The Governor of Anambra State, Prof Chukwuma Soludo, has said that the people of Okpoko in the Ogbaru Local Government Area of the state need more government attention.
Soludo, during his inaugural address to Ndi Anambra, in Awka, on Thursday, had said he would visit Okpoko on Friday.
Soludo, who arrived in the company of his deputy and other entourage, at about 10:08am, went round the various communities.
Ahead of the visit, street sweepers who had, for some days now, abandoned their duty, were seen clearing the roads and drainages in Upper Iweka and Okpoko environs.
However, mountainous heaps of refuse, which adorned major roads in the area, could not be hidden from the governor as he expressed deep worry on sighting them.
Traders, who used to display their wares on major roads, thereby causing gridlock around the area, removed their wares and the roads became clear for the smooth passage of the governor’s convoy.
The governor expressed unhappiness with the level of decadence in Okpoko and promised to sanitise the place. He said works would begin in the area immediately.
Soludo explained the rationale behind making Okpoko his first place of visit following his inauguration as the state governor on Thursday.
He noted that since the area had been accepted as the weakest link and the most densely populated area in the state, he had no option but to begin his administration’s projects from there.
The former Central Bank of Nigeria’s boss said the clarification had become necessary after he received several reports on why he made the area his first priority.
The governor noted that the people of Okpoko needed more attention than any part of the state at the moment.
Soludo, who addressed the community leaders and members at the St. Lwanga Catholic Church, Okpoko, after visiting other areas, spoke in Igbo language.
He said, “Ụmụnnem, ife dị na Okpoko; the genius, the unemployed and the criminal. The challenge before us is to decide whether to continue ruing the ugly situation or turn the flipside that will provide us enormous opportunities for the development of our Homeland.
“Okpoko is the largest Urban slum in Anambra State. Therefore, we have to begin our urban renewal effort from our weakest link. Like my now 16-year-old daughter once asked me when she was just 14: ‘It is not enough to wish for change or show the will to cause a change. How are you sure, Daddy, that the people themselves want to change?’
“Of course, this is not so easy a question to be answered without far-reaching consultation with the people. So far, the people of Okpoko and residents, from Ndikpa to East Niger, are more in a hurry for a change than we can ever be.
“That trip I made in 2009 to Okpoko where I was accosted by a little boy, who raced towards me and audaciously demanded, ‘Soludo nyem ego,’ still occupies a better part of my memory. That boy, and millions like him need much more than money. They need a life. May God help us!”While tasking the people to remain responsible citizens by paying their taxes and engaging in other civic duties, the governor stated categorically that the issue of touts and illegal collection of levies and taxes had come to an end in the state.
Credit: PUNCH