Chief Dr George Moghalu is the candidate of Labour Party in the November 8, 2025 Anambra governorship election. In this interview with Abuja-based Anambra journalists, he spoke of his 12-point agenda for the state. IKENNA OKONKWO was there.
Excerpts:
Why do you think people no longer trust politicians with promises?
We have released a 12-point agenda as contained in the manifesto presented to the public. It’s already in the public domain.
If you look at my political trajectory, I pride myself as somebody who doesn’t make promises he will not keep because I believe my word is my bond.
I believe that what you tell the people in the course of electioneering campaigns will come back to haunt you especially when you don’t deliver and there’s what I usually say to the people in our conversations.
You don’t blame our people because today, a good number of them have lost interest in governance. They see government as a dishonest contraption, trustworthy and they see every politician as a fraud – somebody that shouldn’t be trusted or relied upon. So, I always say that my mission in politics is to change that narrative and the simple question is how and I also reply that it is doable, and the only way to do it is to offer the people good governance and be accessible by relating directly with them, tell them the truth and carry them along so that even if you have challenges in the course of your programme, they’ll be in a position to share the challenges with you, help you, pray for you and guide you so that at end of the day all of us, them included would be able to navigate through the challenges. So that restoration of confidence in government is primary for me. But then, when you look at our state today, as it is, it’s so unfortunate that every news we hear about our state come out with a negative perspective and it has to do principally with the fact of insecurity. Insecurity affects the economy, the general GDP and governance. Its effects are all encompassing and it deals with the state, even in terms of the image of the state. So for me, I see that it’s a very primary assignment because apart from that, the constitution is very clear as to the responsibility of any public officer, which is the protection of lives and properties of those under your watch and if you ask me if that’s the case today in Anambra state, I would be honest and sincere enough to tell you that it’s not. They have have failed us comprehensively speaking, from every perspective, from anh aspect you look at it. Insecurity has become a very fundamental problem that appears to have overwhelmed government because the news you hear every day from Anambra state is either about killings, kidnapping or cult wars, even in the state capital and that is very sad. And for me, what the government of the day has done so far is not impressive because they have not even attempted at addressing the challenges. For me, they came up with their homeland security document and then, came up with the Udo-Ga-Achi which to me has collapsed. They’re now more like tollgate collectors, threatening the people they’re supposed to be protecting. So for me, government has also failed in that regard.
How do you intend to change the narrative?
One thing I’ve ever done throughout my political history, if I criticise any government policy, I must provide an alternative in terms of what I’d do, if it’s me. For me, I look at the issue of security from kinetic and non-kinetic perspectives if we want to deal with the issue of security.
The single question I keep asking myself is why have we not employed technology in addressing the issue of insecurity in Anambra State. There’s not one command and control centers in our state whereas, the resources are available. There’s no CCTV cameras installed anywhere in the state, except for a handful few places. Ifeanyi Uba did it in Nnewi and the question is why are these not provided in other strategic areas of the state? In this era, we need to have command and control systems across the state. We need to have CCTV cameras located at strategic locations across the state, you have to bring in drones and you have to invest in intelligence gathering. This is how it’s done in more civilised climes. Now, all of us have been talking about state police. Yes, the law hasn’t provided for the establishment of state police but, we have some outfits we can turn into a semblance of state police and still actualize the objective. Today in Anambra state, we 179 communities and every of these communities has vigilantes and I’m saying that if I have the opportunity to be at helms of affairs of the state, what I would do firstly, is to document them, train them, equip them and remunerate them well.
The moment you do that, you create a security force and then, you get them to relate and work closely with the traditional institution and the community administrative structures. By the time these vigilantes are so empowered, the beautiful thing is that there’s no community in Anambra state that doesn’t have retired army, police or DSS personnel. You can bring them in to properly train the vigilantes and equip them to transform them into decent looking people. Also, you remunerate them commensurately to a point where even young graduates would like to be part of it. Apart from the job opportunities it’ll create, you’ll have a force now that can be able to manage individual communities. Provide them with the needed infrastructure. We have to provide them vehicles and not just these Siennas and shuttle buses in circles. These are old vehicles that can be abandoned anywhere. We could get pick ups. Fortunately, we even have a vehicle manufacturing plant in Anambra state that we can interconnect all these vehicles, using security systems and they can be able to monitor activities. What’s the duty of state security adviser? We have a situation where the state’s security adviser monitor activities of all the local government from the comfort of his office.And by the time you put these things in place, it sufficiently addresses the issue of insecurity. At the same time also, we must look at the problems from the root. How do they generate the boys and girls they use to constitute security threats to our society. It’s because of level of unemployment and poverty in the land. To address youth reactiveness, you’d have to address youth unemployment and for me, there’s a lot of ways to address youth unemployment. Apart from the fact that we have said that we’ll expand the agricultural base and the agriculture value chain that can provide more employment opportunities, it must be said in all honesty that government alone can not provide jobs for everyone without the private sector. What the government needs to do is to provide the enabling environment and strengthen the private sector so that they can provide employment opportunities for the youths.
What plans for education, employment?
We also need to go back to our education curriculum. Today, more emphasis is placed on certificated education. I don’t have a problem with that but I want to insist that apart from your certificated education, you need to have a skill so, government must invest in vocational education. We said it in our manifesto that we need to invest in vocational education. We’re going to invest in technology centers across the 3 senatorial zones of the state because we’re in an era of technology so we need to prepare our young sons and daughters to be able to compete. Lack of investment in education is already showing. The last NECO results showed a decline in performance for the state. We moved from 1st, 2nd and 3rd position to 21st position,,so there’s a lot that needs to be done. If you take a look at our manifesto, it’s going to guide you. For instance, if there’s any challenge facing an average Anambra man today, is the issue of power. The federal government has deregulated it. States can now generate and distribute their power. If there’s any state I expected to be the number 1 is Anambra because of the number of industries we have but today, no effort has been made in that regard because of some vested interest on which am not going to dwell. So, you can see that we have quite a lot to do. Somebody challenged me the other day on what I’m going to do about waste management. And I replied with what I said in 2003 that, I’m going to convert the waste into power. We’re going to invest in waste collection and use them in generating electricity. It’s happening overseas. What we lack is the leadership capacity leadership. The moment we’re in a position to define our areas of weakness and strength, we’ll invest in it. Our teachers training institutions have to be upgraded because you can’t give what you don’t have. If the teachers are not properly trained and prepared for the job, there’s no way they can produce 21st century children. It is disheartening for example to know that a significant population of our graduates, 60-70% are unemployable. So something must be done because something is fundamentally wrong. We have to look at the areas strength of individuals and lead them in that direction so that they can be the best. Anambra has to be the first. It has to be the best and each citizen has to reflect on what Anambra us out for. Being the light of the nation is not something you brag about but it’s something that when people look at the state, the indices, we’d come out tops. We’re going to invest heavily in agriculture like I have said. From the statistics are available, Anambra North has the capacity and potential to feed the state satisfactorily and even export food. We must invest there and by the time you invest there, you invest also in the agriculture value chains and as you invest in agriculture value chain, you’d see the industries growing. You’d end up processing so that at the end of the day , we don’t have losses by the time you process. So basically, there’s quite a lot that we need to do, like we articulated in our 12-point agenda, where they’re clearly elaborated and we’ll make more copies available to you so that you can have access to our mindset. Because even local investors have all left. They’re leaving in droves and that’s why I won’t cease to commend those who are risking it to stay behind.
The other day, somebody was saying Innoson is still there with great pride. Not too long ago, one his Chinese workers was kidnapped so, how can we host international conference or even national conference when the message on the street is that Anambra is not safe. No sane person will like to come. The governor had his child’s wedding in Abuja. If the state was safe, that would have been an opportunity to for him to bring everybody to Anambra state . So we have a problem in that regard and it must be addressed.
Any social welfare plans?
There’s something I said I was going to do if it pleases God that I become Anambra’s governor and that’s the issue of welfare of security agents. Today, if a policeman dies on duty, the families are ejected from the barracks. And when a policeman is going for duty and he feels that in the event of his death, his family will be left to suffer, nobody will be interested in police work and what would be at the back of the minds of those in the force would be to escape with the slightest opportunity. But, when his welfare is taken care of and he’s certain his families would not be abandoned, he’d put up his best.
But, how do you do this without incurring expense on government? You do this by providing them with comprehensive insurance, where the responsibility is transferred to the insurance companies but government pays the premium, and every policeman posted to the state would be covered by comprehensive life insurance that guarantees accommodation for the families, education for the children and employment for the widow, and it’s no rocket science because it’s doable without burden to government. And I try to use a practical example, look at the roads in Idemili North and South. They’re still the roads now being used but the ones that were built last year have collapsed. So, I have no problem with infrastructure, developing infrastructure. But the problem is that why can’t we do it well? Is it not the same engineers who do these ones with steel machines and they say this road has lasted thirty years?
What plans for erosion control?
Anambra state is in the belt and we have the challenge. And this is an issue that government must invest in because if you don’t invest in it and address it, it will consume us. And one thing about erosion, which is of great concern, is that if it starts and you don’t address it, it continues expanding. It continues to grow. The scope continues to expand until it becomes, it becomes too dangerous and becomes more expensive to control. One thing about infrastructure is that most times we don’t have maintenance culture and that’s why I said in the course of my campaign that I’m going to bring back Public Work Department (PWD). When we were growing up in the 70s, we saw them. If there are breakages or potholes on our roads, they fix them. By the time you come out in the morning, you will not see them again. And then once we bring back that maintenance culture, our investments will last because if we don’t do erosion, that was not when I was in NIWA as MD. I was pursuing moving cargo by water, between Lagos-Onitsha, and Lagos- Aba because a good percentage of the cargo that arrives in Lagos or Port Harcourt ends up in Aba or Onitsha and I tried to create an analogy. If, for example, we have 5 million containers coming to Onitsha and Aba within a period of time, what that translates to is that 10 million trailers will be on the road because 5 million will carry and 5 million will return the empties and our roads are not designed to carry such loads. So we end up damaging our infrastructure in an attempt to bring in goods.
How will you approach governance?
On the issue of size of governance, everybody knows that our size of government is big and that is why we have a lot of problems. There is need for us to reduce the size of government. And with the advent of technology, you can reduce the size of government. Then in the course of your appointments, in as much as you have made political consideration, it will not come before economic consideration.
Economic consideration should come first before political consideration. So I am one of those who believe very strongly that we have to reduce the size of governance because unless we reduce the size of governance, we may not be able to carry on the way we are doing.
What’s your view regarding campaign amid the general view or scope?
I will not become indecent because the person contesting with me is indecent. But it is left for you, me, and the Anambra people to decide what you want. You can’t get a cow if you buy a goat. There’s no way you’ll get a cow offspring if you buy a goat. You can’t plant an orange and expect apple. If you want apple, you plant apple. If you want oranges, you plant orange. If you want a cow as offspring, you buy a cow. So, what we are always telling our the Anambra is for them to look at us individually, look at our strengths, look at our character, look at our antecedents and be able to make up your mind of actually what you want. If you don’t arrive at that point, you’ll always get the cheaper option. And the white man says, if you buy cheap, you’ll buy twice.