My Manifesto For Anambra State

By Lawrence Chinedu Nwobu

Frantz Fanon it was who said that “every generation must discover its mission, fulfil it or betray it.” Anambra State remains a great paradox. Endowed with abundant human and material resources, noted for giant strides in industry and politics yet strangely stagnated with poverty, unemployment and underdevelopment. How did such a hardworking, ambitious and industrious people become so stagnated in underdevelopment? How did a people who supply some of the best technocrats and experts to the Federal Government and international organisations around the world be so incapable and lacking in initiatives/ways and means to actualise aggressive development in their home state? How did we succeed only in failing and bequeathing to ourselves and the world a 19th century state in the 21st century? These questions underscore the essence of Frantz Fanon’s declaration. Our generation has a clear and urgent mission, to undertake the aggressive development of Anambra State.

We are in the 21st century; an era of breathtaking technology and revolutionary growth in some parts of the world. Models of development abound that can guide us in mapping a formidable trajectory of development. Reformist leaders in China set-up the first special economic zone and industrial park in Shenzhen near Hong Kong in 1980, the Shenzhen initiative has since then unleashed a developmental revolution which has made China the 2nd largest economy in the world and reduced the number of people living in poverty by more than 500 million between 1981 and 2007 according to a World Bank report. What is more spectacular however is that China achieved this feat through industrialisation policies that saw to the setting up of cluster industrial parks with special incentives where goods such as shoes, handbags, furniture, plastics, toys, clothes and other low tech goods are produced.

The production of low tech goods that brought unprecedented development to China is an area in which much potential has been demonstrated in Aba, Nnewi and other self made clusters in the Southeast. Unfortunately, none of the various governors in the southeast is yet to have the vision to set-up special industrial parks and invest in building the capacity and human resources in an industry that is capable of eradicating poverty and unemployment in the Southeast and creating a sustainable economy weaned of crude oil. China has today become the 2nd largest economy in the world and an emerging world power through her investment in the human resources and productive capacities of her people. Anambra State and the Southeast can likewise become the largest economy in Nigeria and beyond if we commence the journey of industrialisation. We do not need to reinvent the wheel, what we need to do is to model our industrial trajectory to that of China and unleash rapid industrialisation and infrastructure modernisation of Anambra State.

When the visionary initiative was taken to establish the Onitsha international market in the 50s to create a venue for budding entrepreneurs in the East to trade, it unleashed a momentum that eventually made Onitsha the largest market in West Africa. If investments in regeneration, infrastructure and modernisation had continued by subsequent administrations, Onitsha international market by now would be in the same league as Hong Kong and possibly grown to become the largest market in the whole of Africa. Like the Onitsha market phenomenon, a visionary initiative to pioneer the set-up of self serviced industrial parks would unleash a momentum that could make Anambra state and the Southeast the largest industrial area in West Africa and beyond.

In the onerous effort to industrialise and modernise, the leadership must at all times be open to ideas and as a rule must not consider anything as impossible. All strata of the society must be mobilised, the best brains and experts in our state and beyond must be assembled, ideas must be harnessed from all and sundry through public consultations and participation. The whole population and resources must be mobilised to create a developmental state ideologically committed to unleashing unprecedented development in all sectors in Anambra State. With careful planning, prudent management of resources, public/private partnership, partnership with the Diaspora, creativity and determination Anambra State can become an oasis of revolutionary development and a point of reference in transformational development for the rest of Nigeria/Africa.

The Nigeria-Biafra war had a devastating social, political, economic and psychological impact on the region and populace that remains an inhibiting factor for development. Long years of military rule with targeted post-war Apartheid policies that denied the region critical capacity building infrastructure aimed at stunting economic growth in the East was an institutional scheme of marginalisation driven by successive administrations. Thus, one of the first initiatives of a leader must be the total reversal of the multi-facetted impact of the conflict through a massive post-war reconstruction initiative that encompasses the economic, social, political and psychological.

A leader has responsibility to assemble the best brains, experts and ideas to lead and drive the industrialisation and modernisation initiative. In that regards an economic development council that will oversee economic planning, infrastructure modernisation and the setting up of special economic zones/self serviced industrial parks should be created. The economic development council will be made up of seasoned experts and technocrats to be chaired by an expert and technocrat of high repute such as Dr Oby Ezekwesili or Professor Chukwuma Soludo amongst others. This formidable team of technocrats will formulate policies and drive initiatives on all spheres of development.

Small and medium scale enterprises remain the greatest area of potential growth and job creation in the immediate short term. In order to make this possible and to harness the abundant human resources and entrepreneurial spirit in the Southeast, the Anambra state government should create special economic zones and set-up dedicated self serviced industrial parks in designated areas within the state.

Modalities for the setting up of industrial parks with adequate incentives will include the provision of land for industrial clusters, the construction of access roads, construction of industrial units, warehouses, tax waivers and other possible incentives. Because of the challenges of inadequate power supply from PHCN, the industrial parks will be self serviced with industrial generators that serve only the industrial park. While each industrial park will be connected to the national grid, the backup industrial generators will ensure the servicing of the industrial park anytime there is a power cut. Service charges to be contributed by all operators in the industrial parks and some level of government subsidy or aid will provide revenue for the purchase of fuel or diesel for the running of the industrial generators.

The special economic zones/self serviced industrial parks will, in the immediate short term, aim for the mass production of low tech or soft-goods such as footwear/shoes, bags, toys, furniture, beddings, cushions, mattresses, baby carriages, clothing/textiles, garments, undergarments/pants, socks, brassieres, plastics, toiletries, pharmaceuticals, agro-allied products/food processing and others for local consumption and export. Vigorous training programs should be undertaken for youths to acquire relevant skills for the mass production of goods. In the long term, high tech goods such as machineries, electrical, auto parts and others will be integrated into the industrialisation initiative

The Anambra State government should create a targeted “enterprise loans or grant scheme,” that will provide funding for the setting up of small and medium scale enterprises to prospective entrepreneurs being located in the industrial parks. An “equipment procurement and leasing agency” should also be established. This agency will purchase equipment such as industrial sewing machines and other critical equipment for leasing to some of the operators of the small and medium scale enterprises who cannot on their own afford such equipment to boost productivity.

A “quality control agency” should also be established with a specific agenda to control the quality of goods produced and aid the standardization of products to make them more acceptable for the export market.

Onitsha is in decline because there has been no significant investment in infrastructure over the years. A special Onitsha regeneration project should be undertaken to rebuild and modernise major areas of the city and introduce a self financing tolled city ring road and light rail or tram way. Solar street lights, green areas should be integrated into all parts of the city. A central business district (CBD) should be developed in Onitsha. New areas of ultra modern residential estates should be established. The international market should be modernised and expanded. Major shopping malls such as Shoprite and others should in partnership with the private sector be established in Onitsha to boost upscale commerce. Special economic zones and self serviced Industrial parks should also be established to consolidate the commercial and industrial base of the city. A special regeneration of Onitsha is necessary to return the city to a trajectory of growth and development.

As a state with a large enterprise base and with the expectation of rapid industrial and infrastructure development, Anambra State urgently needs an ultra-modern international cargo and passenger airport as part of the process to build capacity for the expected increase in industrial activity and its attendant increase in passenger and freight-cargo traffic. There can be no development without infrastructure and the airport is a strategic infrastructure that will significantly boost Onitsha, Nnewi businesses and open up the state. A major cargo holding area where containers can be stored should be established within the airport industrial complex to double as a dry port and storage centre where containers can be stored by entrepreneurs.

The airport should host ultra modern facilities, including aircraft servicing and repair facilities as a strategy to market the airport as a regional hub for stop over flights and aircraft repair and maintenance location. The airport project could be actualised cost effectively through a public private partnership.

The government should partner with the private sector to create an airline for passenger and cargo haulage to be known as East Niger or Atlantic airlines that will ply local and eventually international routes. The airline will have the East as its primary hub while reaching out globally with goods and passengers.

The Onitsha River port project can be given a boost for speedy completion by the state government through the involvement of a consortium of private investors for the possible expansion and quick completion of port project which is a strategic infrastructure that will help the consolidation of the Southeast as an industrial and commercial hub.

Industrialisation cannot be possible without regular power supply. The Anambra State government should thus rapidly undertake the construction of independent power plants that will power the industrial and economic growth of Anambra State.

As a strategy to consolidate the entertainment industry and maximise its potential, a modern Nollywood movie complex/city should be constructed with modern studios and amenities where movies and other related entertainment can be filmed and produced.

The civilisation and elevation of a people and society is determined by how well they take care of the poor and most vulnerable within their society. Poverty is man-made and we all, without exception are diminished by any that are left poor or destitute in our society. No individual is elevated in a society where so many suffer the pangs of poverty and deprivation. Our collective humanity is diminished by such a phenomenon. We must create a humane society and civilisation that recognises that the best outcomes are achieved when we are all in solidarity with all within our society. We must strive for social justice by eradicating poverty and creating a society with basic social security that provides for the unemployed, the disabled and the sick.

Through progressive taxation and contribution by all that is able, we must create a system that removes the poor and most vulnerable from the extremes of want and penury through provision of social welfare payments, social housing, free medical care and other vital social aids for those in need. Our society will be better for it, when in brotherhood and solidarity; we fulfil the divine duty of eradicating poverty by providing for those amongst us who stand in need through structured government welfare programs.

Studies have shown that compliance in the payment of taxes by the citizenry is usually very high where the government is transparent and is seen to be undertaking critical infrastructure projects. It is thus very important for the Anambra state government to demonstrate in deeds, a commitment to good governance that will help cultivate a disciplined tax compliant citizenry that will make it possible for the state to move away from the unsustainable over-dependence on crude oil allocations and evolve a robust and efficient tax economy. Tax collection efforts should be more aggressive to raise revenue for the implementation of critical projects. An efficient tax system can be evolved through partnership with a private firm charged with the collection of taxes for the state. All activities in the state should be tied to the presentation of a tax clearance certificate. The tax net should be widened to include annual property tax, with rates determined according to the size of house. Special annual Mansion tax for wealthy people who live in mansions should be introduced while a special annual tax should also be applied to commercial property. Vehicles registered and domiciled in Anambra state should also pay annual road tax. Other categories of sustainable taxes should be introduced to evolve a sustainable tax economy.

In an effort to create an “Oases” and depart from the ravages of Nigeria’s corruption, zero tolerance for corruption must be emphasised by the creation of a special anti-corruption bureau through legislation by the state assembly. The bureau will be a robust internal anti-corruption organ that will arrest and prosecute any individual or group suspected of acts of corruption or fraud within the state. The crime of corruption should be designated “economic treason” by law and must carry mandatory sentences up to and including the death sentence.

A fundamental approach to tackling poverty and youth unemployment must begin with social engineering which includes biometric registration of all unemployed youths between the ages of 18 and 45 years of age who are neither in school, apprenticeship or self employment and who are resident in the state, and the setting up of unemployment offices in each of the three senatorial zones.

Registration will make it possible for the government to as proposed earlier use some of the youths for purposes of direct labour, while some will be sent for vocational training programs and those who might have had some apprenticeship training will benefit from grants which will help them to set-up business in their area of training. Registration will also make it possible to mobilise resources by appealing to international aid organisations, private individuals, the federal government, religious organisations and other charities and philanthropists that will help to fund the training programs, provision of grants and other initiatives that may be undertaken to address youth unemployment.

As part of the strategy to tackle youth unemployment, the government should urgently set up vocational training centres in all the local government areas of the state to facilitate vocational training programs in different skills for youths across the state. The skills will make it possible for the youths to go into employment or to become self employed.

What makes a nation succeed or fail is leadership. Across the world, the only difference between failed states and successful nations is the leadership. Nations without any natural resources have been transformed through visionary, disciplined and creative leadership while nations with abundant human and material resources have become failed states through corrupt, visionless and incompetent leadership. In both scenarios, the only difference that determined the outcome was the leadership. A resolute, dedicated, disciplined, competent, creative and visionary leadership is indispensable as the single most important factor for the wholesome transformation of Anambra state into a highly sophisticated state with ultra modern infrastructure, integrated social system and a dynamic industrial economy weaned from the crude oil curse.

•Nwobu could be reached at: [email protected]