On January 31, 2023, Anambra State will receive the Presidential Candidate of the All Progressives Congress in the forthcoming 2023 presidential election, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as he comes to deliver the Renewed Hope message to Ndi Anambra. His visit to Anambra to me, is more than a presidential campaign rally. It is an opportunity to interact constructively with a man who is almost certain to be the next President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria come May 29, 2023.
Anambra State therefore needs to as a matter of strategic positioning open its arms to the progressive wind set to blow across this nation. Bola Ahmed Tinubu is not just any man, he is an architect of progressive governance, a problem solver, an out-of-the-box thinker, a man that sees opportunities where others see impossibilities. Tinubu is a man that can create wealth from liabilities. This is the man that is coming to Anambra.
The Buhari-led All Progressives Congress government despite its poor harvest in Anambra has been extremely fair to Anambra State. The projects the APC-led federal government has undertaken in Anambra in less than 8 years is far greater than the cumulative projects of the PDP era in Anambra State.
Some of these projects include commencement and completion of the Second Niger bridge project, Enugu-Onitsha expressway, 13.5km spur of road from Onitsha-Owerri road through Okija-Ihembosi to Ezinifite, rehabilitation of Onitsaha-Aguleri-Adani road, Oba-Okigwe road, completion of a new 120MVA 132/33kV Substation in Awka, installation of a 60MVA Transformer at GCM, Onitsha, installation of 33kV industrial CB at Onitsha Transmission Substation.
Others include the construction of a 2x60MVA transmission substation in Ogbunike/Ogidi, 3.0 megawatts solar hybrid power plant located at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, completion of the Zik Mausoleum in Onitsha, completion of an MSMEs Shared Facility at the Ogbunike Leather Trading Cluster, the Concession of Onitsha Inland River Port and a host of other interventions.
A Tinubu presidency presents a different set of opportunities for Anambra State. Tinubu has a thing for Free Trade Zones evidenced by the highly successful Lekki Free Trade Zone, which has become Nigeria's most valuable industrial cluster. Anambra State is over ripe for a free trade zone. Nobody is thinking in that direction in Anambra State but Tinubu is.
A Tinubu presidency means certain industrialisation drive for Anambra State, it means a rail spur from the Port Harcourt-Maiduguri rail line to Onitsha through Awka, it means, it means mass social housing for Anambra, it means an agro value addition hub, it means continuation of high ticket infrastructure projects, it means gas revolution for Anambra State and if you like it guarantees an agbado revolution.
Anambra is similar to Lagos in many ways, first we have a very small land mass (second smallest in Nigeria after Lagos), we also have the second highest population density after Lagos. Anambra has all the potentials to become the second largest economy in Nigeria by GDP. It needs a deliberate federal touch to realise that potential and Tinubu is ready to provide that touch.
Ndi Anambra let's expand our political basket and support a man whose track record is undeniable, whose vision is extraterrestrial. That man is Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu!
*Michael Chibuzo*
_Member, Anambra PCC New Media Committee_
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