By James Eze ([email protected])
Awka, the capital of Anambra State came to a standstill last Friday for a few moments. Dignitaries from across the spectrum of society gathered to witness the opening of yet another business in the emerging metropolis. Yes. Stanel Oil multi-purpose facility, the first 24-hour integrated fast moving service station in the country is an extraordinary outfit that deserved the extraordinary attention it got last Friday.
It is quite understandable why anyone would easily assume that Stanel Oil is a mere filling station and wonder why the fuss. This partly accounts for the surprise at the attention its inauguration generated in the social media. However, in actuality, Stanel Oil is anything but your usual filling station. It is an investment model that is not yet popular in these parts. It is a filling station that has a farmer’s market, a chapel, a VIP lounge, an event centre, a mini mall that has a fast food restaurant, a spa, a travel agency, a supermarket and a manicured surrounding that makes a loud aesthetic statement. It is so many things rolled into one and its services are available for 24 hours. Stanel employs 500 people in its Awka office alone at the moment and looks very likely to expand to other locations across the state. These are some of the reasons that made Awka stand still to welcome Stanel Oil. And if these are not good enough, then, nothing else might be, perhaps.
For Governor Obiano though, the symbolism of the inauguration of Stanel Oil would be better appreciated within the context of his policy of Aku luo uno—his new investment philosophy that is aimed at persuading Anambra’s illustrious citizens to remember their state in the expansion plan of their businesses. The Anambra irony is that the state has a large number of industrialists, entrepreneurs and businessmen and women, who are driving industry and commerce across Africa but most of whom have no business presence at home. But Governor Obiano has has taken up the campaign to convince his industrious brothers and sisters to remember Anambra in their business plans. The owner of Stanel Oil, Osumenyi-born Stanley Uzochukwu, has just joined the growing list of entrepreneurs, who have heeded Obiano’s call.
Uzochukwu is not alone. There’s a long list of patriotic Ndi Anambra that began rather early to identify with Obiano’s Aku luo uno crusade. There is Cosmas Maduka whose Coscharis Farms Ltd. remains an agricultural case study. There is Oliver Okeke whose JOSAN Integrated Rice Farms and Mills Ltd. is adjudged, as one of the best in the country. Others that have heeded the Aku luo uno call include Lynden Integrated Farms Ltd. and Delfarms/Songhai Group.
In the informal sector, so many businesses have been sprouting in every corner of the state since the past three years. In fact, one of the easiest ways of measuring just how effective the Aku luo uno campaign has been is by a visit to the Abakaliki Street/UNIZIK Temporary Site axis of the Awka metropolis. The rate at which businesses are springing up in that axis is simply fantastic. There are many new hotels, exclusive lounges, nightclubs, upscale boutiques and pharmaceutical shops, choice restaurants and barbeque gardens that were not there when Governor Obiano took the oath of office three years ago. There are also new housing estates, sprouting across the state. The Nkwelle Ezunaka – Nsugbe axis is witnessing a boom in real estate business. Eye-catchy mansions pop up from every corner there to signal a new phase of growth. All these entrepreneurs heeded the Aku luo uno call.
It must be noted, however, that Aku luo uno would have been inconceivable if Obiano had not cured the state of its habitual headache of crime. It would have been unthinkable to envision this great state, heaving slowly to wakefulness in the dark days when kidnapping was rife across the landscape. Aku luo uno would have been an unwise gospel to preach; an incoherent rhetoric that hangs in the air. But Obiano’s decisive crackdown on the underworld and sustained subtle psychological massaging of his compatriots to rekindle their interest in Anambra has paved the way for Aku luo uno. This, perhaps, explains the triumphant tone in his voice when he declared at the opening of Stanel Oil last Friday, “I feel personally gratified to note that more and more sons and daughters of this great state are accepting the timeless wisdom of Aku luo uno.”
Continuing his remarks at the event, Governor Obiano observed that Stanel Oil and its dazzling array of offerings were a clear demonstration of Ndi Anambra’s drive for excellence and innate ability to change their environment for the better. According to him, “Ndi Anambra have proven this over and again in so many distant places that everyone is convinced that we have what it takes to change our story. But the only people that we have left to convince are ourselves…we need to convince ourselves that the enterprising excellence we have demonstrated in other places can sink roots in our own home.” Emphasising the need for more of his compatriots to embrace Aku luo uno, Obiano declared that “it is important to prove that the soil of Anambra State is receptive to progress, to prosperity and to human advancement.” Finally, he reminded the people that his administration had acquitted itself of blames by cleaning up the state and making it receptive to new ideas and people but that the actual magic wand that would unlock a brighter future for everyone was still in the hands of the people. “All we have done is to catalyse the process,” he observed.
Indeed, it is evident that there is a new self-awakening in Anambra State. There’s a new realisation that Anambra deserves the benefits of the enormous gifts of its own children. Obiano’s Aku luo uno is, therefore, a compelling metaphor for productive self-interrogation and acceptance.