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By Iheanyi Chukwudi
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has called on the Anambra State Government to urgently declare a state of emergency on infrastructure in Awka, the State capital.
Bemoaning the poor infrastructural condition of the Awka capital territory and the toll on economic and social wellbeing of residents, the party urged the APGA government of the state to make provision for necessary infrastructure badly needed for development of the capital city before it becomes too late.
PDP noted that with few weeks remaining for the State Governor, Prof. Soludo to clock two years in office, he would have no excuse if he fails to give the state capital what it called a befitting facelift.
Speaking at a dinner hosted in his honour at Utopia Suites, Independent Layout, Enugu, by a group of small business owners of Anambra origin, the Chairman of PDP, Anambra state, Chief Chigozie Igwe said, "Soludo will be two years in office on March 14, 2024 which is a few weeks away.
"He would be completing half of his tenure soon yet there is no strong footprint of the government's developmental effort in Awka which harbours the seat of power. "
"While other parts of the state have not fared better, Awka remains the worst state capital in Nigeria with worsening infrastructural decay, dwindling economic outlook and increased hardship for the middle and low income earners."
Igwe who wondered why the APGA government preferred to churn out policies which he said were not thought through as they end up injuring the people more.
"Today, you cannot rent a two bedroom flat in Awka at any cost below half a million naira and a three bedroom flat in the town costs from a million naira and above. How many civil servants, small business owners or low income earners can afford this? Why is the situation like that?"
"The government has a defective housing policy where it has ignored the need for mass low income housing scheme preferring a sole option of aligning with private estate developers who merely apportion and sell undeveloped land which fail to close the gap on housing deficit, partly due to government's inability to provide critical infrastructures especially connecting roads to those estates.
Even the few roads built by Soludo around Awka are so narrow and unbefitting of a capital city with anticipation for growth and expansion.
"Recently, we saw the case of traders, mostly women, who in the bid to save their families from the economic crunch caused by bad governance, found themselves plying their trades by the roadsides of Awka, probably because they could not afford the excruciating cost of renting shops in the capital city.
But the Soludo government felt that they were defacing the esthetics of the capital and all it could do was to uproot and destroy their wares. You can see how insensitive the government has been portrayed by this action.
"One wonders why Soludo did not think of a policy to relocate the economically challenged citizens rather than turning them to destitutes by destroying their sources of livelihood."
Stressing that the economic activities in Awka had been badly affected by Soludo's policies, Igwe said, "A combination of the Governor's policy curtailing traditional celebrations and activities like funerals together with cult induced insecurity in Awka which the Governor had ignored to tackle, have killed the weekend economy in the state capital resulting in capital flight and relocation of several small businesses from Awka, which in effect has visibly reduced the state capital to a ghost town."
He cited the value chain of operators in the printing, hospitality and entertainment industries together with their ancillary businesses as the most hit by the governor's ban which he said limited printing of posters among others "together with insecurity, the number of visitors that used to troop into the state capital every weekend for funerals and other weekend activities have been drastically reduced.
This situation requires urgent action by Soludo to reduce the burden on the people."
Igwe scored Soludo low so far on performance especially as it concerns the Awka capital territory.
He said, "This is not a time for noise making but a critical time to observe governance and propagate constructive engagements to instigate better performance from the government in the interest of the masses.
"But I think Soludo may be heading to failure because he has continued to miss opportunities to ameliorate the hunger and hardship imposed on the suffering masses by the ineptitude governance of successive APGA regimes."
Igwe assured that the PDP is ready to provide a credible alternative to the residents of Awka and the people of Anambra state when the time comes saying, "Very soon the electioneering window will open and PDP will come to the rescue.
We will unfold our manifestos and plans to make Ndi Anambra laugh again. There is something about PDP's antecedents of good governance, exemplified by successive PDP governments in Delta, Enugu, Akwa Ibom and others.
Even Soludo as CBN Governor under a PDP government did so well. He propounded the Dubai-Taiwan agenda as a PDP governorship candidate but when he took the idea to APGA, a very small party without strong antecedents, the ideas seam to have failed to germinate."
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