Babatunji Wusu –
To correct a faulty mindset, tiger-claw courage is required. And when a certain political, religious, social, or cultural abnormality has become a conventional fixture, it takes something beyond the armory of normalcy—or someone whose managerial beliefs are strongly steeped in pragmatic disruption—to remedy it.
The Igbos expressed it succinctly in an evergreen proverb: “Ihe ojoo gba afo, oburu omenala.” “When a wrong or forbidden practice is allowed to exist for a long time, it becomes a tradition or a way of life,” loosely translated.
Wrong traditional practices can have fatal repercussions. They frequently leave practitioners at the mercy of haphazardness, inconsistency, and social deterioration.
The basic conclusion is straightforward: no one backslides while anticipating advancement.
Pre-Soludo’s Anambra State was primarily contained inside that incongruous boundary.
Governor Soludo would propose incorporating a management philosophy that is extremely welfare-oriented while maintaining administrative and economic benchmarks.
Most people have frequently criticized Governor Soludo’s political views as pursuing an unpopular path—a miserly pattern that does not provide the normal political festival that looked to be right in Anambra’s political atmosphere.
Some have even labeled the governor’s management approaches as frugal and stingy. But who are you going to blame? Nobody!
Nigerian politics are culturally based on splurging, excess, and prodigality.
Unfortunately, “bazaar politics” has thrived through so many regimes and, like the Igbo phrase, has become a tradition, an aberrant fixity.
A leader who abandons such frivolous pursuits on the altar of service and excellent government is viewed as impassive and ungenerous. The term for it is stingy!
Governor Soludo’s leadership ideals are more focused on positive outcomes, particularly those affecting the ordinary man.
Each of his ideas is concerned with how those with low economic aspirations might become the greatest beneficiaries.
The recent announcement that antenatal care and delivery services in Anambra State will be provided free of charge to any woman living in the state until the end of Professor Soludo’s administration exemplifies what he stands for as a leader and as a man who wants the best for his people.
It tells even more about the Anambra State Governor’s preference for investing in his people’s lives over wine glass clinks and extravagant political carnivals.
It is worth noting that no state in Nigeria has implemented more mitigating measures against the current economic downturn than Soludo’s Anambra State.
It would never be so if the governor spent more money on remunerating thousands of political appointees than she did on the retirement benefits of that public servant who retired in 2018 and planned to use her gratuity to launch a small-scale business just down the street.
It would also never accept requests to increase workers’ salaries and retirees’ pensions by a thousand naira for the rest of the year.
These timely actions may appear insignificant to a seasoned critic whose judgment is clouded by harsh feelings.
However, for the over fifty thousand recipients of that monetary palliative, it is a sign of responsiveness from a government that is continuously thinking about how to ease the weight on its people’s shoulders.
The sigh of relief will reverberate through testimonies to that low-income family that will no longer have to struggle to pay prenatal and delivery fees.
It demonstrates Governor Soludo’s humanity and commitment to sow directly where it counts: in the lives of his people!
It is critical for Ndi Anambra to understand that Governor Soludo’s economic acumen has played a critical role in how he has cleverly handled the state’s budget and is putting every penny to good use.
The governor, far from condoning financial waste and stagnating investment, believes unequivocally in the laws of saving and sensible investment.
Governor Soludo and Ndi Anambra have brought in the most wise, not wasteful, manager. A governor who values outputs and outcomes and rewards hard effort and productivity.
Professor Chukwuma Soludo has come to Anambra State to help. Not to empty her pockets.
Those who call his management style as stingy will have to accept the fact that no money will be lost from the newly-stitched Anambra coffers.
May Soludo’s Anambra prosper.
Mr Daniel Ezeigwe, the governor’s wife’s media aide, wrote the article, which was made accessible to the Nigerian Tribune in Awka on Monday.
