Social Agenda
As a government of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), we will live out the true essence of APGA’s motto: “Be your brother’s and sister’s keeper” (Onye aghana nwanne ya). Our goal is to systematically develop a skilled, healthy, and caring society. Inclusiveness is important to us, and all residents of the state will contribute to, and benefit from, the social agenda.
The broad pillars under which we will be driving this agenda are education, health, youth and women empowerment, social protection, and investment for persons living with disabilities, vulnerable widows and the aged.
Education
Education and strong human capital constituted the foundation for Anambra and former Eastern Region’s economic and social transformation in the first republic, as well as the basis for Anambra’s current performance despite having some of the smallest government revenues in Nigeria. Human capital is the only renewable resource. The book entitled “Pass the Book, Hold the Oil” on how Taiwan mined its human capital to great success despite not having natural resources provides a template on how robust education (especially STEM—science, technology, engineering and maths) is foundation to society’s sustainable prosperity. Education is Anambra’s present and its future. Our Plan has a huge, detailed chapter on the functional education required for transition to a post oil Nigeria and the 4th industrial revolution. We only summarize our focus here while the detailed activities/interventions are in the Implementation Plan.
In a nutshell, our Plan aims to:
Develop the competence of teachers in the State and restore teaching as a profession of pride. As the saying goes, “if you want to predict the future of any society, examine the quality of its teachers and the quality of teaching”. The teaching profession is the most important profession as everyone was once taught by a teacher. As a teacher myself, we understand what it means when teachers are empowered to work. Our Plan will work towards professionalism, and unique Anambra teachers with special Anambra certification based upon quality, capacity building and competences. Lifelong learning tools will be provided and teachers will be motivated and rewarded appropriately.
Develop rigorous quality assurance in both private and public schools. The unique feature of the Anambra educational system is that about 60% of pupils and students in primary and secondary schools are in private schools. We will collaborate with the Church, CSOs, DFIs and other stakeholders to set up an independent accreditation and continuous supervisory agency to augment the Ministry of Education in quality assurance;
Provide qualitative Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) for all children under 5 years and achieve 100% enrolment;
Attain the highest Enrolment and literacy rates in the country while providing affordable and competitive Basic Education for all;
Improve access and enrolment into the Mass Literacy, Adult and Non-Formal Education Programme (name to be changed to State Functional Literacy and Education Programme - SFLEP);
Provide education inclusion, improve enrolment and retention of special needs students in schools;
Increase enrolment of all categories of learners in technical and vocational education and training;
Provide quality and equitable Higher Education, including physically challenged and socio-economically disadvantaged people;
Review curricula at all levels to provide functional education for the digital age to develop graduates that are problem solvers especially Information Communication and Technology (ICT) and coding skills, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, etc.
A few other specific initiatives will include:
Deepen the partnership between the Church, private sector and the State in the provision of education in the state.
Continue and strengthen the free education initiatives (Primary 1 – Junior Secondary 3) in public schools. We will work to extend the free education to the Senior Secondary School.
Work with development partners to deploy broadband access to schools across all levels and public libraries to improve access to the internet for all and continue to build the digital tribe. Specifically, the Government Technical Schools will receive special attention, and more of such will be established.
Special attention will be paid to the Anambra state tertiary institutions, to ensure that the curricula and programmes train graduates with the requisite knowledge and skills for the 21st century. Government will work actively with the Management of the institutions to seek and institutionalize linkage and exchange programmes with universities and polytechnics abroad. We want to see our tertiary institutions play the role that Stanford University plays in the development of the Silicon Valley in California, USA, and Anambra would want to see them rated among the best in the world.
Prioritize Nigerian history, and Ethics in the curriculum;
Develop some model schools and public libraries in the state and mainstream the “adopt a school programme”;
Upgrade infrastructure in government-owned schools; and continue to provide subvention to schools returned to the Church by government.
Assess schools to identify teacher gaps in the state and fill the gap.
Healthcare
Our goal is to provide access to quality and affordable healthcare for all residents of Anambra. Furthermore, with advances in technology, opportunities for global networks/collaboration and the huge stock of Anambra Diaspora in frontier medical practice, Anambra has the potential to build international centres of excellence in healthcare.
Among other things, our healthcare plan will include:
Primary Healthcare
GOAL: To ensure the highest possible level of health and well-being and their equitable distribution by focusing on people’s needs and as early as possible to improve prevention.
The initiatives include:
Conduct a gap analysis to ascertain the level of intervention required to meet minimum global standards across all health care facilities in the state;
Upgrade infrastructure, equipment and hire requisite qualified personnel to achieve optimal service delivery in Anambra Primary Healthcare System;
Implement the minimum service Packages and Standards for Primary Health Centres (PHCs) operating in the State;
Establish a referral system that originates from the PHC to the secondary and then to tertiary levels of care across the state;
Incorporate community structures and members into the governance, ownership, and management of primary health care facilities;
Expand all Primary Health facilities to have resident medical officers providing primary services; and
Leverage modern, trustless, secure, and transparent technology (blockchain) to maintain health data.
Secondary & Tertiary Healthcare:
GOAL: To provide specialist treatment and support that is accessible and affordable to Ndi Anambra
Establish the Health Facilities Monitoring and Accreditation Agency (HEFAMAA), charged with monitoring public and private health facilities to ensure registration, accreditation, and standardization of all health facilities, and
Re-establish and strengthen the State Hospitals Management Board (SHMB), review the policy to become autonomous and able to enforce discipline.
Regulatory Framework
GOAL: To provide a world-class healthcare management system through the adoption of globally proven community-driven strategies
We will develop a strategic policy framework and implementation plan for health which provides effective oversight, coalition building, appropriate legislation, regulations, incentives, and accountability. We will:
Set up healthcare policy framework as state-wide guidance, adjusted in line with peculiarities of each level of healthcare facility, and
Strengthen coordination and regulatory functions of the Ministry of Health and all relevant departments in the Ministry saddled with regulatory functions (Medical, Pharmaceutical, Nursing, and Medical Support Services Departments)
Human Resources
GOAL: To attract, retain, and motivate skilled medical personnel in Anambra State. We will:
Review incentives and motivate healthcare professionals across the state to attract and retain top talent;
Recruit and equitably distribute competent, localized health professionals & other non-health actors across State's health facilities;
Commence the Community Nursing and Midwifery Programme, an initiative to improve the availability of needed skilled human resources (HR) at PHC level in rural and hard-to-reach communities, which also involves training and retention of trainees in their communities as government workers; and
Substantially improve healthcare practitioner to population ratio by creating a framework to attract Diaspora healthcare practitioners to return and make Anambra their base.
Improve Infrastructure and Access to Quality Healthcare:
Equip all healthcare institutions with effective user-friendly software for electronic data collection and e-medicine
Urgently raise the quality of all general hospitals in the state to world-class standards through investments in infrastructure, diagnostic equipment, continuous professional development, and public-private partnerships;
Establish a digitized and effective world-class Drug Revolving Fund (DRF) Scheme;
Build the capacity of health workers on DRF and Logistics Management Information System (LMIS); and
Expand programmes for vulnerable groups like the elderly and people living with disabilities.
In addition, we will reinforce and support the Anambra Health Insurance Scheme to ensure wider enrollment so that no resident of Anambra dies on account of an inability to afford medical services.
Other general interventions
Educate, and initiate lifestyle change campaigns to address the epidemic of diabetes, cancer, high blood pressure, heart related illnesses;
Explore mobile clinics in major markets as the first point of medical contact;
Explore telemedicine to improve healthcare access (Uber, Taxify, etc, for healthcare);
Upgrade infrastructure and personnel at teaching hospitals, and primary health centres and actively seek collaboration with international health institutions;
Leverage technology to manage public healthcare records;
Digitize and unify medical data for all Anambra State people.
Youth and women empowerment, social protection
a) Youth Empowerment & Sports
The youth are the bridge to the future. The youth constitute the future of Anambra; therefore, our transformation agenda is fundamentally focused on creating a prosperous expected future for the youth, empowering them to function and be productive. The primary need of the youth is Jobs! Jobs! and quality Jobs! Our target is to create at least 130,000 private sector jobs per annum, and target at least 1,000 youth millionaires per year. Our government will also take deliberate steps to ensure that the youth are adequately represented at all levels of governance.
All Sections of this Manifesto are about the youths. This Section only highlights a few more initiatives. For example, the entire Section 3.1.2 on Technology and Creative Economy, Section 3.1.3 on Trade and Commerce, Agriculture, Education, etc above are all about the youths.
In addition to the foregoing, we will:
Continue and expand the appointment and involvement of young men and women in governance;
Establish business incubation hubs equipped with high-level technology expertise in partnership with relevant parties (academia, domestic and international development organizations, and big tech companies) to transform ideas into burgeoning start-ups;
Working with the organized private sector and international venture capital firms, we will set up an annual N5 billion early-stage/venture capital fund to provide multi-stage funding for tech start-ups and other innovative businesses;
Deliberatively create a digital tribe. We plan to train 10,000 youth per year on digital skills. This will be done by launching a state-wide technology-focused training programme in partnership with the private sector to develop digital skills (web & app development, search engine optimization, graphic design, UX design, etc.) among the Anambra youth population; and
Continue ASBA’s interventions focused on youth-owned SMEs.
In addition to upskilling from a technology standpoint, we will also focus on developing and upskilling the youth in other areas to ensure that each youth has a minimum of two to three skills that will enhance their productive opportunities--- skill acquisition schemes (digital, entrepreneurship, management, vocation, etc).
Design and implement digital adoption policies, such as "All businesses, institutions, and government agencies in the State MUST have an online presence over a period of time (website, social media handles, etc)” – such a policy will create thousands of jobs for youths with requisite digital skills;
Provide a legal and regulatory framework to formalize the apprenticeship system and safeguard their rights as well as creative training programme to enhance the competitive skills of the apprentice (see Section on Trade and Commerce above);
Create programs aimed at encouraging existing businesses (especially traders) to understand and leverage technology & e-commerce as tools for business expansion and growth;
Put in place measures to identify talents early and ensure their participation in domestic and international games/sports to enable them to become professionals;
Provide qualitative education for the youth to secure high-paying jobs in the private and public sectors or become effective entrepreneurs;
In partnership with the private sector in the State, design and implement a secondary school internship programme aimed at providing pupils with the requisite experience as they transition into tertiary education.
Under sport development in Anambra State, we will:
Facilitate grassroots sports development for all youth and students for recreation, health, and livelihood. The inter-house and inter-school sports competitions will be mainstreamed
Create Anambra male and female football teams to play in the professional league in Nigeria;
Create private-sector partnerships to drive sports development and infrastructural development;
Develop modern sports facilities (football, basketball, track & field) across all local governments to harness talent and develop future Olympic champions and global sports champions; and
Mandate schools, communities, and local governments to create playgrounds/sports centres with needed equipment to develop skills and provide matching grants to facilitate these infrastructures.
b) Women Empowerment
Anambra’s future is in the hands of women. Women constitute 87% of secondary school teachers and 92% of primary school teachers in Anambra’s public schools. Our civil service is dominated by women. Thus women empowerment is not a token: it should be the mainstream at all levels of society. Women are more than equal partners in development, and must be recognized and treated as such. Our government will take deliberate steps to eliminate all forms of discrimination based on gender.
As a first step, our government will strengthen the Ministry of Social Welfare, Women and Children Affairs to give its four programme departments (Child, Women Affairs, Social Welfare and Rehabilitation) the required boost to do their job effectively.
In addition, our Plan will target the strengthening of the family as the foundation of society. Building upon the successes of the Ministry and CAFE, we will develop a framework for government to partner with the Church and NGOs with demonstrable capacity and track record to mainstream caring for, and strengthening the family. The family is threatened by several challenges: divorce and single parenthood cases are on the rise, children out of school, rising domestic violence against women and children, cultism and criminality, child slavery and trafficking, etc. In all of these developments, the women bear a disproportionate burden. Our Family First Bureau (FFB) will strengthen the work of the Ministry and the independent NGOs to deliver services to the thousands that need help.
In addition, our government will:
Ensure a more active participation of women at all levels of decision making and governance at the community, local government, and state government levels.
Continue and strengthen MSME funding programs through the Anambra State Small Business Agency (ASBA) aimed at providing funding and capacity building assistance for vulnerable groups and women;
Create specific programs to empower women-owned businesses and enterprises and also seek partnerships and funding from DFIs to support these businesses;
Make deliberate efforts in all government programmes to ensure gender balance;
Make upskilling women digitally a priority for our government;
Our administration will sustain and improve upon the 30 per cent minimum representation to a gender-balanced representation across all programmes and projects implemented by my administration; and
Zero tolerance to all harmful practices against women and the girl child, including gender-based violence
c) Vulnerable Groups
A system is as strong as its weakest link. The welfare of the most vulnerable members of our society constitutes the barometer for measuring the extent to which we live out APGA’s motto and its progressivism.
Specifically, we will:
Develop policies (or laws) protecting widows and domestic workers and other vulnerable groups from maltreatment and unjust treatment;
Review cultural and traditional institutions that promote such negative treatments of women, especially widows;
Approve special education for Persons with Disability (PWD) to ensure completion of education up to at least secondary school level, and take deliberate steps to ensure their participation at all levels of decision making/governance and economic activities;
Sustain timely payment of benefits for all pensioned senior citizens and design a sustainable safety net targeting the needs of all aged citizens above the age of 70;
Work with the House of Assembly to review and ultimately pass the draft Social Protection bill into law which aims to provide social safety nets to the poor, unemployed, and vulnerable population;
Expand the social investments database of poor and vulnerable households (currently 50,000 households) in the state;
Continue and strengthen MSME funding programs through the Anambra State Small Business Agency (ASBA) aimed at providing funding and capacity building assistance for vulnerable groups and women.