16112017 - FG revokes Intels' expatriate permits

Vanguard, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2017— 41
Anambra election: Let no darkness fall
By Esinwoke Chinedum
YOUR Excellency, this open
letter is necessitated by the
urgent need to rekindle purposeful
leadership that will fan the embers
of Nigerian unity.
Your Excellency, November 18th,
2017 presents you with another
opportunity to write your name in
gold, consolidating your
achievements as the chief servant of
Anambra people.
The date remains sacrosanct as it
is going to be another test of
Nigerian election.
However, my concern in all of this,
is the peace and tranquility that will
possibly guarantee the safety of the
people and the existing
infrastructures in the state.
As a matter of importance, you
must do all within your powers to
ensure that peace prevails during
and after this all-important election.
The place of Anambra in
Nigeria’s socio-economic and
political development cannot be
overemphasised hence, the need to
shock those who are praying for
darkness to fall in a state reverred
as the “Light of the Nation”.
As the illuminating ‘Light of the
Nation’, Anambra State under your
watch must do well to shine more
brighter devoid of traces of literal
darkness.
Obviously, it is another beautiful
political era in the history of
Anambra State to shine for the sake
of the nation. You, Willie Obiano as
the chief security/safety officer of the
By Valentine Obienyem
AS is evident across Anambra
State and demonstrated
severally by those who should know,
Gover Willie Obiano has steered the
ship of State backwards right from
his assumption of office. He made
so much noise in his early days in
office that he seemed to have
forgotten about governance in the
ecstasy of victory. Sadly, he is still
celebrating; and marked this
Month with the appointment of
several more aides. Presently, he has
a retinue of over 1,000 aides, more
than 500 of whom are from his home
town, Aguleri. Such are his
nepotistic and parochial inclinations
that even as he has practically
neglected the infrastructural needs
of the State, he has completed over
35 roads in his native Aguleri. In the
meantime, most of the abandoned
roads have since developed gullies
that are threatening to cut off several
communities; compelling them to
embark on self-help palliatives.
Indeed, Gov. Obiano’s oppressive
policies have had debilitating effects
on the majority of Anambrarians
and their communities.
On the government sensitivity
scale, there is no gainsaying that
Gov. Obiano will rate abysmally.
How is it responsive to the yearnings
of the people? Is the government
prudent or how does he see the
treasury ? What is the government's
response to the provision of
infrastructure? What is the
government doing to attract
investors to the state? Comparing
the administration of Peter Obi with
that of Obiano's, the people of
Anambra identify Obi with the
pleasure of wisdom, while Obiano
with that of wisdom of pleasure.
While Obi used must of his time
exploring means of improving
Anambra, Obiano is drenched in
Hedonism [pleasure-seeking] and
Epicureanism [Let us eat today for
state must once again show the world
that you are more resilient than ever
to ensure your humble state remains
secured at its enviable pinnacle of
glory as the fourth Nigeria’s largest
economy.
In July this year at a breakfast
meeting entitled: Investment
Promotion and Protection: The
Anambra State Experience,
Challenges, and Opportunities held
at Lagos you said through your
deputy Dr. Nkem Okonkwo that you
You must do all within
your powers to ensure
that peace prevails
during and after this allimportant
election
inherited Anambra State with an
average ambition, explaining that
through strategic refocusing, the
state had been positioned as one with
the greatest chances of producing
the most surprising development
results in the next five years, therefore
ahead of November 18
gubernatorial election in the state, it
is profitable not to let darkness fall.
This great state with a long list of
“firsts” in Nigeria history must shine
purer!
However, with the relative peace
the state is enjoying since your
entrance in the corridor of Anambra
politics, there is no gain saying that
you and your team came with a
clearly defined vision and mission,
A glimpse into the Obiano’s years
tomorrow we die]. As Governor,
Obiano has lived it up to a gross and
unwholesome scale. Consider some
of his tastes and idiosyncrasies at
public expense: 50-vehicle convoy,
party-orgies, imported customised
wines, blew N5 billion to celebrate
his first 100 days in office in 2014,
sponsored 160 persons, including a
musician to the USA for his
daughter’s graduation ceremony,
procured over 400 vehicles for his
re-election campaign but not even
one for the public schools, to mention
a few.
For over three and half years, Gov.
Obiano persistently denied he
inherited about N75 billion [some
of it in US Dollars] from the Obi
administration. Then the bubble
burst with the courageous expose by
The Nation Newspapers of his
surreptitious sale of the Dollar
Savings meant for the State and at a
discounted rate for that matter.
Confronted with the ultimate truth
at the gubernatorial debate of 12th
of November, he admitted lying to
Who do we look
for?In Oseloka
Obaze we have a
higher man
the people. Is that not enough reason
for a decent person to throw in the
towel and ask for pardon? Not the
Willie Obiano we now know: He is
even brazenly seeking a second term
in office. Would Anambra people
give him another mandate he has
abused for four years?
Among his other shady claims is
that he had completed 51 roads. I
personally went through the list to
discover that about 48 of the roads
he mentioned were actually started
and completed during the Obi years.
which is to make Anambra State the
first choice investment destination
and a hub for industrialisation and
commercial activities. As well as a
socially stable, business friendly
environment that would attract both
indigenes and foreigners to seek
wealth-creating opportunities.
Right now, the state is at the mercy
of November 18th gubernatorial
election. It holds the breathe and
future of Anambra State, which must
be safeguarded with all intent and
purposes.
Anambra State in recent times
have been in the eyes of the sociopolitical
storms ocassioned by
different level of grievances.
However, I salute your leadership
dexterity in calming such storms.
The warm, hospitable and highly
enterprising features of Anambra
State must not be allowed to go down
the drain in the name of politicking.
As a safety officer, I owe it a great
duty to proclaim the gospel of peace
and unity, which is a pivotal
instrument for sustainable
development as a country.
Apart from changing the
narratives of politics, it takes
patriotism and selflessness to build
a societal gallery of enviable heritage
embellished with peace and unity,
good governance, accountability
and transparency.
Your Excellency, I shall trust your
disposition in matters of this nature.
*Mr. Chinedum , a former Zonal
commander , Federal Fire Service,
(South east) , wrote from Abuja.
He further claimed that he exported
Ugu [Pumpkin] leaves worth
US$5m even as no one in Anambra
State has identified the farm or
garden where he cultivated such a
volume of the highly-perishable
vegetable. Goaded by his aides , he
also boasted of an order to export 10
million tubers of yams. Sadly, none
of his aides reminded him that
Anambra State is not even selfsufficient
in yam production; as the
bulk of its supplies come from Benue
and Taraba States.
Gov. Obiano outdid himself when
he declared that Anambra was the
only State unaffected by the recent
recession, which effectively means
that Anambra has become a State
within a State. Is he suggesting that
while the price of rice, for instance,
doubled in other parts of Nigeria due
to the recession, it remained the old
rate in Anambra State?
It is also open to question whether
Obiano thinks about the future, with
his hedonistic and Epicurean
inclinations. How can he? Is he not
the same person who justified the
squandering of Anambra Dollar
Savings to the effect that saving for
the future is “useless?” Peter Obi had
a great vision for the State and set
out to realize. One of the tragedies
of the Obiano Government is the
abortion of that great vision.
In the last three years or so, the
Obiano government has consistently
insulted the sensibilities of Anambra
people by its oppressiveness, and
insensitivity. But with the election at
the corner, Anambra people now
have a golden opportunity to remove
Obiano and end the long and terrible
nightmare of oppression. Who do
we look for? In Oseloka Obaze we
have a higher man. People and
organizations that have worked or
interacted with him can assert with
surety that he pursues with dedicated
ardour the tenets of good governance.
*Mr. Obienyem,wrote from Agulu,
Anambra State.
Obiano's imprints on security
By Kenechukwu Ezenwoke
NIGERIA is a country of surprises. Each time things seem to take
a turn for the worse, some surprise development will occur to
raise hope in the future of our country. This has happened over and over
again in our tortuous history..
The recent surprise turn around in the state of security in Anambra
State approximates one such development. The security miracle in
Anambra State is taking place at a time the nation has virtually lost
hope in the face of widespread threats to lives and property in Nigeria
by a wide range of criminals some of whom have directly and
successfully challenged the Nigerian state in armed uprisings that
approximate to a civil war.
Beginning with the OPC challenge of the late 1990s in the South West,
to the Militancy in the Niger Delta, the Boko Haram terror group and
Herdsmen have taken the nation by storm, killing, maiming and
destroying lives and property across the country on a regular basis.
The IPOB recently joined in the mayhem, even as commercial
kidnapping spreads from the South East and South South to the North
and the South West. In the North Central and North East Herdsmen
have turned whole geopolitical regions into a theatre of war and
bloodshed. Southern Kaduna has witnessed a sustained bloody war
between Herdsmen and indigenous communities, while Zamfara has
become a theatre of bloody attacks by cattle rustlers year in year out
with horrible tales of bloodshed and destruction of entire communities
along the border with Niger Republic.
While most governors keep running to Abuja cap in hand to beg for
federal intervention, Governor Willie Obiano, a fresh hand on the job
in his first term as Governor decided to take the bull by the horns: He
won't accept the fate that had befallen Anambra for almost two
generations as the most crime infested state in the South East of Nigeria.
Name it: Kidnapping, armed robbery, MASOB violence, cult wars: All
combined to make Anambra a true hell in the South East. Suddenly
even Ndi Anambra began to flee the State, while annual Yam festivals
and Christmas holidays witnessed fewer and fewer people coming home!
The economy nosedived into prolonged stagnation as the highly
industrious and commercial people of Anambra moved their businesses
to other parts of the country. Believing that he must take the destiny of
his people firmly into his own hands, Governor Obiano decided to
prioritise security as a number one programme on assumption of office
in 2014. building on the initial work of his predecessor. Obiano engaged
the security sector through a well thought out and well funded
intervention, working through the Police and all the other Security
Agencies.
Through consistent visioning, planning, partnership and supply of
equipment, funding and motivation of the security agencies, Obiano
gradually and firmly turned the tables against kidnappers and other
armed criminals who had made Anambra the epicenter of their
nefarious and destructive operations for decades. He followed this up
with community policing and awareness campaign backed by consistent
leadership.
Within two years of his tenure: the impossible began to happen: all
the hardened criminals and their networks began to relocate from
Aanambra to other parts of the country! Onitsha, Awka and Nnewi
began to witness calm and serene peace. Today bank and shop robberies
have abated. The high ways are safer. Neighbourhoods now witness
less and less crimes and night life has actually returned to Onisha of all
places! The State has started to witness a new lease of life. Ndi Anambra
can testify that coming home now is done with more confidence.
The result is the huge dividends being recorded in sharp upsurge in
economic growth in the last few years. Gradually Anambra has become
a leading destination for inflow of foreign direct investments in
commerce, industry, agriculture, manufacturing, and air and land
transportation.
Even as Nigeria roiled in one of the most disastrous economic
recessions in the last three years, Anambra witnessed high annual GDP
growth of between 12 and 16 per cent in the Obiano years.
Not only has Anambra taken the lead in rice and vegetable production,
it has become a modest earner in foreign exchange from the export of
vegetables. The State has continued stable growth in investment
grossing $7 USD in three years. Hotels in Awka and Onitsha are filled
up on daily basis as business continues to boom in Anambra State.
Internal revenue generation also continues to witness steady growth to
the extent that from last September, Governor Obiano started paying
salaries and wages without waiting for allocations from the Federation
Account. This in spite of the fact that he rejected all the bail out loans
offered by the Federal Government to other states to pay backlogs of
salary arrears. He owes no worker or pensioner a dime in Anambra
State.
The icing on the cake of the investment dividends improved security
and business environment have brought to Anambra State was the
recent announcement by Chinese investors to build an international
Cargo Airport City in Anambra State worth 2.6 Billion US Dollars.
The Airport which groundbreaking ceremony was performed a few
weeks ago will be the biggest in West Africa on completion, and all
without a dime from Anambra State treasury.
In just three years Governor Obiano has proven that State Governors
can, and indeed have a responsibility to provide their people with security
of lives and property. He has also demonstrated the maxim that security
is the foundation of economic growth and prosperity. The Obiano
security model shows clearly that absence of leadership at the State
level is largely responsible for the insecurity in Nigeria.
As Anambra returns to the polls on November 18 to choose who
among the 37 candidates will lead the State in the next four years,
incumbent Governor Obiano has proven in three years that fixing
Nigeria's security crisis can indeed be done within reasonable timeline.
The missing link is focused leadership, the right priority, funding and
the motivation of our security agencies to do the job!
*Mr. Ezenwoke, wrote from Awka, Anambra State.
C
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