By Paul Nwosu
Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo, CFR, has initiated a sustainable action against hunger through the landmark flag-off of the Farm-to-Feed campaign in Amansea, Awka North LGA, on Saturday, April 3.
Addressing the mammoth crowd that attended the event, Governor Soludo stated that there is no doubt of hunger being in the land, but the response must be to do something to solve the problem through farming individually and communally instead of indulging in lamentation.
Mr. Governor informed the audience that it is only farming that everybody is constitutionally empowered to undertake. He revealed that the Secretary to the State Government, Prof Solo Chukwulobelu, as well as the Head of Service, Barrister Theodora Udegbe, have their own farms.
For Governor Soludo, there is nothing stopping civil servants from having their own farms in the backyard of their compounds, that is, “ugbo-azu-uno.”
He blamed the cause of the ongoing nationwide #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria protest on the countrys loss of focus in agriculture.
The solution, Governor Soludo stated emphatically, is to go back to the land to farm, citing the Igbo proverb of “aka aja-aja na ebute onu nmanu-nmanu”, which translates to: It’s the soiled hand that brings about the oily mouth.
The farming culture runs through the Anambra First Family, as Governor Soludo has a wife who maintains a farm in the Governor’s Lodge, and she was actually pointing at roadside farms to the husband while they were driving to Amansea to flag-off the Farm-to-Feed campaign.
It was a fitting community farming scene at Amansea as people were seen actually digging up mounds of earth in farm work while Governor Soludo distributed cassava stems, maize seeds and short-duration vegetable seedlings etc.
Mr. Governor stressed that the reason why Anambra State did not participate in the ongoing nationwide protests is because the state walks the talk by converting daunting challenges to opportunities.
In his estimation, the youths of the state have become resolute in taking their destinies in their own hands by finding solutions rather than embarking on mass protest.
According to Governor Soludo, “Some people are protesting in some parts of the Nigeria but Anambra State is not protesting, and I want to thank Anambra youths who have maintained the peace by going about their businesses and ensuring that all the markets in the state are open.”
Its a matter of immense joy to Governor Soludo that Anambra youths have resolved that they want to take their destinies in their own hands by taking positive steps to move the state and their country forward.
Governor Soludo stated: “They are not protesting, not because they dont feel the pains but because they want to be part of the solution.”
He wondered why the song “Which Way, Nigeria?”, sang by the legendary musician Sunny Okosuns way back in 1984 will still be trending decades after in todays Nigeria. “The fact is that we neglected agriculture, we neglected Operation Feed the Nation, Green Revolution, and that was our doom,” Governor Soludo said, adding, Today, what we have come to launch is the issue of collective citizen action in partnership with government to eradicate hunger once and for all in Nigeria. It is now time to do something, and today we want to launch an initiative to turn our challenges into opportunities.”
Mr. Governor’s words were thought-provoking, as he said: “We fought the Civil War here in this part of Nigeria, and there was nothing to eat and people were dying of kwashiorkor but we survived, and this time again they say hunger is in the land and we say we will not only survive, but we will help to feed the rest of the country.”
It is a mark of Governor Soludo’s commitment to his Peoples Manifesto that he has flagged off the Farm-to-Feed campaign as the pivotal means towards sustainable action against hunger in Anambra State and Nigeria.
*PAUL NWOSU*
Commissioner for Information
Anambra State
