Ausbeth Ajagu writes on the TASK BEFORE ANAMBRA STATE

The visit of President Olusegun Obasanjo to Anambra State in February 2002 has come and gone. After the visit, it is a time to reflect on the visit and to make suggestions on how to move Anambra State forward.

President Obasanjo paid a two-day official visit to the state during which he among other engagements commissioned projects. But more fundamentally, the President was shown some roads, water, health, education, rural electrification and housing projects the government has so far executed in the state. By these parameters, we have only focused on micro-economic indices.

At the macro level, Anambra State like other states is still confronted with high rate of unemployment, inflation, depreciating value of the Naira, epileptic social infrastructure. Our assessment of the dividends of democracy will be incomplete if we isolate these key variables, Since they are essential in assessing real and sustainable development.

Government should continue to tidy up its own affairs. Three-year period is long enough for the people to enjoy the dividends of democracy in the critical areas of their lives. What is required, as we step into the last lap of the tenure of the Obasanjo administration, is creativity in terms of the ability to thick through programmes more deliberately and to insert measurable results as standard proof of commitment. Political opposition in charting a course for a new Anambra State should not distract government.

Emphasis should be on those things that unite the good people of Anambra State and not on those parochial issues that divide us. People want to see those projects that will sustain economic development to be tackled within a given time frame. From now onwards, it can no longer give excuses. In the critical areas of education and jobs, people want concrete performance. Politicians in power and office have been preoccupied with the elections in 2003. They need to be reminded that what is more important is the quality of service that they render to the people as public servants, and not power holders for its own sake.

No doubt, Nigerian problems appear intractable because the Federal arrangement for good governance was mutilated by military rule. In order to improve the environment for democracy to work for the people, Nigeria has to return to the Federal system that guarantees enhanced autonomy to constituent units. There is still time for the Obasanjo administration and state governments to fulfill their mandate and promises to the people. Leaders should live by example and be seen to be working to improve the quality of life of their people.

Transparency, probity and accountability should be restored in public sympathetic attention to the needs of the people should be ensured. Government must tackle the problems of food, unemployment, transport, power supply, education, health, crime water, shelter, as priority projects. It must also attend to the needs workers, pensioners and manufacturers. Poverty alleviation should not be a special programme. It should be a holistic project on which there is no distraction. The public good and welfare should dominate public and private activity.

Instead of dissipating energies on frivolities, both the leadership and the led should work in concert for economic development of the state. When I was invited by the good people of Anambra State to deliver a lecture on March 31, 2000 in Awka to mark the 9th anniversary of the creation of Anambra State and the first year in office of the Mbadinuju administration, I stated in a paper titled; "Industrialization in the 21st Century Anambra State, the Way Forward" that Anambra State must be refocused in order to take its rightful position in the country. I stated inter-alia "for the state to maintain its status as an industrial giant in future, the emphasis must be on our people acquiring basic education. Course contents in our schools should be geared towards the acquisition of practical and applied skills as well as basic scientific knowledge that are directly relevant to the industrial as well as technology needs of the state. Positive steps should be taken to ensure structural adjustment in the allocation resources to high education with emphasis this time on polytechnics and colleges of technology to produce the much-needed middle level technical manpower required for the industrial and technological development of the state."

I used that opportunity to appeal to the Federal Government to assist the state in infrastructural development. I feel Anambrarians that are connected to the seat of power or close to those in Abuja should carry this message across. Many of the Federal roads in the state are in deplorable condition. For example, the Onitsha Bridge - Upper Iweka Road which is the only link road between the state and the west is very deplorable amongst others. These roads should be rehabilitated and new roads constructed to boost the socio-economic development of the state. The River Niger dredging which has been calling for attention has not received the light of the day. Series of new digital cross the country but none has television stations are currently being opened across the country but none has been sited in the South-East. It will not be a crime for the federal government to site one .in Anambra state with very large market for its services.

Instead of accusations and counter accusations, the public and private sectors of the economy should emphasize to the Federal Government the need to commerce work at the Onitsha-Oba Airport that was abandoned many years ago. The commercial and economic development of the Airport cannot be over-emphasized. It does not make economic sense for the Federal Government to keep maintaining economically unviable Airports while the Onitsha-Oba Airport that has high business prospects if completed is neglected. This is the issue our people should be telling President Olusegun Obasanjo when they see him.

Anambrarians should be united in the call to the Federal Government to start the exploitation of the mineral deposits in the state. In a memorandum I sent to the National Assembly in March 2000 titled "NDDC Bill: A case for Anambra State", I stressed the need for the Federal Government to start the exploitation of oil deposits at Aguleri, Ogbaru and Anam. It will be recalled that Shell Petroleum Company in its adventurous activities in Anambra River Basin in 1972 struck oil and natural gas in commercial quantities. I stated that exploitation of oil resources in the state will not only accelerate the economic development of the state but will also formally launch the state in the league of oil producing states with its attendant economic benefits. I'm happy that Governor Mbadinuju took the issue up with the President when he visited the state, even though nothing so far has happened positively on same.

Governor Mbadinuju and the rest of us should work towards the revival of agriculture in the state. No doubt it was in attempt to restore the oil palm to its prime position as well as agriculture as the mainstay of the economy that the state government reconstituted the board of the Anambra Oil Palm Development Agency. As the Chairman of the Agency, I have worked very hard with other board members to prepare the blueprint that will lay the foundation for "a new Anambra State" in the field of agriculture. I feel government, Anambrarians, investors and the private sector should work together with the Agency to harness the agricultural potentials of the state particularly oil palm. The state government should be pro-active and support financially the actual resuscitation of the agricultural sector of the state especially oil palm cultivation as one needs to invest before reaping; thus should encourage medium and long term investments.

Having examined all contemporary issues in Anambra politics, I strongly believe this period after the presidential visit should be a time of self-examination and reconciliation. The politicians must conduct their activities with decorum and decency and in line with the laid down rules and regulations. The remaining part of the tenure of the civilian administration will no doubt witness a quickening of the political tempo, and a heightening of political activity. We must keep our heads and conduct political competition within democratic rules.

There must be no victimization of individuals because of the political views, no deliberately invested falsehoods designed to smear political opponents, no politicking at the expense of policy making and serious policy discussions.

The politicians must act as good sportsmen, set aside differences and harness their energies to the task of development of the state. The politicians should realise that regardless of their party affiliations, the interest of the nation is supreme. They should discuss those things that unite us than those things that divide. National interest must be paramount in political discussions. The politicians whatsoever persuasion or affiliation, in whatever capacity in their respective party, and in whatever position should work towards the progress of the state.

While agreeing that there is no permanent friend and enemy in politics, rather permanent interest, I feel there is need for total reconciliation by the government and different factions of the ruling party. True reconciliation should be seen as the process by which various peoples, who for whatever reasons find themselves in disharmonious relationship are able to overcome the disharmony and restore the original good relationship between or amongst them. Hence, while contradictions are an essence of social life, disharmony is a negative contradiction, which may impede productive life, progress and civilization.

(Ajagu writes from Lagos, May 07, 2002 (This Day/All Africa Global Media via COMTEX).