₦airaland Forum

abuzz33:
......

Anambra needs industrial layouts and needs to partner with the Chinese who know how to organize and operate it. The education level of the state is reasonably ok. The industrial layouts they should focus on are shoes, garments, textiles, building materials and food processing with a plan for 500 factories employing at least 100,000 people.

They need to get gas pipelines into the state and supply captive power plants in Onitsha, Nnewi and Awka. That is what Mark Okoye and SEDC should focus on first before railway.

ANSMEDIA:
Update from Ekwulobia as Anambra’s fourth city emerges

IgboProgress:
Simply partner with the best, not necessarily the Chinese. They can search for the best who are from Anambra, if no one is found, they try South East, if not in South then try other igbo states, if not in igbo states, try other friendly places.

In regards to focusing on pipelines before railway, I think it should be well researched or thought about so that the state or investor get reasonable return on investment or high value return for what is invested.
If you ask me, I would suggest they go for something with multiple uses and not just a single-purpose product or infrastructure for the transportation of gas. Railway could be use to transport alot of things, and is typically very profitable if you consider the fact the heavy goods such as certain raw materials can be easily transported for export and attract reasonable amount of fees.
If you want to buy something, it's better to go for those with multiple uses so you don't have to spend more money on more products to solve the problems that can be handled by the multi-purpose ones you bought. You may only go for the single purpose ones if you highly depend on them, if they are better or if you can't find the multipurpose alternatives.

Not saying the gas pipelines aren't important, but more concerned about cost and profitability. The state could simply build the pipelines where they are necessary (sort of local distribution hubs), like around industrial areas, then transport the gas from the source/sources via trains to the hubs for delivery to the industrial areas, homes etc. This should cost less to build and wouldn't require too much pipes or spaces which are likely very limited

IgboProgress:
Simply partner with the best, not necessarily the Chinese. They can search for the best who are from Anambra, if no one is found, they try South East, if not in South then try other igbo states, if not in igbo states, try other friendly places.

In regards to focusing on pipelines before railway, I think it should be well researched or thought about so that the state or investor get reasonable return on investment or high value return for what is invested.
If you ask me, I would suggest they go for something with multiple uses and not just a single-purpose product or infrastructure for the transportation of gas. Railway could be use to transport alot of things, and is typically very profitable if you consider the fact the heavy goods such as certain raw materials can be easily transported for export and attract reasonable amount of fees.
If you want to buy something, it's better to go for those with multiple uses so you don't have to spend more money on more products to solve the problems that can be handled by the multi-purpose ones you bought. You may only go for the single purpose ones if you highly depend on them, if they are better or if you can't find the multipurpose alternatives.

Not saying the gas pipelines aren't important, but more concerned about cost and profitability. The state could simply build the pipelines where they are necessary (sort of local distribution hubs), like around industrial areas, then transport the gas from the source/sources via trains to the hubs for delivery to the industrial areas, homes etc. This should cost less to build and wouldn't require too much pipes or spaces which are likely very limited

abuzz33:
Go and see what Chinese industrial layouts did for Ethiopia. Over 200,000 jobs created by factories built for export. Google Hawassa Industrial Layout.

We can learn from the Chinese instead of believing we can do it and creating badly planned spaces like our primitive markets.

Industrial layouts require power, water, security and access to good roads. The one thing Anambra lacks is power. The entire East lives off 350MW allocation from the National Grid. This means Anambra at best gets 80MW. For perspective, Nigerian Breweries alone generates 41MW in Nigeria at its factories.

To get industrial scale power gas pipelines are the best option. The Nigerian government is building the over 600km Ajaokuta-Abuja-Kaduna-Kano pipeline to take gas to the north from which will generate 3,600MW of power for the three Northern cities. It cost about $2.8b and will be completed in November of this year. Onitsha and Nnewi is less than 100km from Shell gas pipelines in Ohaji North and this should be the priority.

Let me remind you that The West African Gas pipeline was built by Chevron to take Nigerian gas to Tema in Ghana. Through Obasanjos nepotism he connected it to Ogun State and that singular action has made Ogun state today the industrial powerhouse of Nigeria with over 70 large factories basing there including Nestlé, Proctor and Gamble.

SEDC should drop the fascination with railway and focus on power. You can't do anything with 80MW imported power and diesel generator. Togo with the same size population as Anambra has 280MW of INSTALLED capacity. Let that sink in. Or for better comparison take Tunisia with slightly larger population that has power generation capacity of 5,800MW. This is why Tunisias GDP per capita is 6x places like Togo and Nigeria.

Power is everything and a gas pipeline to Onitsha area should be a priority. If Sedc cannot fund it then the state government should pressure the FGN to get a loan to build it. It would be the single biggest economic multiplier for the state.

As for competing projects like railway. You need to produce before needing a heavy duty railway otherwise it will be a white elephant like the Abuja-Kaduna rail line built for $800m and which barely does $5m a year in revenue. Soludos proposal for a railway is nice but he needs to prioritize limited revenue. His single biggest achievement is the roads being built, although the way he is using local contractors guarantees that many will not last to spec.

But let him focus on roads, power and industrial layouts.

Eboofa:
It used to be that the standard cost of gas powered station was 1 million dollars per megawatt.....the dollar has depreciated like 50% in real terms since then.........A 200 megawatt will cost us in Anambra state something in the neighbourhood of 300 million dollars.........where are we going to get that kind of funding...........the exceptionally street smart Chinese know that the southeast can never get The federal government of Nigeria to gurantee such loans talk less of Anambra state...................exactly what happened with the funding of the 5 new airport terminals....the FG refused to guarantee loans for the Enugu airport terminal under stella oduah! ...............what do we do whilst we mark time trying to raise such a loan to fund a mega power plant?

Our best option is to go ahead with the projects we can actually fund within our financial capacity! We Africans waste a lot of time tackling projects we cannot sustain long term! Turning Anambra into a logistics hub is fundamental to whatever else we want to do! even the regulatory framework of the State electric commission, that was recently unbundled is becoming controversial............our best bet is to make haste slowly but steadily...........we need to keep moving.......standing still is retrogression!

Eboofa:
If Anambra state ditto SEDC wants to hasten the industrial revolution in the southeast , my suggestion is that they partner with Geometric Power to increase the supply of gas feedstock to their Osisioma powerplant in Abia state. Incidentally, I did some consulting work for Oilserv when they completed the gas pipeline form owaza to the geometric powerplant over 12 years ago, same Oilserv is the main contractor for the AKK( ajaokuta-Kaduna -kano) pipeline,you alluded to. The AKK pipeline was conceived and designed ( 10 years ago) by Oilserv's in-house Engineering and design bureau called Frazimex engineering......... I am not an insider but I do have some knowledge on the timeline for pipeline and powerplants......It takes time sir! The AKK pipeline will never be completed in the next 24 months...........after that you still have to design and construct another pipeline to take gas feedstock from OB3 pipeline running east to west in Niger delta to feed AKK at Ajaokuta...............I do not foresee the AKKpipeline being energized in the next 5 years sir!

Let SEDC assure more and regular gas to Geometric power and help them finance additional turbines in their facility! grant Geometric a power transmission and distribution to supply 100MW to Anambra...under a liberal regulatory environment.......with that license in hand, its left for Prof Barth Nnaji to finance the suppy of power to Anambra state thru those huge trasmission towers! This is a more cost effective way of getting more power to anambra state!

There is no need for Anambra state to finance gas pipelines and powerplants to feed an elusive industrial take off! who wan run am sef! Let the private sector deal with that but with serious regulatory backing by the state government!

abuzz33:
Thanks for your insights. However, to me a gas pipeline to Anambra is needed because it allows you to do many things with the gas supply. You can pipe it to industrial estates, build a power plant. Long run it's more valuable than just running a transmission line.

Indeed, why even go all the way to Aba for power when producing gas fields and power plants are next door in Imo. The Egbema power plant rated at 350MW is almost double that of Geometrics 188MW power plant. It is connected to the far more reliable Shell gas pipeline system. What stops the Anambra and Imo govts from creating an SPV and buying that power plant from the NDPHC and splitting its output 50:50? Or even the ANSG could buy it outright by floating a mix of bonds and equity.

We need to be bolder, think deeper, bigger and be more innovative.

Big economies are built on big projects and planning that change the dynamics of economies not easy solutions. Look at the difference between China and India. The Chinese have planned cities with buses, wide avenues, bridges. India has dysfunctional ones with narrow roads with tricycles. Where are investors flocking? Theres a reason China GDP is 10x India.

Anambra already looks like India with all the Keke, shuttle and barrows clogging it's street. Why not when the majority of businesses are primitive buy and sell.

IgboProgress:
Well, nothing stops a homegrown railway project in southeast from being accomplished. The funding is not a problem. Cannot be stopped by any human. It's now left for
the SE governors to decide.
I believe enugu state governor is more determined and will be supported by majority his people. I believe he will succeed (LORD Willing). I like his idea of linking the whole southeast with rail lines. The individual states can connect to the lines whenever they are ready.
I hope Soludo can deal with Anambra people. Probably needs alot convincing to do. Could try townhall meetings or something like that.

More support for Enugu. Impressed by the governor's determination.
By the way, the state recently launched an Airline.I remember someone on a TV station trying to discourage the governor. But he never looked back. That is progress. I like how the state is running the Airline. I believe it will easily become the best.

Jcoleworld911:
There’s nothing to be proud in “Enugu air”

Don’t think the deal will survive long

Bish42:
To the strange ones here, it's important to note that boundaries do not define who people are. What defines them is culture, behaviors, characteristics etc. Anambra person could be more attached to ndi Enugu because of similarity in personalities or cultures, same as being attached to True Christains in the North.
Location does not determine that.
In reality or in the spirit people who share thesame culture are bothers and sisters. Igbo pagans could be more related to northern or southern pagans than they're to igbo Christians (true Christians). These is how things are categorized in reality. Anambra Christians are more related to Enugu Christians than Anambra pagans. Anambra Christians have little to nothing in common with the pagans.
If there is war or emergency situation, the Anambra Christians will likely love their Enugu Christians more.

So, why not let the people relate as bothers and sisters in peace than attacking them for being critical of something they are part of? Or don't you realize that Enugu or Ebonyi True Christians have more right to anambra than Anambra pagans or non believers? They own Anambra and it's part of their inheritance because their FATHER owns it.
All the advices and suggestions are welcomed as long as they mean well and not attempts to provoke brothers/sisters to hate or do wrong. To be honest, I think certain people write in this manner. It's easy to understand what their intentions are. Others do it unintentionally, but they all point to a culture I hope will gradually fade away — the bad aspect of igbo culture... It's basically the bad ones amongst the igbos using their nature, characteristics, talents wrongly. The aggressive nature for example should be used more on the enemy or evil doers than innocent brothers/sisters.

Unbiased1:
The deal will survive. Enugu Air is less than 2 months old. With time, the airline will start purchasing its own airplanes. They fly to and from Lagos at least once every day which means they are getting customers and will now compete with Air Peace, United Nigeria, SmartLynx etc who are the major airlines that fly to Enugu. Give them some time.

0bjpmb:
The deal won’t survive because government has no business in business. Enugu state people are too easily swayed, they have no sense of history. Okorocha was the first to do this kind of stuff but look at the picture where it ended. This won’t be different from what Enugu state has done. This is a total waste of public funds.

Unbiased1:
Okorocha handed Imo Airlines to Dana, a company that couldn't run itself properly talk less of running another airline simultaneously. Enugu Air however, is run and managed by XE-Jet. If you fly a lot, you would know XE-Jet. They are one of the best in the business currently.

0bjpmb:
Stop defending nonsense. What Okorocha did is not different from what Mbah just did. How can you even support a state government wasting resources in aviation business which you know will fail because it is not sustainable.

Stolen:
WHAT TYPE OF GOV IS SOLUDO.



SINCE HE TOOK OVER MAKING IRRELEVANT COMMENTS THINGS HAVBE JUST GOTTEN WORST IN ANAMBRA.



KIDNAPPERS EVERYWHERE AND CRIME IS OUT OF CONTROL.



THIS IS NOT OUR ANAMBRA UNDER OBI OR OBIANO.



OBI CLEANED UP ANAMBRA AND OBIANO MAINTAINED THE ZERO CRIME TOLERANCE.


SOLUDO A GOSSIPER IS TOO BUSY CALLING IGBO CRIMINALS TO DO ANYTHING.


IF THINGS CONTINUE LIKE THIS THEN, NO 2ND TERM, GOING TO SEE TINUBU IS FURTHER INVITING PROBLEM OF RIGGING TO ANAMBRA STATE.

Eboofa:
You actually beat me to it, I really wanted to blast Soludo administration for the past few days............He has gone back to his old ways of making trivial and flippant statements about the condition of our dear Anambra state! He has a nack of demarketing his own product! How do you keep on saying ndigbo and ndianambra are 100% responsible for kidnapping in Anambra state......( even if it is true! and its a largely inaccurate statement anyway) !!

To make matters worse, he has taken his eyes off the security ball completely, he is busy politicking right now! Who is the state Security czar again? I have always doubted Soludo"s managerial and admin acumen, who is his Chief of staff? where is the legacy security institutions and architecture he is building? Let him learn from Patrick Mba of Enugu state on how to run a 21st century security network! Getting ndimpiwazu touts and asawana special forces will not do the whole job! Those are stop gap measures! where are the drones, where are the decryption and decoding machines for tracking calls, where are the cctv cameras, where are the trained personnel?

Cultists,kidnappers and fulani herdsmen have almost overun Anambra in the last few weeks.....where are the reforms of the criminal justice system........do we need firearms,robbery and kidnapping courts or even tribunals! We need to take the fight to these criminals! enough is enough for pete's sake! How can criminals numbering less than 10,000 individuals take our sleep from us!

Meanwhile soludo is spending millions upon millions walling off and barricading people's home and residences from viewing the state house from their homes! What utter nonsense, You could have planted large shade trees on the state house side and private home owners side of the boulevard as long as 3 years ago! Why has soludo surrounded himself with people who have absolutley no initiative! na wa o....I just get pissed at his tardiness and tackiness sometimes! He has to declare an immediate emergency on criminality and fight it with technology and vexation!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xd_dimfFHfU&t=21s




You see this barricade nonsense..........the home owners if they feel sufficiently pissed should sue ASAP!

Unbiased1:
Not sustainable like the 94 billion naira generated by Ibom Air last year? Lol. Let's watch and see sha.

stanluiz:
Soludo talks more and acts less. Everything no be cho cho cho.

Compare Soludo With Otti or mbah, you will know that Soludo administrative and managerial skills is very far behind. Pride and ego will not allow him to ask his colleague governors questions on how they run good security architecture in their states. Soludo thinks he knows all, but he knows Nothing.

Instead of Soludo to go after the criminals. He is busy putting blames. Have you see Governor Otti or mbah blaming anyone or pointing fingers for criminality in their states ?
No, they go after the criminals and bring them to justice regardless of where they come from.

But Soludo will first of all do cho cho cho. Blame Peter, blame Paul. Accuse James, Accuse John. Point finger at this one, point finger at another one. Oya Mr Governor, go after those criminals. Soludo can't do that.

Talking when he supposed not be talking without reading his environment. This is where Wisdom comes but Soludo fails.

Time he supposed to be reorganizing and restrategizing his security architecture. He is busy talking like a parrot and playing politics with people lives and property.

Soludo will create a bad legacy for leaving Anambra Unsafe and Insecure under his governance unless he acts now.

We all pray and wish him well. But he comments and his " I don't care attitude towards security is very annoying. He needs to change.

Eboofa:
You actually beat me to it, I really wanted to blast Soludo administration for the past few days............He has gone back to his old ways of making trivial and flippant statements about the condition of our dear Anambra state! He has a nack of demarketing his own product! How do you keep on saying ndigbo and ndianambra are 100% responsible for kidnapping in Anambra state......( even if it is true! and its a largely inaccurate statement anyway) !!

To make matters worse, he has taken his eyes off the security ball completely, he is busy politicking right now! Who is the state Security czar again? I have always doubted Soludo"s managerial and admin acumen, who is his Chief of staff? where is the legacy security institutions and architecture he is building? Let him learn from Patrick Mba of Enugu state on how to run a 21st century security network! Getting ndimpiwazu touts and asawana special forces will not do the whole job! Those are stop gap measures! where are the drones, where are the decryption and decoding machines for tracking calls, where are the cctv cameras, where are the trained personnel?

Cultists,kidnappers and fulani herdsmen have almost overun Anambra in the last few weeks.....where are the reforms of the criminal justice system........do we need firearms,robbery and kidnapping courts or even tribunals! We need to take the fight to these criminals! enough is enough for pete's sake! How can criminals numbering less than 10,000 individuals take our sleep from us!

Meanwhile soludo is spending millions upon millions walling off and barricading people's home and residences from viewing the state house from their homes! What utter nonsense, You could have planted large shade trees on the state house side and private home owners side of the boulevard as long as 3 years ago! Why has soludo surrounded himself with people who have absolutley no initiative! na wa o....I just get pissed at his tardiness and tackiness sometimes! He has to declare an immediate emergency on criminality and fight it with technology and vexation!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xd_dimfFHfU&t=21s




You see this barricade nonsense..........the home owners if they feel sufficiently pissed should sue ASAP!

0bjpmb:
You don’t compare Akwaibom with a poverty stricken state like Enugu state. What Akwaibom makes in a Month is what Enugu state makes in a year through federal allocation. Akwaibom can afford to own a brand new airplane but Enugu can’t. The planes Mbah purchased are old refurbished airplanes that will soon go the way of the ones Okorocha purchased on behalf of imo state. Such investments by a state government is not sustainable. Mbah is just playing to the gallery. Just watch and see.

Unbiased1:
Na Chino I even dey follow argue. My bad. I suppose check moniker before.

abuzz33:
The new Government House is a reflection of how ANSG operates. Relying on inexperience. The ANSG never considered security when they were designing the new Government House because it was likely they gave the architectural design to an APGA member instead of to a professional firm. A professional firm would not have built buildings close to the boundary walls as you see with the US embassy buildings which are built deep inside their land. And like you mentioned, a smart government knowing it had made a mistake would have planted trees not just on the road but even within its premises. But a government full of corrupt dullards would rather spend billions erecting iron pillars.
If there is any criticism of Soludo it’s that his lack of ability to recruit experts is why the state is suffering security challenges. Under Soludo, lecturers, politicians, doctors, lawyers have been kidnapped and killed because his "solution" to security is hiring thugs and giving them vans and calling them Agunechemba. For real security experts are needed.
Already the diaspora are abandoning the state in droves. People are spending most of their time (and money) in Lagos and Abuja and only visiting Anambra when necessary. The roads, hotels, restaurants, clubs of the state are reflecting this and have lost significant patronage.
Too bad.

abuzz33:
The new Government House is a reflection of how ANSG operates. Relying on inexperience. The ANSG never considered security when they were designing the new Government House because it was likely they gave the architectural design to an APGA member instead of to a professional firm. A professional firm would not have built buildings close to the boundary walls as you see with the US embassy buildings which are built deep inside their land. And like you mentioned, a smart government knowing it had made a mistake would have planted trees not just on the road but even within its premises. But a government full of corrupt dullards would rather spend billions erecting iron pillars.

If there is any criticism of Soludo its that his lack of ability to recruit experts is why the state is suffering security challenges. Under Soludo, lecturers, politicians, doctors, lawyers have been kidnapped and killed because his "solution" to security is hiring thugs and giving them vans and calling them Agunechemba. For real security experts are needed.

Already the diaspora are abandoning the state in droves. People are spending most of their time (and money) in Lagos and Abuja and only visiting Anambra when necessary. The roads, hotels, restaurants, clubs of the state are reflecting this and have lost significant patronage.

Too bad.

IGBOPROMISE1:
You captured succinctly the unfolding horror tale that is governance in Anambra! What i expected of Soludo is, to a large extent, what i see Mbah doing in Enugu: a well thought out and bullish approach to governance that yields verifiable results you can see….not all this cho cho cho he’s doing! Of course there are a few areas he’s doing relatively well in: like management of available funds, ante-natal care, and a few intra-state roads….whose quality and design could have been better!

legitnow1:
everywhere cannot be city .

town is ok.