Soludo laments the fact that he met empty coffers and huge debts of $262m upon assuming office

NEW Anambra State governor Charles Soludo has lamented the fact that he inherited debts of about N109bn ($262.17m)  upon assumption of office while only meeting between N300m ($721,529 ) and N400m ($962,000) in the treasury.

Last week, Governor Soludo, a former Central Bank of Nigeria boss assumed office but having settled in, he is finding that the state's are not robust. Yesterday morning, while appearing on The Morning Show on Arise News Television, he pointed out that contrary to the popular belief that Anambra was a wealthy state, its finances are not looking good at the moment.

Governor Soludo said: "Everybody knows that the state finances are not quite robust, to put it mildly. The cash we met in various banks, if I remember correctly, I think is N300m or N400m and then from the audited account as at of December, 2021, the debt was about N109bn.

“We intend to have a very transparent public financial management where we are going to be publishing everything. Everybody will know what is there and what is not there, what penny comes in and what it is used for.”

Furthermore, the governor reiterated his resolve to use only made-in-Anambra products, adding that the initiative is in line with his vision for job creation. He said he would encourage the makers of local products in the state to proudly brand their products made-in-Anambra, rather than stamping names of foreign brands on their products to boost patronage.

Governor Soludo added: “You will not get to Europe and find any European government using or buying Japanese Toyotas for the operations of their police or for their president or officers. That government will come down the next day.

“Can you imagine 215m people patronising textiles that were made here? You are going to create tens of thousands of jobs, in fact millions of jobs.

“That’s a way that Nigeria, not just Anambra, must go. We will eat our food, we will drink our drink, we will wear our clothes, put on our shoes and we will create millions of jobs.

“It is not going to be a temporary thing. It is something I believe in and I am going to live through that.”