By Uzor Maxim Uzoatu
His sight was set far ahead, beyond the realm of the room. Silence was the compelling essence as he looked on, his eyes fixated on the dream. Then he ended the quietude with the arresting words: “I can see it here – Garden of Eden.”
Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo, CFR, Governor of Anambra State, works his dream beyond all challenges.
As the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria during the time of President Olusegun Obasanjo, it was his dream as one man that brought about the banking consolidation that saved the economy of the country. % buffered
Given this formidable background, it is well-nigh impossible betting against the dream of Soludo planting the Garden of Eden in Anambra State.
For those who may not know of the pristine garden of yore, let’s take a Biblical trip to Genesis 2:15-17. “And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”
The Garden of Eden of Soludo’s dream is not a residential place, even as people may necessarily live outside – on the edges.
It would amount to a 200-hectare clean and green landscape to be developed over a three-year span – complete with the impossible forbidden fruit!
It is as though Soludo is taking one into the novel One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez where there is the “learning that in the southern extremes of Africa there were men so intelligent and peaceful that their only pastime was to sit and think…”
Being the quintessential home of writers who sit and think and write, Anambra State deserves a Garden of Eden, for as the poet Odia Ofeimun, author of The Poet Lied, told me, “There’s almost no town in Anambra State that cannot boast of a writer of note!”
Leo-Stan Ekeh, the CEO of the trailblazing Zinox Computers, who is not from Anambra State once said: “The wealth, energy and knowledge per square metre in Anambra does not exist in any other part of Africa.”
In putting up Garden of Eden in Anambra State, Governor Soludo is of course bringing to gear his drive to turn his homeland from being a departure lounge to the ultimate destination point.
The epochal Anambra gift to the world, Chinua Achebe, for whom Governor Soludo named the Anambra international airport after, has the following words in his iconic novel Things Fall Apart: “When we gather together in the moonlit village ground it is not because of the moon. Every man can see it in his own compound. We come together because it is good for kinsmen to do so.”
It was back in May 25-26, 2006 when the League of Anambra Professionals (LAP) held the Anambra State Economic Development Forum at Parktonian Hotel, Awka, that Soludo as the then Governor of the CBN delivered the keynote address entitled “Anambra State 2030: Envisioning the African Dubai, Taiwan & Silicon Valley”.
Call it ADTS, to wit, African, Dubai, Taiwan, Silicon Valley, and Soludo will take a bow!
In the words of Soludo, “Anambra has all it takes to be a modern and prosperous state, and some have argued that Anambra is well positioned to be Africa’s Taiwan, Singapore or Dubai…With a population of 4.1 million and a landmass of 4,887 sq km, Anambra has the second highest population density after Lagos State. The landmass is so small that the entire state can conveniently be organised into one large industrial park or free trade zone.”
Now as the Governor of Anambra State, he is walking the talk after freeing the eight local governments held hostage before his coming to power; ending the scourge of schools without teachers by employing 8115 teachers; instituting free education up to senior secondary schooling; ending the menace of hospitals without doctors and sundry medical personnel; ensuring free ante-natal care and delivery for pregnant women; empowering 8,700 young people through the One Youth, Two Skills Programme with N2.5 billion set aside for start-up capital; delivering the Solution Fun City; upgrading the Chinua Achebe International Airport night landing capabilities; building the massive Ekwulobia flyover and bus terminals; dualizing the 64km Amawbia-Nise-Agulu-Nanka-Ekwulobia-Nkpologwu-Uga-Imo border road; constructing multiform roads; undertaking regenerative agriculture and Farm-to-Feed revolution etc.
Soludo understands that the journey to Dubai and Taiwan is not a one-day affair, and wonders aloud: “Ndi-Anambra are everywhere, investing everywhere in Nigeria and outside, but not in Anambra.”
With his admirable can-do spirit, Soludo gives the marching orders thusly: “Let us all roll our sleeves and go to work. With a clear vision, a comprehensive plan, and a people mobilised to go beyond self into collective action, I dream to see the skyline along the Niger River bank; to see five-star hotels in Onitsha and Awka; to see the tourist zones along the Anambra River; the recreational centres; the elite and middle-class residential areas planned; private world-class schools; world-class infrastructure.”
Like Martin Luther King Jr, Soludo throbs with dreams: “In my dream, I see the Asians, the Europeans and Americans rushing to be part of the new miracle in Nigeria called Anambra. In my dream, I can see the growth drivers as technology, commerce, industry, agriculture and tourism. With the completion of the East-West road, the second Niger Bridge, the East-South-South highways, I saw in my dream Anambra as the hub, servicing most of the adjoining states in the South-East, South-South and the North. I can even see a private power plant in the state guaranteeing uninterrupted power supply. I can still see more: a people united, a people committed, a people involved in the collective enterprise of development. Before I woke up, I saw a new state looking very much like a combination of what I have seen in Silicon Valley in the USA; Dubai in the UAE, and Taiwan.”
With all the gizmos in place, what better place to retire to than the Clean and Green Garden of Eden in Anambra State as spelt out by Governor Soludo?
Uzor Maxim Uzoatu is a renowned poet, journalist and author