Residents and natives of Anambra, including those living outside the state, have urged Governor Charles Soludo to focus on insecurity, unemployment and poor electricity in the state.
They made the demands in a survey conducted by a public policy advisory firm, Nextier Advisory, to aggregate people’s expectations from the new government.
According to the survey, 84.7 per cent of the respondents aged 18 and above identified insecurity as the toughest challenge before the government; 83.8 per cent of them identified unemployment while 79.1 per cent named electricity as the third most pressing issue that should be tackled.
The Principal Partner and Founder, Nextier Advisory, Mr. Patrick Okigbo in a statement, said the survey was aimed at ascertaining the critical challenges that require the state government intervention, assessing the level of optimism and expectations of Ndi Anambra on Soludo’s ability to tackle the identified critical challenges, and ascertaining the perceived threats to the actualisation of his administration agenda.
The statement read, “The survey findings might have informed the urgency with which the governor has taken steps to address the security challenges in the state. His stoppage of the continued observance of the Monday “Sit-at-Home” order declared by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) is a first step to addressing the security challenges in the state.
“However, it is important to ensure that the government has sufficiently downgraded the capacity of the IPOB militants and other criminal elements to cause mayhem and fear in the state.
“Details of the report showed that security has the highest mean rating of 4.49 and received the highest percentage (84.7 per cent) of the respondents who placed it at a crucial level. Sixty-five per cent of the respondents rated the security situation in Anambra state as very poor, while another 15.9 per cent rated it poorly.
“Respondents selected access to jobs as the second highest-rated challenge in the state. It had a 4.41 mean rating and the second-highest percentage (83.8 per cent) of respondents who rated it at the critical level.
“The survey profiled 12 critical challenges, including access to affordable food, affordable housing, electricity, healthcare, job, land, motorable roads, pipe-borne water, public transportation, quality education, security, and the impact of multiple taxes on small businesses.”
The statement noted that respondents were, however, optimistic that the administration would “very effectively address the remaining nine of the 12 challenges identified.”
It added, “Of the nine challenges, education generated the highest level of optimism. It has the highest mean rating (4.30) and the highest percentage (81.9 per cent) of respondents who believed the government would effectively address the challenge.
“Despite the respondents’ optimism about the administration’s effectiveness in addressing the identified challenges, they feared that certain factors could compromise such efforts. These factors include corruption, political sabotage, inadequate funding, weak public service, the negative influence of party members, poor cooperation from the state legislature, the structure of the federal system/overbearing power of the federal government, insecurity, and litigation.
“The survey’s conclusion is that Ndi Anambra are aware of the critical challenges requiring state government intervention. Therefore, according to the survey report, the Prof. Soludo-led administration could benefit from running a people-centred government staffed with the best people.
“The policies and programmes should be evidence-informed and driven by a logical theory of change. The government should continuously assess its programmes and use the lessons learned to improve their effectiveness.”
