Anambra State governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo has said that his administration has been able to achieve landmarks because they were determined from the outset to cut cost of governance by running the most austere measure government.
The governor who made this statement during the celebration of two years of his administration at the International Convention Center, Awka revealed that he doesn’t receive salary as governor and his wife doesn’t have an official car.
“Any governor that comes floods you with offers for borrowing and so on and so forth. 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 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 don’t have any official car. She still drives my personal vehicles,” Soludo said.
The governor said that his decision to cut wastes and the cost of governance is to direct resources and prioritise them to things that are important to the people of the state.
He said his administration had prioritised areas that were neglected in the past: building hospitals, roads schools etc in places that such amenities never reached. He assured the people of Anambra that any kobo entrusted in his hand as the governor would be accounted for. He said that if he ever borrows, the people will be shown the projects the loan was used for and how those projects would repay the loan.
The celebration started with the Pontifical Mass of Thanksgiving led by the Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Nnewi, Most Rev. Jonas-Benson Okoye and the Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Awka, Most Rev. Paulinus Ezeokafor.
