The Governor of Anambra State, Prof. Charles Soludo, has described his first 100 days in office as “so far, so bumpy but so good”.
Soludo, who said he was not an enthusiast of 100 days in office fashion, spoke at a news conference on the occasion of his 100 days in office in Awka on Saturday.
He said he remained undeterred in his efforts to fulfill his campaign promises to the people of Anambra.
The governor said he “applied for this job, and there will be no excuses”.
“To be sure, the last 100 days have been bumpy and challenging as expected, with insecurity and a red treasury being the most portent, as clearly identified in our inaugural address.
“Since February 2022, the contribution of oil revenue from NNPC to the federation account has been zero and many states have difficulty paying salaries. Thus, with declining revenue in the context of insecurity and a mountain of debt (including over N20 billion in arrears of gratuity to pensioners since 2018) vis-à-vis the sky-high expectations from you (my employers), some fundamental disruptive changes are inevitable,” Soludo said.
Reflecting on achievements in some sectors of the state’s economy, Soludo said, “We have spent the last 100 hundred days addressing some key foundational issues: appointed, swore in and organized a retreat for a new cabinet within five weeks; launched the campaign to mobilize our people to take back our state from criminals and head-on systematic and comprehensive attack on insecurity to restore law and order and revised 2022 budget and provided unprecedented allocation of 64% for capital/infrastructural development as well as priority for youth development.”
He said about 220 km of strategic roads across the state had been earmarked for construction and would all be inaugurated for effective take off after the rains were over.
The Anambra governor however blamed the delay in commencement of road construction and repairs in the state on the delay in the passage of its revised budget by the State House of Assembly.
Recall that Soludo presented a revised budget of N170 billion to the State House of Assembly with 64 per cent of the total budget devoted to capital expenditure.
Soludo said Anambra was enjoying massive goodwill in the international community with the return of United Nations Development Programme and other international development partners returning to the state.
He said the expected progress was being retarded by the unfortunate insecurity situation which he described as “a lucrative criminal enterprise” under the guise of agitation.
The governor reiterated that his administration was determined to recover Anambra for its people, noting that no bush, no forest or house would be comfortable for them to inhabit or carry out their nefarious activities.
He said his administration might not be able to maintain the generous appointment attitude of previous government due to dwindling funding but would recruit when very necessary
He pledged to ensure massive recruitment to fill the manpower gap in the education and health sectors.
According to him, recruitment and appointments will be made for the manpower needs of the state and for value.
Soludo thanked the people of Anambra and leadership of the All Progressives Grand Alliance for their support and promised not to let them down
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