Anambra State Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, Reveals Two-Year Salary Waiver and Austerity Measures
During the commemoration of his administration’s second anniversary at the International Convention Center in Awka, Anambra State, Governor Prof. Chukwuma Soludo disclosed that he has opted not to receive a salary from the state since assuming office as governor two years ago.
Governor Soludo also stated that his wife, serving as the first lady of Anambra State, does not utilize an official car but instead drives his vehicle.
Highlighting his commitment to frugality and financial discipline, the governor emphasized that his administration has refrained from borrowing over the past two years, employing what he described as the most austere governance measures to date.
“Any governor that comes floods you with offers for borrowing and so on and so forth, but we decided for the first two years to demonstrate something, the capacity to do more with less.
“And so far as has been said, for two years, despite receiving about 25 per cent in real terms or in dollar terms of what was in the past, we have chosen deliberately not to borrow.
I have been asked severally; ‘how do you do without borrowing and with the difficult circumstances?’ And my answer is that we are doing so because we are executing the most austere measure of government ever.
“As I speak to you, I am not taking any salary, I am not paid any salary by Anambra State government. Even the First Lady of Anambra doesn’t have any official car, she still drives my vehicles,” Soludo said.
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The governor said that his decision to cut waste and the cost of governance is to direct resources and prioritise them to things that are important to the people of the state.
He said his administration has prioritized areas that have been neglected in the past, building hospitals, roads schools and others in places that such amenities have never reached.
Soludo assured the people of Anambra that any kobo entrusted in his hand as the governor will be accounted for, saying that if he ever borrows, the people will be shown the projects the loan was used for and how those projects would repay the loan.
The celebration of the two years anniversary of Soludo’s administration was marked with the Pontifical Mass of Thanksgiving led by the Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Nnewi, Most Rev. Jonas-Benson Okoye and the Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Awka, Most Rev. Paulinus Ezeokafor.
