By Christian Aburime
Anambra State Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Charles Soludo, has shared a message of hope of a greater future Nigeria.
Governor Soludo was speaking during a parade ceremony to celebrate Nigeria’s sixty fourth Independence Day Celebration held at Dr. Alex Ekwueme Square, Awka.
“We’ve gathered yet again this year to celebrate Nigeria’s 64th Independence anniversary. Despite our challenges and triumphs, we have made progress.
“Challenges are many, but amidst all, my message is that our tomorrow will be greater than our today. I see hope. I see prosperity. I see joy.
“We are here to remember the dreams of our founding fathers and the leaders that flew the flag at our independence. We remember all the victims at this hour and all those who suffered in one way or the other-poverty, malnutrition, the sick that we could not provide with adequate hospital care and so on and so forth”.
The governor revealed that to build the Nigeria of our dream, all Nigerians need to come together so that the nation can be blessed with peace and plenty.
“Nigeria will soon become one of the top five biggest economies in the world if we put our resources together. We are blessed with abundant human and material resources. I see hope in our children and youth.
“Wherever we fail, our prayer is that these children will take over and succeed.
“We must work very hard to give them a secured future, to have a secured Nigeria,” the governor stressed.
“In Anambra, ours is an agenda with a deadline. Thirty months in office, we are running to make sure we deliver on our administration’s five pillars of development.
“In this occasion, I want to thank the members of the Armed forces, security agencies who are working to secure our state.
“Again, at this moment, we appreciate and celebrate our past triumphs while looking at the future,” the governor said.
“Last Saturday, we kept one of the promises we made to ndị Anambra by organising the local government election. It is a promise made and a promise kept. It is adjudged to be one of the most free and transparent elections. Notice for the election was given forty-eight days, during which APGA transversed the whole state, campaigning for votes.
“For us, the election was a referendum for us in Anambra State. I’m very proud that ndị Anambra rose up to cement the fact that Anambra is APGA and APGA is Anambra.
The governor expressed optimism that the future is brighter.
“You sent a very important message last Saturday. I want to appreciate the ANSIEC, security agencies, and the other eight political parties that participated in the election. The key word is participation.
“For us, we are focusing on delivering the dividends of democracy. At the state level, for me, it is governance and dividends of democracy. That’s the job we applied for. That’s the job you gave to us. ”
The Governor went on to recall his administration’s new policy of total free education and implementation of the new minimum wage of 70,000 naira from October, as part of efforts to leave no segment of the society behind, consistent with the difficult times where everyone needs a salary raise.
“Because of the priority we attach to our children, we want to ensure that our children in all public schools will now enjoy totally free education.
“Those that have already paid school fees, go back and collect the fees that you’ve paid. The government will provide the resources.
“The state government will also continue to subsidize the schools returned to the churches. As we speak, there are thousands of government teachers we posted to those schools, and it costs the government over 1 billion naira monthly. We hope to continue in that partnership.
“Also, we have discovered that there are 77 communities that do not have government primary and secondary schools. There is something wrong. All our children must be given the opportunity to choose.
“We therefore call for partnership in this regard; to at least have public schools in every community in Anambra. We are taking this education as a matter of life and death to secure a bright future for our children.
“Ndị Anambra, I conclude by saying,” Let’s do it together. ” I read about the dreams of our founding fathers. We can attain the dreams and even much more if we all work together.
“Everybody has something to offer. Let us always ask ourselves what we have done to make Nigeria better. Nigeria will be far greater than we ever dreamt if we work together, “he added.
The occasion was graced by the Deputy Governor, Dr Onyekachukwu Ibezim, Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Somtochukwu Udeze, Chief Judge, Justice Onochie Anyachebelu, members of Anambra State House of Assembly, members of the state executive council, service commanders in the state, among others.
