Officials of the incumbent government of Anambra State must quickly get over their natural tendency to create a noisy scenario to drown critical issues in the public domain, while leaving them unaddressed because Anambra People have since developed their minds beyond what the government can grapple with.
To this extent, we urge the government to give a clear concise and understandable answer to the issue of earning and judicial expenditure of over N2 trillion in seven and half years and carefully point at signposts of the utilisation of funds, to avoid ending their administration on the wrong foot.
We have read the comments credited to Mr Mike Udah, Chief Press Secretary to the Governor of Anambra State, and Mr Peter Obi on the challenge from the former governor of Anambra State and Senator representing Anambra Central Dr Chris Ngige as reported by elombah.com.
We have also read the mudslinging from Mr Valentine Obienyem, Senior Special Assistant to the governor of media Affairs and his application for a grandiose debate over matters that its hard facts and statistics lies in print on the world wide web . We understand the diversionary tactics contained therein, because finally someone is looking beyond his everyday verbose propaganda lines.
Between Udah,Obenyem and other who have tried to come into this issue, there is a babel of voices that has done everything but address the simple issue of matching what the government claims is its achievement in the intervening period with the earning of N2 trillion, less Sure-P funds.
Dr Ngige had last weekend criticised the present government in Anambra State for failing to show in terms of infrastructure and accomplishments that the government has earned N2 trillion in seven ad half years.
Ngige threw the challenge at a pavilion mounted by a coalition of past office holders in Anambra State from all political parties, shortly after the forum endorsed him and invited him to cut sort his consultations and enter the Anambra 2014 governorship race to continue his good works, which took a break in 2006.
Mr Udah however either missed the point in Dr Ngige’s challenge or deliberately evaded the thrust in his cited response.
In the first place, the statement from the Chief Press Secretary, was characteristically evasive, in that it extra- confirmed Senator Ngige’s claim that the state government earnings was ‘higher than N2trillion,stated by Ngige’,yet did not say anything what gulped the money, or where the cost centres are.
Said Udah:’ Someone should please tell Ngige that his Arithmetic was wrong – what Governor Obi has invested in Anambra State is quite higher than N2 trillion’
First, If it is higher than N2 trillion, it is not N2 trillion and Anambra State citizens will like in this age of information and transparency to know in clear terms what it is and how it has been deployed, in order to appreciate the truth of Senator Ngige’s challenge against the lack-lustre performance of the government of the day. It would not suffice to finger beneficiaries of cash dole-outs from the government to speak of achievements without facts and statistics. Second, since Senator Ngige challenge is that there is nothing on ground in Anambra State today to justify the expenditure of N2 trillion, it means his point is better underscored if the amount earned is actually more than 2trillion as stated by Udah.Yet the emphasis of Dr Ngige was not the amount invested, but the amount earned by the state. Investments stand on a different pedestal, and should go beyond voluntary international agencies at the proper time of reckoning.
Mr Udah claimed that the Anambra State government has: constructed over 380 kilometres of roads across Anambra State with every community and Local Government Area getting its fair share. ‘. Assuming but not conceding that Mr Peter Obi’ administration has constructed 380 kilometres of Roads -The state government figures on roads have danced from 500km to 700km and back to 380km- does 380 kilometres of road cost N2trillion? If we were to go at a relatively high index of N100million per kilometre, 380 kilometres of roads, where it exists should cost about N38 billion.
‘This is because over and above what Ngige could see, he has in fact sourced and got serious funding and numerous forms of assistance from individuals, corporate institutions and friends who know he is on a rescue mission, and are impressed with the sacrifices he is making as well as the turn-around which Anambra has been witnessing since he mounted the saddle’ Mr Udah further wrote
We thank Mr Udah for reminding Anambra that Dr Ngige’s criticism was actually an understatement because Gov Obi had more funds to work with. We trust that the government will do well to itemise these funds received in excess of the stated N2 trillion and justify their use.
Mr Udah’s overstated falsehood about parts of Anambra State not benefiting equally from roads constructed by Ngige is a mere re-cycle of his administration’s propaganda on construction of roads only in one part of the state, which gladly was addressed with facts ,figures and statistics by Ngige in the same forum where he threw the raging challenge.
Ngige illustrated with roads running from Kogi state through Otuocha-Aguleri-Umueri-Nteje-Awkuzu-IfIte Dunu-Oyeagu and another stretch from Abia through Isuochi-Owere-Ezukala-Umunze-Ogbunka-Amaesi-Umuchu –Igbo Ukwu ,and yet another from Imo State through Iseke-Okpor-Osumoghu-Nnewi-Awka Etiti in a plethora of 77 such roads to illustrate that roads where uniformly distributed to Anambra State’s three senatorial zones in a deliberate policy tagged ‘triangular equilibrium’.
It is actually this propaganda spearheaded by Val Obienyem,Mike Udah and their cohorts in the state government triggered off by unclear conscience that I introduced the needless comparison between Ngige and Obi administration .So one is surprised when Mr Udah speak of comparing apples ad oranges, only because for the first time in many years, remarkably at a time of stock-taking, his administration is being challenge to account for their work in facts, figures and statistics, beyond amorphous propaganda.
One would have wished that Mr Udah would avoided mentioning SABmiller Breweries, Onitsha .Yet he did. We do not plan to take over the judicial assignment before a high court in Abuja at the instance of a concerned citizen of Anambra State to explain how N5billion of Anambra State government money ended up buying shares for private citizens. We would rather let the court decide that, while we concentrate on the larger picture of N2trillion yet unaccounted for.
Finally, we are not surprised that Mr Udah did not get the point contained in reports from the same event, that Anambra State enjoys peace today because Ngige, chose not to raise fronts against a judicial coup carried out by pre-civil war enemies of Anambra State for pre-determined goals and that the pregnant silence on the fairness of the judgment that enthroned Obi has been broken, at a time the Anambra public has a recent judgement in Enugu on matters within Gov. Obi’s political party, for all the needed comparative illustration.
We hasten to remind Mr Udah that since Ngige cited N2tr and he confirmed that the amount is more. He has a duty to state with his government how the money has been spent because the eyes of Ndi Anambra are now open to their financial profile courtesy of Senator Dr Chris Ngige since 2004Anambra State and the liberation may not easily be reversed.
Okelo Madukaife
State Publicity Secretary
ACTION CONGRESS OF NIGRIA (ACN)
Anambra State Chapter
