SOMETHING LIKE THIS, MATCHING...



A SECOND GOLDEN TULIP.

I agree but not now. Awka ICC is still being established and has yet to have the kind of convention traffic of Kigali or Eko.

Awka can use what it has. There are already at least 20 hotels within 5 minutes of the ICC with a total of 2,000 rooms. There are four more hotels coming up from the look of things. One behind Parktonian, another near Zara Stores, another near Udoka entrance, another along Secretariat road. That stretch from Kwara junction to the ICC has Maxbe, Bon, Golphin, De Santos, Geogold, Cihcotel, Waldorf Blu, Parktonian, Finotel, Beautiful Gate, Hilton, La Luna, Cosmila, Double Bliss, Peackastel, King David, Olde English, Stamford Hotel.

The target should be high value national conferences and events of 1,000 to 3,000 attendees. If it can get 30 of these conferences a year that's 30-90,000 participants. If half of these are out of state visitors and assuming they spend $500 in food and lodging that's easily a 15-45 million dollar injection into the town and important revenue for maintaining the facility.

For the really large events like the NBA Conference these are few and far between and will require serious logistical coordination between the state government and private hotels because 10,000 attendees takes at least 200 hotel capacity.


ANSIPPA should relocate their offices to the ICC and take part of the space that was marked for banking hall or the large open spaces at the side. The ICC should be part and parcel of investment promotion in Anambra and their staff should have the capability to manage that facility and organize events as part of their brief. Being there will also allow ANSIPPA to cross market government and private sector initiatives like industrial layouts, real estate investment opportunities, etc.

hammerFC:
WHEN ARE THEY BUILDING WORLD CLASS 5 STAR HOTEL NEXT TO THIS CENTRE?


THE BUILDS SHOULD BE TOWER AND MATCH THE CENTRE.

It's not needed. From my hotel near Unizik Junction to the Conference Center took just 5 minutes. There are a lot of nice hotels in Awka along that expressway.

If anything, they could take 2 plots of that parking space next to the ICC and create a nice LAWN with flowers for outdoor events like weddings or parties - like Finotel does with it's own. Then it could be complimentary to the ICC.

osita76:
We'll demolish Awka to build Awka capital city, says Soludo

Titus Maduako Eleweke



Anambra State Governor Prof. Charles Soludo has stated that his administration will demolish many properties in the state capital to get the Awka capital city of the people's dreams.



Soludo stated this on Saturday after participating in the monthly Solution Walk For Healthy Living held at the Anambra State stadium Awka.

According to Soludo, after the demolition of some property, Awka will be built to the status of a real State capital where everybody will be proud.

"Those living in Awka, we will demolish Awka and build a befitting capital for us. We will also build a flyover across the highway in Awka.

He announced the contract to build 9 kilometres AMANSEA-IFITE-Youth village-Aroma road with a flyover linking the highway has been awarded, declaring that Awka will be a real capital.

Awka will be the real capital and by next year, when Anambra state will be 33 years old, the governor of the state, for the first time will live in Awka, in the government house" he stated.

Soludo also stated that every kobo the state government under him generated would be judiciously used to build sustainable development for the good of the people.

According to him, he is very passionate about building sustainable human capital development.

The governor urged the youth to work hard to earn a decent living because Ndi Anambra celebrate hard work and industry.



He also urged those youths that are undergoing training on the state government's ongoing One Youth Two Skills programme serious because it could be their breakthrough in life.

According to him, the government under him is determined to impact positively on the lives of the youths and the people of the state

You don't need to demolish Awka. They should move all government facilities out of the old Town. Relocate Prisons to Mgbaukwu or Urum or Achalla, relocate Asudeb, Awka South Lga and the magistrate court to the government district. Also relocate Eke Awka to Agu Awka and design it as a modern replacement with security station, truck loading entrance, parking, water, central power, conveniences and sell it on PPP to investors. Turn old Eke Awka space into a City Hall or school. That will make the old town mainly residential and rescue Zik Avenue from filth.

Large commercial projects including Eke Awka, a Central Bus Station also on PPP finance, Ikenga Mall can all be located at Agu-Awka to present a modern organized face to Awka.

Then build overhead bridges at Udoka connecting to Ngozika and at Ifite Rd connecting to Amudo to connect old and new parts of Awka. And build a road behind the new governors lodge linking to Ifite.

Abufo:






Every serious business organisation has its operational strategy...........I do not believe next and Genesis wants to open branches in every mall in town ! Everday may have even saved the ebonyi mall sef! The truth is that the hey days of huge malls is gone in Nigeria .......even in America most businesses prefer to be located within strip malls ,with their business facing the open road/streets! nobody wants to be billed for the huge costs of running a huge mall.........better to rent a shop facing the street!

The novelty of visiting a mall wears off quite quickly, better to develop high street shopping districts within our major towns and cities,government should develop parks,sports clubs and leisure complexes as distinct projects! Urban planners needed desperately in Anambra!

Malls are not going anywhere. They are modern marketplaces. What has happened in America is online shopping has cut into the novelty of physical shopping. But online shopping lacks the fundamental social experience, the human thirst to physically explore, discover, interact.

For Anambra we need to realize that a major strength we have is our markets and trading acumen. There is nothing you cannot find to buy in Anambra. There are lots of specialized markets in and around Onitsha. Those markets are the cornerstone of the Anambra economy bringing in millions of shoppers from around Nigeria but the state government only remembers them at tax time.

The state needs to go back to the drawing board on its policy on markets. They need to be cleaned up, fixed up with services and made presentable and attractive beyond a place to buy goods. They need to be planned and have zoning for proper parking, truck loading bays, warehouses, waste disposal, water, toilet, security conveniences. Their shops need to be put online and drive trustworthy e-commerce. Basically bring them into the 21st century.

The state talked PPP and diaspora bonds. To me, markets are the low hanging fruit with assured returns. Markets generate money every day. Anambra markets brought to standard can compete with Lagos because Lagos itself is a distribution point. 70% of goods bought in Lagos markets are trucked elsewhere.

The issue for Anambra is how to compete. Lagos has two major advantages over everywhere else. One is volume and the second is proximity to it's sea port.

Onitsha or any other place that wants to compete with Lagos has to compete on all the cost factors of Lagos. Lagos has higher land costs, is a lot harder for trucks to move in and out, and for a visitor is expensive to visit and lodge. The fact that the cost of shipping a container from China to Lagos is cheaper than trucking it out of the port should be instructive to ANSG. If you want Onitsha markets to explode as an alternative to Lagos, you have to make its markets EASY AND CHEAP to access.

Number one is to ensure efficient trucking with massive development of trailer parks. Second is to ensure lots of low cost warehousing. Third is to tap into nearby underutilized ports like Warri and explore linking it by rail with Onitsha. Fourth is to utilize barges to take containers from Onitsha river port. Fifth is to heavily cut out all the nuisance that adds cost to trading from agberos on the streets to police custom road check points to street hawkers. Ensure roads are free of encumbrances to make those markets as accessible as possible, make them great to shop in. Put trust systems in place to boost e commerce so shoppers from around the country don't have to physically come to Onitsha or Nnewi to order. You organize marketing teams to promote Anambra markets around the country and region and online.

The only tax system you implement is VAT. The markets do well you make lots of money.

Bestmanfornow:
Afriexm bank is investing $500 million in Anambra industrial parks and other sectors

I was at Anambra Investment Summit yesterday and these were my impressions:

The GOOD

1) Excellent Conference Center facility with massive interior space and good lighting and audio visual.

2) It was well attended by Anambra business luminaries and politicians.

3) Security was tight.

4) Panelists and MC Ebuka was top notch

5) Government used the opportunity to promote their various ministries and initiatives.

AREAS FOR IMPROVEMENT

1) ANSIPPA outside of inviting the right people missed out on critical event organization. There were no printed program of events, lunch servers were few resulting in long queues. Parking was haphazard in a soggy uncompleted parking area.

2) An investment summit does not need attendance of APGA groups, police officers wives and all kinds of Solution groups who were not there for participation.

RECOMMENDATIONS

1) The Conference facility was well designed but the very large parking lot is uncompleted. It's best to cement and tar half of it and grass the remainder as a park.

2) They need to charge a conference attendee fee of at least N5,000 even if it's to cover the cost of Food, refreshments and security.

3) The main hall was too big for an investment summit. Those that seriously came for the event were less than 300. The main hall could have been divided into two with one area for display booths and the inner part for the speakers.

4) The Conference Center should be run by experienced event organizers. As a start ANSIPPA needs to partner with EKO Convention Center in Lagos for training, mentorship and cross marketing. There are events held in Lagos that can be replicated on a smaller scale for focus on the South East region. There are also events that can be rotated into Anambra for example Nigerian Bar Association, Nigerian Pharmaceutical Association.

5) As the Conference Center gets busier it should have buses that can operate on schedule to take visitors staying at key hotels to and from the Conference Center for a fee. Parktonian, De Santos, La Luna, Finotel, Golphin, Geogold, Maxbe, Hilton, Bon Hotel, Geneva all lie around the expressway. Buses could operate on three schedules. 7-8am, 12:00-1pm and 3-4pm. Buses could also be used to ferry common government staff attendants from the secretariat to the Conference Center on a schedule and for a fee.

6) ANSIPPA invited the Chinese Ambassador, the World Bank Country Chief, AfriExim bank, MD of Fidelity, Head of Tiger Foods. Those friendships should be used to launch innovative new events. For example there could be a Building Materials conference that can attract Chinese companies to Anambra to market their wares to traders in Onitsha. There could be a Nigerian Sustainable Development Summit to bring in UN, World Bank, DFID and development agencies to the state for a talkshop. There could be a Food Processing Conference to attract vendors of preservation, storage, products, and machinery. For banking there could be a Fintech Conference to draw in the banking sector and startups like Flutterwave, Moniepoint, etc. ANSIPPA should brainstorm with these partners for ideas for staging future events to promote the state and utilize the Center.

Bestmanfornow:
You guys need to watch this interesting video


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rxsn9dR8RU4?si=wyQYdagYHP4C27HN

To manufacture is hard and a strategy should come from an advisory team not the governor or small scale importers.

Any manufacturing strategy needs the Chinese government as partners. The Ethiopians went to the Chinese and had them build industrial zones. The Lekki Free Trade Zone was built by the Chinese Singaporeans.

Anambra needs a two pronged approach. Build on existing advantages and find lucrative new markets.

EXISTING ADVANTAGES

- Building materials manufacturing like doors, keys, ceramics, lighting fixtures, plumbing materials, steel structures

- Textiles and garments

- Auto parts

- Food processing

NEW MARKETS

- Electronics for industrial and home automated systems

- Solar Systems

- Electric Vehicle Assembly for motorcycles and buses

Nelsolala:
I agree totally that Anambra is expanding in all directions. I also agree that the culvert should have been replaced with a proper bridge. My point is that we have cities that are glorified villages, without proper infrastructure. This should be the main focus, while the basic access is given to inaccessible areas.

Which would you prefer, dualization of Awka Road down to main market Onitsha, with side walks and possibly an interchange at Ziks roundabout. Or dualization of Amansea to Ufuma Road. Awka needs total revamping.
So while we want all roads in Anambra dualized, opportunity cost is important.

My disappointment with Soludo is that all noise about having the capacity to do things differently (attract PPPs, get international funding etc) is a mirage. He is just a regular politician. Performing well below expectations.

The state government needs to adopt two ways of funding transport infrastructure. For state roads federal allocation for city roads property and business tax.

It's ridiculous that you will see a 300 metre road in Awka or Onitsha with 40 buildings using a dirt road . A road of that length can be constructed for around 40m or roughly 1m per building. The way roads are financed in the rest of the world is through bonds. You collect property tax over 10-30 years. You spread that bond over 10-30 years. It becomes 200k a year. In Onitsha with lots of multi-tenant buildings it's very easy to pay off that 200k. A 6 unit building that's 33k a year.

Places with high net worth individuals are supposed to have good roads based on property tax. But you go to Udoka, Ngozika, broken down or non-existent roads.

ANSMEDIA:
Beautiful. Anambra doing great

I am glad they followed my earlier suggestion and included recreational sports fields. But seems they forgot about basketball court and park. I hope they will arrange an area where food vendor carts can be located and of course waste bins.

It's a start for livability for people to have a place for recreational activity. Not youth sleeping on phone or going to play betnaija. The rise in crime and anti social behavior is directly related to lack of physical activity amongst the youth.

Any solar installers in Anambra? Please post your contact. Thanks.

hammerT:



Y NO OPEN GUTTER EVERYWHERE LIKE MAD PEOPLE?


I DIDN'T SEE EVEN 1OPEN GUTTER



IT PAINS ME THAT OUR BEAUTIFUL VILLAGES ARE GRADUALLY TAKING THE LOOK OF AJEGUNLE WITH STINKING OPEN GUTTERS EVERYWHERE.

Do you see people selling gates along the road or mounting wheelbarrow colonies on the road like Nigeria? Cotonou is clean, their villages are clean. Nigeria is filthy dump.