Tinubu is passionate about Anambra’s giant developmental strides

On the campaign trail in Awka for the 2023 presidential election, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu – who was then a presidential candidate for the 2023 elections – described Governor Chukwuma Soludo as his friend, a deep thinker, a brilliant man and as a man who ‘’knows the way’’. He promised to work with Governor Soludo and seek his advice when he becomes president. President Tinubu – who is well-known to have a knack for identifying talents – also promised to support the industrialization of Anambra State if he became president.

Today, Bola Ahmed Tinubu is President and he is keeping that promise.

Speaking at the Anambra Investment Summit through a representative, President Tinubu commended Governor Soludo for the various mega projects being executed in Anambra. The President mentioned some projects being executed in Anambra such as ‘’the Anambra Mixed-Use Industrial City, the Anambra Intra-Rail System [the design has been completed], the New Awka and Onitsha City Developments, and the Solution Innovation District – [i.e.] Anambra’s own Silicon Valley’’. Actually, there is a long list of mega projects going on in Anambra.

In comparing some of these projects to the transformational projects he executed 25 years ago as governor of Lagos State, the President had this to say at the 2024 Anambra Investment Summit: ‘’ Reflecting on my own journey, just 25 years ago, when I was Governor of Lagos, I articulated my vision which included major infrastructure projects such as the Lagos Light Rail Project, the Eko Atlantic city, and the Lekki Deep Sea Port project. At that time, many critics dismissed these plans as mere academic and political rhetoric. Yet today, with four governors coming after me, those projects are now operational, thus serving as a testament to what is possible with vision, determination and political will.’’

Also, in his speech, the President promised to ‘’expedite approvals for incentives such as the Special Economic Zone license for the Anambra Mixed-Use Industrial City [AMIC] and provide the necessary Pioneer Status incentives where applicable’’. The Governor Soludo -led administration has completed the design and the formal application process for the free trade zone license for AMIC. [AMIC will be located in the Orumba North District of Anambra on a 4,000-hectare of land. AMIC will be developed for the manufacturing of industrial components. It will have agro and food processing plants, pharmaceutical manufacturing industries, automobile assembly plants, textile industries and various manufacturing outfits with state-of-the-art infrastructure in order to attract and support investments].

On the political front, President Tinubu has shown his support and love for Anambra, with the appointment of Lady Bianka Ojukwu and Mark Okoye, as Nigeria’s minister of state for foreign affairs and the managing director of the newly established South East Development Commission, respectively. This is the first time members of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) will be occupying such important and strategic offices in Nigeria. Some commentators argue that APGA and President Tinubu’s All Progressive Congress (APC) believe in progressivism and are both progressives as indicated in their names.

Anambra is rising and President Tinubu is giving the state the right support.

President Tinubu has a grand vision for Nigeria and the economic pains being experienced by Nigerians – mostly inherited – would likely be a thing of the past in the months and years to come. Today, Nigeria is back to practicing monetary and fiscal policies as they ought to be. The President has stopped the central bank’s lending through ‘ways and means’ – a practice that exacerbated Nigeria’s inflation and has brought it to the double-digit figure it is today. He has cleared backlogs of inherited forex liabilities and thus has entered the path required to reposition Nigeria’s currency. Today, transparency in the nation’s foreign exchange market through the use of Bloomberg’s Foreign Exchange Electronic Trading Platform (FXGO) BMatch has improved our forex system. Many economists believe that 2025 will be a good year because of the many economic reforms the president has rolled out. Things will definitely change when they mature.

Today, international investors have rekindled their interest in Nigeria. Last October, Jamie Dimon – the CEO of JPMorgan Chase, the world’s largest bank by market capitalization – visited Nigeria. This renewed interest is coming after JP Morgan had delisted Nigeria from the list of emerging market sovereign recommendations that investors should be ‘overweight’ in May 2022. The global lender attributed this to Nigeria’s fiscal woes back in 2022. But, with Jamie Dimon’s recent visit and the lender’s rekindled interest in Nigeria, it is obvious that the global lender has started seeing positive changes in Nigeria.

Obviously, Tinubu has laid the ground work for a strong macroeconomic environment in Nigeria. What is remaining is for these strong macroeconomic foundations to trickle down to the country’s microeconomic environment. There is no doubt that the pepper seller and the average Nigerian consumer will start feeling the impact of these reforms in the months to come.

President Tinubu’s recent media chat with journalist shows that the president has a strong grip of the economy and that he is determined to reposition the country. “I liked the fact that, sitting next to him, he has settled into the job. He knows what he’s doing. He spoke with a lot of confidence…. I was shocked that this man… they didn’t even prepare him. He just walked onto this set and he’s sounding like this. That again is something to commend. He was relaxed. I thought I could rattle him once or twice. Nobody asked us to submit questions. President Tinubu didn’t say what are you going to discuss? In fact, we did not see him until he walked onto the set”, a former presidential aide and co-host of Arise Television’s breakfast show, Reuben Abati, remarked after the interview.

The future of Nigeria and, of course, Anambra is bright. As we enter into the new year, we must keep hope alive!

Nwankwo is the special adviser on special projects to Soludo.