Anambra residents have identified areas of need which they want the next governor of the state to concentrate on.
The residents spoke in separate interviews with PREMIUM TIMES on Friday.
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The 2025 governorship election in the south-eastern state will be held on Saturday.
Sixteen candidates from various political parties are taking part in the election.
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The incumbent governor, Charles Soludo, is seeking reelection under the platform of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).
Mr Soludo was first elected on 6 November 2021 and sworn in on 17 March 2022. His first four-year term will end in March 2026.
‘Our needs’
Odinaka Okoye, a resident of Ekwulobia in Aguata Local Government Area of the state, told PREMIUM TIMES that he prefers the next elected governor to focus on reducing the rising cost of food items in the state.
“This will enable all of us to survive this hardship,” he said in a mixture of Igbo and English languages.
Mr Okoye said another area of need in Anambra State is road infrastructure.
“I think we also need employment. The government should employ youths to reduce unemployment,” he added.
Another resident of the community, Samuel Nzeobi, told PREMIUM TIMES that the greatest challenge of many people in the area at the moment is poor power supply.
“Our major problem here is that we suffer frequent power outages. We rarely get power supply here,” Mr Nzeobi said.
“Even as we don’t have adequate power supply, we still get higher electricity bills. So, we are hoping that whoever wins this election will help us stabilise the power supply here,” he stated.
“We’re seeing ongoing road constructions. There’s also water. We only need a stable power supply.”
For Uche Okereke, an indigene of Ekwulumili, a community in Nnewi South Local Government Area, the next governor of Anambra State should focus on building more roads and installing street lights across the state.
Mr Okereke explained that such projects would help to reduce growing security challenges in the state.
“We also need industries here. If there are industries, there will be jobs. And then all forms of criminality will be reduced. If people have jobs to do, there will be no insecurity,” he said.
More comments
Nduka Eze is an indigene of Okija, a community in Ihiala Local Government Area of Anambra State.
Mr Eze told PREMIUM TIMES that apart from poor road infrastructure, insecurity has remained a major challenge in Anambra.
He pointed out that the attacks on innocent citizens have persisted despite the different adopted by the current government to fight insecurity in the state.
He suggested the integration of technology in the fight against insecurity in the state.
“I think we need an additional strategy in fighting insecurity. And the strategy is to bring in technology.
“There should be CCTV cameras at entry points where Anambra shares boundaries with other states,” Mr Eze said.
“The governor can get daily updates of happenings in the state via CCTV,” he said.
He further stressed the dearth of industries in Anambra State, pointing out that industries could boost the state’s economy and create job opportunities in the state.
“So, there’s the need for the next governor to bring policies that will attract investors into the state so that there can be job creation and reduction in insecurity,” he said, adding that there was an urgent need to stop environmental degradation.
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