Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the forthcoming gubernatorial election in Anambra State, Mr. Valentine Ozigbo, has described the state of infrastructure in Anambra as “pitiable and below expectations”.

In a statement made available to the press on Monday, Ozigbo said that his interest in Anambra State, coupled with the ongoing electioneering had taken him to virtually all the parts of the state. According to him, in each place he visited he could at once, with the 'eyes of a development expert', see what the need of the people are, which, he said, were sadly not attended to by the out-going APGA government.

Ozigbo, for example, asked why the Atani-Osammala-Ogwuikpere road is still at the point where Mr. Peter Obi stopped in spite of the fact that what the people along that area needed most was road infrastructure that would enable easy evacuation of their farm produce from the hinterland to Onitsha. Going further, Ozigbo also cited the Umueze-Anam road that Obi stopped at Mmiata in the hope that his successor would extend it to Anaku, but surprisingly, he could not add a meter. “How else does Government show such people that they are part of the State?” Ozigbo asked, while vowing to redress what he called “developmental gaps all over the state under Obiano.”

Ozigbo who revealed that he set up a small group to look at the state of infrastructure in Anambra in readiness to hit the ground running after inauguration said their findings show that Obiano has only done 12% of the projects he inherited from his predecessor, which Ozigbo promised to complete in three years. Ozigbo also lamented that in spite of achieving little on roads, that Obiano did not complete one percent of the entire roads he flagged off in the state. “He was busy flagging off roads without working on any of them. During his second tenure election, he flagged of road in almost all the communities in the state but alas he could not complete 1% of the roads he started’, the release said.

The release also pointed out the sorry state of water infrastructure in the state. “In this 21st century, when water borne diseases are becoming a thing of the past, I regret to observe that major cities in Anambra do not have running water,” Ozigbo said while assuring that once elected, he would declare emergency in that area as, according to him, certain things should be considered as not acceptable.”

On the abandoned shopping Mall at Awkaand other places, Ozigbo said that all viable, but abandoned projects would be given priorities by his Government. “I am happy my deputy is knowledgeable in that regard and would provide us the guidance that we need and cherish”, he said.