Remembering the Obiano years

BY OBIORA AGHADINUMO

Leadership wields so much pervasive power that over time, a geopolitical space begins to wear the intrinsic qualities of its leader. A mean-hearted leader induces a suffocating atmosphere on the environment, but a kind and compassionate leader suffuses the environment with euphoria. In the 8 years of Chief Willie Obiano’s leadership of Anambra State, the entire state was enveloped in euphoria. Palpable euphoria.

Looking back, it would be inadequate to evaluate Obiano’s legacies in terms of monuments and physical structures. The Obiano years were best defined by his uncanny ability to break down the difficult challenge of leadership into simple conceptual themes. They were captured in the two declarations he made to the people, namely, that he would work very hard to ensure that they went “to sleep with two eyes closed” and that “ana alu olu, ana alu mmadu,” which loosely translates to the assurance that his administration would “build human lives while building physical structures.” These conceptual definitions of his mission in government appear simple on the surface; but they captured Obiano’s entire legacies, ranging from his historic security architecture to critical infrastructure, wealth creation, social welfare and the creation of a livable homeland where happiness did not belong to the realm of wishful thinking.

There is an exciting debate in some quarters that a huge slice of Obiano’s remarkable legacies was that he successfully led his proud people to reclaim their pride. This belief was first echoed by no less a personality than the global icon, Chimamanda Adichie. Delivering a lecture ten years ago to mark Obiano’s First 100 Days in office, Adichie had declared, “The truth is that I have not always been proud of Anambra. I was ashamed when Anambra became a metaphor for poor governance, when our political culture was about malevolent shrines and kidnappings and burnt buildings, when our teachers were forced to become petty traders and our school children stayed at home, when Anambra was in such disarray that one of the world’s greatest storytellers, Chinua Achebe, raised the proverbial alarm by rejecting a national award.”

Truth be told, it is difficult not to accept the conclusion that it was under Willie Obiano that Anambra eventually hit the highway and began to show signs of the greatness everyone knew it had but lacked the key to unluck. His exploits in security spawned urban legends about how safe the once notorious Upper Iweka had become, and Anambra was repeatedly honoured as the Safest State in Nigeria and in West and Central Africa. Anambra girls beat every other contender including the US, Spain, China, Uzbekistan and Turkey to clinch the gold medal at the World Technovation Fair in San Francisco and Anambra became the reference point in industrial agriculture; producing a brand of rice that was adjudged as the Best Rice in Africa. Anambra also emerged as the Best State in the Support of SMEs in Nigeria and was decorated with a medal at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. Obiano’s Community Choose-your-Project initiative was declared by America’s Forbes Magazine as a revolutionary model of development that left no community behind and it was quickly added to the list of the global best practices in rural development and widely adopted across Nigeria.

Indeed, under Obiano, Anambra had a unique atmosphere. Streetlights with thousands of LED bulbs lit up over 1,800 kilometres of roads across the length and breadth of the state. Anambra became Nigeria’s most illuminated state. In much the same way, the menace of gully erosion got a good head-butt from Obiano. Famous erosion sites like the 100Ft Road near Nkwo Nnewi, the Uga Amuma Obosi site, the Ikenga Ogidi site, the Nkisi Aroli site, the Ire Obosi site, the Nnewichi, Ojoto, Abagana and Abidi-Umuoji sites among several others were reclaimed and regrassed. These were horrific gullies that could easily swallow a skyscraper.

Essentially, the crowning glory of the Obiano years are the Chinua Achebe Airport, the International Convention Centre, Awka and perhaps, most importantly, the official recognition of Anambra as an oil-producing state. Indeed, Obiano worked assiduously to ensure that Anambra began to earn revenue from the 13 percent derivation allocated to oil-bearing states. However, it has to be said that while the three iconic flyovers in Awka and Amawbia and the beautiful Awka Township Stadium are all sparkling legacies of governor Obiano, for a people widely regarded as the most widely-travelled in Nigeria, the Achebe Airport is obviously Obiano’s remarkable parting gift. Similarly, the International Convention Centre finds resonance in the highly developed social networking environment and the pervasive sense of community. Along with the prestigious Golden Tulip Agulu Lake Hotel and the famous Onitsha Main Market, they formed a solid foundation for the economic prosperity of the state.

In summary therefore, nothing was left to chance under Obiano. Not even the atmosphere of Anambra State!

Happy birthday, Governor Willie Obiano as you turn 69 today.

Aghadinuno, a public affairs analyst, writes from Nsugbe.