Featured, Politics
By Anayo Ezugwu
AS Anambra State prepares for the governorship election in 2021, Ambassador Ike Oligbo, a British trained lawyer and an aspirant under the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has promised to reform Anambra State Waste Management Authority, ASWAMA. He said the agency would be reformed to meet up with the contemporary waste management challenges in the state.
In an exclusive interview with Realnews, Oligbo said his administration would enforce the environmental laws of the state. He noted that as it stands, environmental laws exist, but they are not enforced.
“Again, we will look into waste to wealth approach where waste scavengers will be organized and coordinated,” he said.
On his appraisal of the education system in the state, Oligbo said the state was still doing well in education, but not to be compared with the administration of former Governor Peter Obi. “Anambra state is still doing well in education, but if you compare the present performance and performance during the administration of Mr. Peter Obi, you will agree with me that there is a drop in performance. Unfortunately, this drop isn’t supposed to be witnessed at all.
“It implies that there is relapse in policy implementation. Such policy relapse must be identified and checkmated. Again, institutional reform becomes necessary. Moreover, like I said during my official declaration, I made it clear that I will establish nine years compulsory free education so as to set right education foundation in Anambra State. Furthermore, funding of education will be a priority in my administration. I will make effort to implement the UN’s budgetary benchmark for education.”
On his assessment of the handling of the coronavirus pandemic at various levels in Nigeria, Oligbo criticized the federal government for poor handling of the pandemic. He said states were not allowed to take their own initiative. “It’s wrong to centralize the activities of the Nigeria Centre for disease Control, NCDC. Again, the issue of ignoring home grown approach was nonsensical. Madagascar gave support to home grown management approach and they were successful. Our local scientists should be encouraged to come up with solutions instead of searching for solutions from the Western world.
“The mechanism for distribution of palliatives was equally wrong. COVID-19 has taught us to be proactive rather than reactionary. Again the issue of 1999 Constitution and restructuring arise here. The bundled 1999 Constitution makes it difficult for any state to harness her natural resources, so it’s a big challenge. Right now, the gas deposit is kept on strategic reserve by the federal government and it is so because natural resources are in the exclusive list in the constitution.
“So the state needs to be constitutionally empowered to harness her natural resources and once that is done, exploration of gas for both domestic use and export will be activated during my administration with state-of-the-art in oil and gas technology coupled with environmental best practices will be embarked on,” he said.
Oligbo said his desire is to make the economy of Anambra State the best in the country. He noted that he will achieve this by simply creating the enabling business environment, massive infrastructural development and discouraging of unnecessary bureaucratic bottlenecks. “It’s likely that I will declare state of emergency in electrical energy sector because once this sector is okay, 50 percent of business challenges is gone.
“It’s my dream to make Anambra State the business hub of Africa with highest foreign direct investment, FDI, destination. I want Ndi Anambra and in particular PDP delegates to know that I’m not just one of the stereotype politicians rather I’m a politician that will walk my talk and honour my promises. I want to use my wealth of knowledge acquired over the years at both local and international levels to develop Anambra State to an enviable height. I humbly request for the support of the PDP delegates and Ndi Anambra in general.”
– Jun. 29, 2020 @ 14:35 GMT |
Tags: My dream is to make Anambra State business hub of Africa – Governorship Aspirant
