I just watched a video of Gov. Soludo’s visit to the Anambra drug market (Ogbo Ogwu) in the aftermath of the latest NAFDAC closure of the market and I shuddered.
Arriving at the Drug Market, The governor started off his address to the traders by launching series of attacks and hurling unprovoked diatribes at Peter Obi and Senator Dr Tony Nwoye both of whom visited the market a week earlier to access the situation on ground, commiserate with affected traders and proffer solution.
In the governors opening remarks, he told the traders that Peter Obi was governor in 2007 when NAFDAC shut down the drug market for 4 months and according to him, Peter Obi did nothing.
This allegation is absolutely false because the then director general of NAFDAC, Late Mrs Dora Akunyili stated publicly while reopening the drug market that her decision to reopen the Onitsha drug market after it was shut down by NAFDAC was as a result of the direct intervention of the then Gov Peter Obi who put the right measures and assurances in place. (See https://bit.ly/41tOxyM )
As if the misinformation was not mesmerizing enough, Soludo offended greater sensibilities and committed his worst oratory blunder yet when he went beyond Peter Obi and directed his unprovoked tantrums at Distinguished Senator Dr Tony Nwoye.
In a move that has placed question marks on the his acumen, Gov Soludo claimed that aside politics, Senator Tony Nwoye and his counterpart at the House of Representatives had no justifiable reason to visit the market as they were mere legislators who are aloof and uninformed on the issues pertaining NAFDAC and the closure of the market.
This spurious claim highlights a saddening level of intellectual deterioration and a descent into the cesspool of cluelessness that Gov Soludo has submitted himself to because of petty politics and for a hitherto presumed fecund mind, this public display of obliviousness has elicited genuine concerns about the mental state of the governor.
For starts, Anambra North is Senator Tony Nwoye’s constituency and the Drug market is within Anambra North Senatorial district.
The various National Assembly committee structures are constitutionally empowered and mandated to perform oversight functions by engendering administrative and bureaucratic controls, monitoring or reducing executive excesses while reviewing actionability of policies and activities of federal agencies and parastatals. These oversight functions ensure checks and balances as the activities of the executive and its agencies are constantly monitored, moderated and audited by the legislature.
As a serving senator, Dr Tony Nwoye is the Vice chairman Senate committees on Primary Healthcare, Development and Disease Control and Anti-corruption. In that capacity, Senator Nwoye has sponsored several notable health related bills while his counterpart at the house of representative, Hon. Harris Uche Okonkwo serves as The Deputy Chairman, House Committee on NAFDAC.
As elected lawmakers who currently serve in both senate and house committees relevant to health and drug regulatory matters, they are constitutionally obligated to visit the market as part of their oversight functions on the activities of federal parastatal like NAFDAC to ensure compliance and the protection of the rights of their constituents.
Aside his impetus on health related matters, As a member of the Senate committee on Army, Senator Dr Tony Nwoye presence at the Onitsha drug market also served as a moderating force to checkmate the possibility of unauthorized or excessive use of military force on civilians as the Nigerian Military were present at the drug market tasked with providing armed security for NAFDAC officials as they raided the market.
By virtue of the fact that federal agencies like NAFDAC is captured in the exclusive list of the federal government, Senator Tony Nwoye and Hon. Harris Okonkwo have substantiated constitutional obligation and responsibility at the bridge head drug market in contrast with the duties of the state governor.
Why then would a governor who has zero constitutional impetus on federal agencies, zero federal responsibilities and zero personal will to contribute meaningfully or impactfully to solving the impasse decide to deride those who are constitutionally obligated and conscientiously willing to identify with the people and alleviate their suffering?
Why would a man previously adjudged to be of sound mind deteriorate to the point where he can comfortably allow himself to be seen in public space lying through the teeth, misinforming the people and making spurious unsubstantiated claims all in the guise of politics?
What sort of cheap political goal does he envisage by trying to diminish the overwhelming impact of the distinguished Senator representing the good people of Anambra North?
Aside official obligation, even as a private individual and long before politics, Tony Nwoye has always been a strong embodiment of camaraderie and solidarity completely given to the ALUTA philosophy.
POLITICS OR NO POLITICS, By default, natural born leaders like Peter Obi and Tony Nwoye have a conscientious obligation to the people. This the major difference between men who went into politics because of the allure of power cum perks of political office and men who are natural born leaders.
HOW SOLUDO’S INCOMPETENCE LED TO THE CLOSURE OF ONITSHA DRUG MARKET LEADING TO LOSSES PROJECTED TO SURPASS 100 BILLION NAIRA IN THE COMING WEEKS
On June 17th, 2022, Governor Soludo flagged off the construction of the Coordinated Wholesale Drug Centre (CWC) Oba and assured NAFDAC Officials, traders of Onitsha Drug Market and executives of the Pharmaceutical Society Of Nigeria, (PSN) that he will complete the project and relocate the Onitsha drug market to a new site by June 2024. (See https://bit.ly/41ixcri and https://bit.ly/4ieVitF ).
According to the Anambra state government, the project which comprises 2,516 shops is fully funded by sterling bank and was to be handled by Ferrovial Designs and Construction Company, a local developer in the real estate sub-sector.
Subsequently, the state government proceeded to announce an initial public offering for traders who wish to own suites and shops at the rate of N14,750,000 for full shop measuring 70square meters and N5,937,500 for shop measuring 20square meters ( See https://bit.ly/3QEe0z2 )
The concept of a Coordinated Wholesale Centre (CWC) was approved by the Federal Government in 2015 in collaboration with NAFDAC and the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) with the goal of relocating the stakeholders in drug businesses and traders that are operating in the open markets (across the country) to regulated centers so as to adequately counter the proliferation and distribution of fake and adulterated drugs as well as other unwholesome activities that are unchecked in the open drug markets.
The closure of the Onitsha drug market and the resulting collateral effect on other surrounding markets including the Plumbing materials market, Oduwani (Power Tools and Allied) market, Surgical Line market, the Ogbogwu Fashion Line market, the Bridgehead Provision market and part of the Timber Dealers market could have been avoided if Governor Soludo had delivered on his promises by completing the CWC within the proposed two year deadline as he promised in June 2022.
If Soludo did not default, the traders at the drug market would have been completely relocated to the new site at Oba before the end of 2024 thereby escaping this current calamity that has befallen them.
At the CWC Oba, it is expected that the menace of fake and substandard drugs will come to an end because every regulatory and law enforcement agents like Police, NAFDAC, NDLEA and PCN will be permanently stationed as they would have their offices right there inside the market and the issue of raiding and shutting down markets over fake and adulterated drugs would have become a thing of the past.
The failure of Anambra state government to complete the CWC Oba is the major reason why honest and hardworking traders at the Onitsha drug market are groaning today and counting loses amounting to billions due to the sins of a few criminal minded traders who constitute less than 5% of the total market population.
It is self delusional and outright clinical insanity for the major players in Anambra state government to ignore the overwhelming impact of government policy failure in this unfolding mess.
Data from The Unite Nigeria Group (UNG) shows that legitimate traders in the Onitsha drug market and other nearby markets affected by the raid have lost an estimated N20billion in just two weeks of crippled commercial activities and the figure will continue to rise as long as the market remains closed while drugs, medical supplies and consumables carted away by NAFDAC amounts to over N500Billion.
All these wouldn’t have happened if Soludo focused on his job and delivered.
Instead of rambling incoherently and diverting attention by attacking Distinguished Senator Dr Tony Nwoye without provocation, Gov. Soludo should come clean and apologize to traders of the Onitsha drug market and Anambarians in general for his incompetence and failure to deliver on his promises.
The state government also should tell Anambarians what happened to the funding provided by Sterling Bank before accounting for the billions of Naira raised as revenues from the sales and allocation of shops and office spaces in the new site.
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Pope Obinna Tony Amaefuna
A Political Scientist and Public Policy Analyst Writes From Abuja
