Full Farewell speech given by Chief Willie Obiano, Former Anambra State Governor

The outgoing Governor of Anambra State, Chief Willie Obiano have given a farewell speech to the people of state, saying “he has touched a dream.”

He began:
Eight years ago, when I gave my inaugural address, I shared my vision of a greater Anambra State with you. To some people, it sounded like a dream. To many, it came across as the usual sweet-talk from a politician. And yet to others, it carried the light of hope. Umu nnem, today, most of those dreams I shared with you have come true!

On security, he said:

“We figured that we would not be able to make reasonable progress unless we found a solution to the challenge of insecurity and public safety in Anambra State. In response to that, we organized Nigeria’s first international conference on security and flew in an Israeli security expert to facilitate the conference.”

On the Soft Issues of Governance:

“Our campaign to return self-belief to our people was subtle but effective. The melodious Anambra Anthem, the Anambra logo and symbols of unique identity, the core values which are recited by school children every day; are all silent efforts to give our people’s pride back to them.”

On The N20m Community-Choose-Your-Projects-Initiative:

“It is interesting to recall that our Economic Stimulus Package actually gave rise to the highly acclaimed N20m Community Choose-Your-Project Initiative, which has become a much sought-after model in rural development studies.”

This initiative also ensured that my administration touched all the 181 communities in Anambra State with projects of their own choices.”

On Education:

“We approached Education in three broad areas: Students’ Welfare, Teachers’ Welfare and Infrastructure Development. Essentially, my administration set out to maintain the competitive advantage our state has enjoyed in education over other states in the country and take it a notch higher.”

“To achieve that, we sent Anambra teachers on off-shore training and exposed them to global best practices. We did that because we knew that the best way to take charge of tomorrow is to inculcate the right character in our teachers today.”

On Health:

“In the words of America’s Ralph Waldo Emerson, “the first wealth is health.” My Team and I believed in this axiom. Health comes before wealth. One of our greatest legacies in the health sector is the Anambra State Health Insurance Agency (ASHIA) which was set up to make quality health delivery services easy and accessible to the greater number of our people.”

With only N12,000 per year, residents of this state can access high quality healthcare as they like.”

On Economic Blueprint:

“Fellow citizens, when leadership is focused and innovative, it invokes the future. My team and I worked very hard to invoke the future of Anambra State. We worked on my Economic Blueprint which is anchored on Agriculture, Industrialization, Trade & Commerce and Oil & Gas.”

On Agriculture:

“When we lit the fire of agricultural revolution in Nteje on May 15, 2014, we created a fertile soil for big industrial farms like Coscharis, JOSAN Agro, Chelsea Farms, Excel Farms and Lynden Farms to thrive. Our story changed immediately afterwards. Rice production output climbed from 80,000 metric tons in 2014 to 525,000 metric tons in 2021.”

On Industrialization:

“Our foray into industrialization was driven by the Anambra Small Business Agency (ASBA) which I set up on December 8, 2014. Since then, ASBA has successfully funded 10,000 cooperatives, micro enterprises and artisans while also providing operating capital to 300 small and medium enterprises. “

On Oil and Gas:

“The crowning glory of our efforts in oil and gas is the recognition of Anambra State as an oil-producing state by the federal government.”

“We have 15 oil wells at the moment. With this achievement, our dear state is now qualified to receive additional revenues from the 13% derivation fund given to oil producing states.”

On Trade and Commerce:

“Our remarkable legacy in Trade and Commerce is the market modernization scheme which ensured the disbursement of the sum of N10m each to the 63 markets in Anambra State. It helped the various Traders’ Associations to upgrade the facilities in their markets. We also relocated many markets to lend depth to commerce and boost the capacity of our markets.”

On Power Supply:

“Ndi Anambra, you may recall that in my Inaugural Address I had assured you that my administration would pay a great deal of attention to power supply in our dear state.”

“Today, I am delighted to report that we successfully constructed a 33 kVa distribution line from Oji River sub-station in Enugu State to supply electricity in Orumba North and South and even Isuochi town in Abia State.”