He said this during an interdenominational service held at the International Convention Centre in Awka to mark his second year in office.
He said, “Today we have come to report some aspects of what we have been able to do within these two years. Anambra people are our employers, you elected me and my deputy, and we took office exactly two years ago as your chief servants.
“Any governor that comes floods you with offers for borrowing and so on and so forth, but we decided for the first two years to demonstrate something, capacity to do more with less.
“And so far as has been said, for two years, despite receiving about 25 per cent in real terms or in dollar terms of what was in the past, we have chosen deliberately not to borrow.
“I have been asked severally, how do you do without borrowing and with the difficult circumstances? And my answer is that we are doing so because we are executing the most austere measure of government ever.
“As I speak to you, I am not taking any salary, I am not paid any salary by Anambra State government. Even the First Lady of Anambra doesn’t have any official car, she still drives my vehicles,” Soludo said.
“Today, I tell you that Anambra is strong and getting stronger. We are intentional about doing more with less because we are facing extraordinary times in Nigeria, but tough times are for tough leaders who are innovative. Banks have been offering to lend to us, but we decided that these two years, we will show that we can do more with less and we choose deliberately not to borrow.
“Having been governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and managing the entire country’s finances, I needed to demonstrate that some things are possible. Today, we are managing the finances of Anambra, and we need to show what we can do. From henceforth, we are changing gears.
“Anambra has not seen anything yet. Every kobo of Anambra’s resources entrusted in our hands, we will show you where we put it. “When we borrow, and of course you can borrow when you have good reason to, and when we do, we will show you what the money was used for, and we will borrow to invest in things that can pay back the investment. But you will never see the kind of borrowing we saw before.”
The governor highlighted his administration’s accomplishments, noting, “We have built 240 kilometres of roads in 24 months. What this means is that for every month we have been here, we have constructed 10 kilometres. Even if you put the entire state resources in one local government, you will still not finish every road, but we are picking strategic roads.
“We are working on the Anambra State Government House and Governor’s Lodge. Anambra is the only state created over 30 years ago that does not still have a permanent Government House. Soon, the new Anambra Government House will be commissioned.
“We will commission roads in Okpoko tomorrow. Okpoko is one of the biggest slums in the entire West Africa, and for the first time, a general hospital has been built there, and we will commission it tomorrow. Anambra-wide water scheme is now being test run. Ours is an agenda with a deadline, and we are not relenting.”
Regarding power generation, the governor affirmed, “We are working to crack the power puzzle in Anambra too. We have learnt something from Barth Nnaji.
It took him 20 years to deliver the Aba Power project. We have learnt from how he did it, and ours will not take that long. We have assembled experts for that reason. What we can tell you is that we will do it, but I will not stand here and tell you the length of time.”
VIDEO: I’m Not Getting Salaries, Anambra Gov Says At Second Year Anniversary
Anambra State Governor, Chukwuma Soludo, has reiterated that he does not receive a salary from the state government, citing it as a cost-saving measure.
He said this during an interdenominational… pic.twitter.com/5wUfaetAtR
— Punch Newspapers (@MobilePunch) March 17, 2024
