Anambra Weekly

Governor Soludo, alongside members of the State Executive Council, hosted a grand send-off ceremony in honour of the outgoing State Commissioner of Police, AIG Ikioye Orutugu, following his official retirement from active service. Held at the Light House, Awka, the event brought together top government functionaries, security commanders, and members of the state cabinet to celebrate the distinguished career and impactful tenure of the retiring police chief in Anambra State.

5 August 2026

COOUTH on the rise as CMD tightens reforms

By Ebuka Onyekwelu, Ph.D

Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University Teaching Hospital (COOUTH), Awka, has in the last few months continued to experience some changes that are now bearing fruits in the form of improved health care delivery to patients. Today, staff members of the Teaching Hospital and patients freely attest to the changing culture and high-quality care, which are direct consequences of some reforms spearheaded by the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of COOUTH, Dr. Maureen Umeakuewulu, who was appointed only four months ago by the Governor of Anambra State, Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo. “I interact with my patients, and I run an open-door policy. There is a standard I have in mind, and we are determined to move COOUTH forward,” the CMD said.

Dr. Maureen Umeakuewulu recounted that upon her resumption, she was determined to make COOUTH a centre of excellence that is compliant with global standards. “When I was appointed, I came down to Anambra determined to make COOUTH a centre of excellence that is moving towards global standards.” That is the journey COOUTH has embarked on for the past four months. “For me, there is a minimum standard for an important institution like COOUTH, and I resumed on a tripod to ensure that we do not operate below standard,” the CMD recalled. Accordingly, the CMD set out to “improve clinical services,” “improve training of staff,” and “position COOUTH for quality research as a teaching hospital.” These three were tagged to five timelines of emergency or urgent, immediate, short term, medium term and long term.

Reflecting, the CMD narrated her journey so far. “There were a few things we needed to do urgently to improve our clinical services. We needed some basic clinical equipment we did not have, and we have been able to get some. We created the department of orthopedics and have applied for accreditation. We unbundled our lab and created departments of microbiology, hematology, and chemistry, which were previously lumped up. I said no. You cannot grow and attain standard professional service delivery like that,” Dr. Umeakuewulu said. At the moment, the accident and emergency department of COOUTH is undergoing total renovation to ensure that it is properly reconstructed to meet standard emergency service delivery. After the renovation, oxygen to patients will be automated and seamless. Currently, the private wing clinic which will be manned by consultants for personalized care, is being renovated.

Speaking on quality of staff to drive the reforms, Dr. Umeakuewulu said she ran into a challenge with that, but expressed confidence that with the measures put in place, there has been an appreciable level of improvement. “We are trying to instill discipline. We have had several meetings to discuss staff attendance and discipline. We have zero tolerance for corruption. So far, we have suspended some of our staff members to instill discipline,” the CMD said. As of today, COOUTH now has an organized security whose professional services are augmented with CCTV in essential areas across the hospital vicinity. In addition, there is complete internet access across the hospital. These changes spotlight the making of a livable and prosperous homeland where people can access quality and standard medical care in line with Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo’s vision.

Dr. Umeakuewulu is also working to digitize data in the hospital. “I saw our staff members moving folders up and down, and that is not in tandem with global standards. So, I commenced the digitization process, and we will soon go fully digital with a smart card that has a wallet, and our data is stored on iCloud. All medications in our pharmacy and other services are now duly documented digitally and safely stored. We needed these changes to meet the minimum standards,” the CMD said.

On accountability and hospital revenue, Dr. Maureen Umeakuewulu said a public institution like COOUTH couldn't move forward without accountability. “Without accountability, we can’t move. We brought in Remita providers to manage our revenue. No staff is allowed to collect cash in the hospital now, and it has reflected in our revenue,” she said.

There is now an emerging new COOUTH, with changes which are easily noticeable and discussed by staff members and patients.

PRESS RELEASE

GOVERNOR SOLUDO APPOINTS NEW HEADS FOR ANAMBRA PARASTATALS

The Governor of Anambra State, Professor Chukwuma Charles Soludo, CFR, has approved the appointment of four (4) seasoned professionals to key positions in the State parastatals, with immediate effect.

The new appointees and their respective designations are as follows:

*1. Dr. Nelson OMENUGHA* – Special Adviser, Youth Reformation

*2. Dr. Chizoba Prisca EZEASOR* – Executive Secretary, Anambra State Primary Health Care Development Agency (ASPHCDA)

*3. Hon. Chike ANYAONU* – Managing Director, Anambra State Housing Development Corporation

*4. Mr. Chris Osemedua MOLOKWU* – Managing Director, Anambra Broadcasting Corporation (ABS)

The Governor charges the new appointees to bring their expertise to bear in the service of the State by demonstrating the highest level of professionalism, dedication, and integrity in the discharge of their duties.

These appointments take effect immediately.

Signed:

Christian Aburime
Chief Press Secretary to the Governor

July 28, 2026

ANAMBRA’S BUILDER OF A NEW ERA: GOVERNOR SOLUDO AT 66

By Christian ABURIME

There are leaders who govern, and there are leaders who build. And then there is Professor Chukwuma Charles Soludo, CFR, the economist-philosopher who as the Governor of Anambra State has reimagined the very contours of what a Nigerian state can become. In turning 66 on the twenty-eighth day of July 2026, it is in order to celebrate the steady hand of a visionary who, with the precision of a scholar and the audacity of a pioneer, is moulding a better future from the clay of the present.

To understand Governor Soludo is to understand that he thinks in decades ahead, not election cycles. Long before he assumed office on March 17, 2022, he had already envisioned Anambra as an utopian state. Where others saw a state beset by insecurity and stagnation, he saw a latent giant, rich in human capital, fiercely urbanised, and brimming with entrepreneurial genius waiting to be unleashed.

This is no ordinary rhetorical flourish. It is the governing philosophy of a first-class mind who has spent his life mastering the architecture of economies, first as Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, where he engineered the historic banking recapitalisation that reshaped the nation’s financial landscape, and now as the chief steward of Anambra’s state. His is a leadership formed in the crucible of intellectual rigour, where every policy is a blueprint, every project a transformation.

No vision can take root in a land poisoned by fear. Governor Soludo understood this with the clarity of a man who has studied the algebra of development. When he assumed office, large swathes of Anambra were held hostage by non-state actors. The response was characteristically Soludoan: comprehensive, strategic, and unyielding.

Together with other decisive measures, the Anambra Homeland Security Law 2025 and the launch of the 2,000-strong ‘Udo Ga-Achi’ special security operation marked a paradigm shift. By integrating joint military and police forces with the Agunechemba community vigilante network, Governor Soludo created a multi-layered security architecture that combines professional expertise with grassroots intelligence. The results speak: criminality in Anambra has reduced drastically, with sixty-two criminal camps dismantled since he took office. The sit-at-home tyranny that once held the Southeast hostage has also been broken.

No doubt, Governor Soludo’s credentials as an academic are not decorative; they are the DNA of his governance. Recognising that a state’s greatest asset is its people, his administration has executed nothing less than an educational revolution. Free education from kindergarten through secondary school is now a reality, with all hidden fees and levies abolished. Some 8,115 new teachers have been recruited; twenty-two smart schools are fully operational; and Anambra now boasts the lowest out-of-school-children rate in all of Nigeria.

The results are not abstract. Literacy and numeracy levels in public schools have surged by over forty per cent; enrolment has risen by more than forty-five per cent. These are not accidents; they are the dividends of intentionality.

Drive through Anambra today, and you will see Governor Soludo’s vision also rendered in concrete and asphalt. Over 900 kilometres of roads are under construction, with 600 kilometres already completed in just forty-four months, an average of twelve kilometres of brand-new, high-quality roads every single month. The iconic Ekwulobia Flyover, the Aroma Link Bridge, and the new ‘Light House’ Government House have ended decades of infrastructural neglect.

The Solution Fun City in Awka, West Africa’s largest leisure and entertainment complex, has been welcoming thousands of visitors since last year. A ten-storey five-star hotel, a continental-scale shopping mall, the Agulu Lake Beach Resort, and the Awka City Park: the Anambra Mixed-Use Industrial City, three new urban centres (Awka 2.0, Greater Niger, and the Aerotropolis), and a state Rail Masterplan are all on the drawing board of tomorrow.

A society that neglects the health of its citizens is a society that has abandoned its soul. The Soludo administration has rehabilitated 130 Primary Healthcare Centres and constructed five new general hospitals. Forty functional ambulance stations now serve major hospitals across the state; 1,500 health workers have been recruited; and a digitalised healthcare system with telemedicine capabilities has been introduced. Antenatal care and childbirth are provided free of charge. The long-term goal is to make Anambra a medical destination comparable to India within five years.

Governor Soludo’s economic vision is not about handouts; it is about enablement. Through the Anambra State Small Business Agency, his administration has provided N1.5 billion in highly subsidised loans to Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises. The Solution Innovation District has trained over 20,000 youths in digital skills, with partners like Microsoft and Wootlab Foundation positioning Anambra as a hub for Africa’s rising digital tribe. Eighty startups have received N80 million in funding. The ‘One-Youth-Two-Skills’ programme continues to expand, ensuring that Anambra’s greatest resource, its people, are equipped for the economies of tomorrow.

Beyond bricks and budgets, Governor Soludo is also engaged in something more profound: a social reformation. This is rooted in the Igbo proverb that “hard work brings reward”, a value reorientation initiative designed to restore the moral fabric of society by deterring religious charlatans, native doctor quackery and fraudulent get-rich-quick schemes. This is not soft politics; it is the hard work of civilisational renewal.

Perhaps, what distinguishes Governor Soludo most profoundly is his refusal to be imprisoned by partisan politics or parochialism. Though a member of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, he has worked seamlessly with President Bola Tinubu’s administration, pledging Anambra’s support for national development and collaborating on critical projects like the Second Niger Bridge access road. His leadership transcends the petty calculations of partisan politics; it is animated by a genuine commitment to the prosperity of the Southeast and Nigeria as a whole.

Critics once dismissed Governor Soludo’s vision of Anambra as Africa’s Dubai or Taiwan as fantasy. Today, that vision is quietly taking shape. It is not in the distant future, but in the roads being paved, the schools being built, the hospitals being opened, the businesses being funded, and the values being restored. It is a vision rooted not in magic but in method; not in rhetoric but in rigour of laying the right foundations.

On Governor Soludo’s sixty-sixth birthday, Anambra bestrides the cusp of something extraordinary. The first term laid the unbreakable foundations; the second term now promises to raise an entirely new skyline. The 2026 budget of ₦757.9 billion, with 79% devoted to capital projects, coupled with a principled refusal to take needless loans, is all proof of Governor Soludo’s fiscal prudence and his determination to build tomorrow rather than consume today.

So, we honour a visionary, a man who has deployed his erudition not in the service of self-aggrandisement but in the service of a people. We celebrate a leader who thinks of the next generation, not the next election. We venerate a son of Isuofia who has refused to forget that leadership is a sacred trust, a bridge-builder who has shown that excellence knows no party, and an architect who is building a new, prosperous, smart and sustainable Anambra.

Happy 66th birthday, Oluatuegwu.*ANAMBRA’S BUILDER OF A NEW ERA: GOVERNOR SOLUDO AT 66*

By Christian ABURIME

There are leaders who govern, and there are leaders who build. And then there is Professor Chukwuma Charles Soludo, CFR, the economist-philosopher who as the Governor of Anambra State has reimagined the very contours of what a Nigerian state can become. In turning 66 on the twenty-eighth day of July 2026, it is in order to celebrate the steady hand of a visionary who, with the precision of a scholar and the audacity of a pioneer, is moulding a better future from the clay of the present.

To understand Governor Soludo is to understand that he thinks in decades ahead, not election cycles. Long before he assumed office on March 17, 2022, he had already envisioned Anambra as an utopian state. Where others saw a state beset by insecurity and stagnation, he saw a latent giant, rich in human capital, fiercely urbanised, and brimming with entrepreneurial genius waiting to be unleashed.

This is no ordinary rhetorical flourish. It is the governing philosophy of a first-class mind who has spent his life mastering the architecture of economies, first as Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, where he engineered the historic banking recapitalisation that reshaped the nation’s financial landscape, and now as the chief steward of Anambra’s state. His is a leadership formed in the crucible of intellectual rigour, where every policy is a blueprint, every project a transformation.

No vision can take root in a land poisoned by fear. Governor Soludo understood this with the clarity of a man who has studied the algebra of development. When he assumed office, large swathes of Anambra were held hostage by non-state actors. The response was characteristically Soludoan: comprehensive, strategic, and unyielding.

Together with other decisive measures, the Anambra Homeland Security Law 2025 and the launch of the 2,000-strong ‘Udo Ga-Achi’ special security operation marked a paradigm shift. By integrating joint military and police forces with the Agunechemba community vigilante network, Governor Soludo created a multi-layered security architecture that combines professional expertise with grassroots intelligence. The results speak: criminality in Anambra has reduced drastically, with sixty-two criminal camps dismantled since he took office. The sit-at-home tyranny that once held the Southeast hostage has also been broken.

No doubt, Governor Soludo’s credentials as an academic are not decorative; they are the DNA of his governance. Recognising that a state’s greatest asset is its people, his administration has executed nothing less than an educational revolution. Free education from kindergarten through secondary school is now a reality, with all hidden fees and levies abolished. Some 8,115 new teachers have been recruited; twenty-two smart schools are fully operational; and Anambra now boasts the lowest out-of-school-children rate in all of Nigeria.

The results are not abstract. Literacy and numeracy levels in public schools have surged by over forty per cent; enrolment has risen by more than forty-five per cent. These are not accidents; they are the dividends of intentionality.

Drive through Anambra today, and you will see Governor Soludo’s vision also rendered in concrete and asphalt. Over 900 kilometres of roads are under construction, with 600 kilometres already completed in just forty-four months, an average of twelve kilometres of brand-new, high-quality roads every single month. The iconic Ekwulobia Flyover, the Aroma Link Bridge, and the new ‘Light House’ Government House have ended decades of infrastructural neglect.

The Solution Fun City in Awka, West Africa’s largest leisure and entertainment complex, has been welcoming thousands of visitors since last year. A ten-storey five-star hotel, a continental-scale shopping mall, the Agulu Lake Beach Resort, and the Awka City Park: the Anambra Mixed-Use Industrial City, three new urban centres (Awka 2.0, Greater Niger, and the Aerotropolis), and a state Rail Masterplan are all on the drawing board of tomorrow.

A society that neglects the health of its citizens is a society that has abandoned its soul. The Soludo administration has rehabilitated 130 Primary Healthcare Centres and constructed five new general hospitals. Forty functional ambulance stations now serve major hospitals across the state; 1,500 health workers have been recruited; and a digitalised healthcare system with telemedicine capabilities has been introduced. Antenatal care and childbirth are provided free of charge. The long-term goal is to make Anambra a medical destination comparable to India within five years.

Governor Soludo’s economic vision is not about handouts; it is about enablement. Through the Anambra State Small Business Agency, his administration has provided N1.5 billion in highly subsidised loans to Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises. The Solution Innovation District has trained over 20,000 youths in digital skills, with partners like Microsoft and Wootlab Foundation positioning Anambra as a hub for Africa’s rising digital tribe. Eighty startups have received N80 million in funding. The ‘One-Youth-Two-Skills’ programme continues to expand, ensuring that Anambra’s greatest resource, its people, are equipped for the economies of tomorrow.

Beyond bricks and budgets, Governor Soludo is also engaged in something more profound: a social reformation. This is rooted in the Igbo proverb that “hard work brings reward”, a value reorientation initiative designed to restore the moral fabric of society by deterring religious charlatans, native doctor quackery and fraudulent get-rich-quick schemes. This is not soft politics; it is the hard work of civilisational renewal.

Perhaps, what distinguishes Governor Soludo most profoundly is his refusal to be imprisoned by partisan politics or parochialism. Though a member of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, he has worked seamlessly with President Bola Tinubu’s administration, pledging Anambra’s support for national development and collaborating on critical projects like the Second Niger Bridge access road. His leadership transcends the petty calculations of partisan politics; it is animated by a genuine commitment to the prosperity of the Southeast and Nigeria as a whole.

Critics once dismissed Governor Soludo’s vision of Anambra as Africa’s Dubai or Taiwan as fantasy. Today, that vision is quietly taking shape. It is not in the distant future, but in the roads being paved, the schools being built, the hospitals being opened, the businesses being funded, and the values being restored. It is a vision rooted not in magic but in method; not in rhetoric but in rigour of laying the right foundations.

On Governor Soludo’s sixty-sixth birthday, Anambra bestrides the cusp of something extraordinary. The first term laid the unbreakable foundations; the second term now promises to raise an entirely new skyline. The 2026 budget of ₦757.9 billion, with 79% devoted to capital projects, coupled with a principled refusal to take needless loans, is all proof of Governor Soludo’s fiscal prudence and his determination to build tomorrow rather than consume today.

So, we honour a visionary, a man who has deployed his erudition not in the service of self-aggrandisement but in the service of a people. We celebrate a leader who thinks of the next generation, not the next election. We venerate a son of Isuofia who has refused to forget that leadership is a sacred trust, a bridge-builder who has shown that excellence knows no party, and an architect who is building a new, prosperous, smart and sustainable Anambra.

Happy 66th birthday, Oluatuegwu.

BREAKING: Like Father, Like Daughter! Odiuko Soludo Bags First-Class Degree, Dazzles Nottingham University

By Christian ABURIME

In a dazzling display of intellectual pedigree that has sent waves of pride across the First Family of Anambra State and beyond, Miss Odiuko Soludo has just officially carved her own formidable legacy, graduating with a prestigious First-Class Honours degree in Neuroscience from the globally renowned University of Nottingham, UK.

The daughter of Anambra State Governor, Professor Chukwuma Charles Soludo, CFR, has emphatically stamped her genetic excellence, proving that the ‘brain box’ gene runs ferociously deep in the Soludo dynasty. While her father is celebrated as one of Africa’s finest economists and a former Central Bank Governor, Odiuko has stepped out from his shadow to shine outstandingly bright on the international academic stage.

This monumental achievement is only the natural order of things for the young prodigy. Described by family insiders as a “chip off the old block,” Odiuko has reportedly lived an exceptional and extraordinary life from childhood, exhibiting a rare intellectual depth that left her tutors bewildered and her peers in awe.

Her journey through the rigorous halls of Nottingham was not just about passing exams, but about dominating them. To call her just “smart” would be a gross understatement; she is, by all accounts, a “scarce and rare" gem, a generational thinker who mirrors the analytical fecundity of her famous father.

Governor Soludo, known for his meticulous economic blueprints for Anambra State, clearly drafted an equally brilliant blueprint for his household. While the Governor steers the ship of Nigeria’s most enterprising state, Odiuko has been conquering the academic bastions of the UK, turning a foreign soil into familiar territory for excellence.

This is now beyond a family affair; it is a massive triumph and source of inspiration for Igbo youths and young Nigerians at large. As news of her First-Class feat breaks, social media is already buzzing, with many noting that the apple has not only fallen very close to the tree but has rolled into the highest echelons of global academia.

As the proud parents, Governor and First Lady, Dr. Nonye Soludo, bask in the glow of this resounding feat, the question on everyone’s lips is no longer about the daughter’s past achievements, but her boundless future. With a formidable academic arsenal and the blood of a genius flowing through her veins, Odiuko Soludo will be blazing her own trail to the stars.

Congratulations are in order for the star graduate and the First Family of Anambra State. The Governor has built a state; his daughter, it seems, is building an empire of scholarship.