What Socialism Means for Anambra

When I say that I believe in a socialist Anambra, I do not mean that government should own every shop, factory, farm or business. I believe in something much more practical.

Government should build the foundations of prosperity, while our people and our businesses create wealth on top of those foundations.

Anambra is full of entrepreneurs. We have traders, manufacturers, farmers, artisans, engineers, professionals, technology entrepreneurs and hardworking families who have built businesses with very little support from government.

The problem is not that our people do not know how to work. The problem is that too often, the public infrastructure around their work is inadequate.

Electricity is unreliable. Roads can be poor. Healthcare can be difficult to access. Young people can struggle to find practical pathways from education into employment. Farmers can lose value because they cannot adequately preserve or process what they produce. Small businesses often struggle to obtain affordable finance and reliable infrastructure.

My idea of socialism begins with changing that relationship between the citizen and the state.

I believe government has responsibilities that cannot simply be left to the market.

A private company can build a factory. It cannot, by itself, create a complete public healthcare system for an entire state.

An entrepreneur can build a technology company. They cannot individually provide broadband infrastructure to every community.

A farmer can produce food. They cannot single-handedly build the roads, storage facilities and preservation systems required to move that food efficiently from farm to market.

A business can employ people. It cannot replace the state's responsibility to provide good schools and basic healthcare.

That is where government comes in.

The state builds the platform.

Then businesses compete. Entrepreneurs innovate. Workers produce. Farmers farm. Traders trade. Artisans build. Investors invest. Communities organise.

That is the economic philosophy I want to bring to Anambra.

I do not believe the purpose of government is to make people permanently dependent on government. The purpose is to make people more capable of building independent and prosperous lives.

If a young person needs a laptop to learn software development, the answer should not simply be a political handout. We should create programmes that give young people access to the tools, skills and networks that can allow them to earn from their knowledge.

If an apprentice wants to become an electrician, mechanic, fabricator or builder, we should help create a pathway from apprenticeship to recognised skills, employment and eventually business ownership.

If a market woman wants to grow her business, she needs more than a one-time empowerment package. She needs reliable electricity, efficient payment tools, access to finance, storage, security, transportation and opportunities to expand.

That is economic empowerment rather than political patronage.

I believe strongly in entrepreneurship. In fact, I believe an egalitarian government should make it easier for ordinary people to become entrepreneurs.

We should not build an economy where success depends on knowing the right politician. We should build an economy where a good idea, hard work, useful skills and productive investment can actually succeed.

Government should therefore concentrate on the things that make enterprise possible: power, roads, broadband, education, healthcare, skills, infrastructure, finance, fair regulation and functioning institutions. Then let businesses compete.

A socialist government does not have to be anti-business.

My philosophy is that government should be pro-worker, pro-enterprise and pro-productivity at the same time.

Our economic policy should deliberately expand the number of people who can participate in prosperity.

• Investing in communities that have historically received less infrastructure.
• Strengthening agriculture while developing processing industries around it.
• Supporting manufacturing and engineering.
• Developing technology and financial services.
• Giving young people technical and digital skills.
• Helping women build businesses and accumulate assets.
• Creating better conditions for small businesses.
• Making our markets productive economic centres rather than simply places where people come to trade.
• Ensuring that development does not remain concentrated in one part of the state.

A person's ability to participate in the economy begins with their health. That is why rebuilding primary healthcare is not simply a health policy. It is an economic policy.

A family should not be pushed into financial hardship because a basic health problem could not be treated locally. A pregnant woman should not have to travel unnecessarily far to receive essential care. Children should have access to basic healthcare. Communities should have functioning primary healthcare facilities with appropriate staffing, equipment, electricity and water.

This is what I mean when I talk about public investment in human beings.

An egalitarian Anambra cannot measure educational success only by the number of university graduates it produces.

We need engineers. We need technicians. We need electricians. We need software developers. We need welders. We need builders. We need agricultural professionals. We need mechanics. We need healthcare workers. We need designers. We need manufacturers. We need entrepreneurs.

We therefore need a stronger connection between education and employment. A young person should be able to move from:

School → technical training → apprenticeship → certification → employment → enterprise ownership.

That is one of the most important socialist ideas I want to apply to Anambra:

Every young person should have a realistic pathway into productive economic life.

Women are already central to Anambra's economy. They trade. They farm. They manufacture. They run households. They operate businesses. They employ people.

But empowerment should mean more than distributing items during political programmes. Women need systems that help them build lasting economic power: better access to financial services, digital payments, business education, cooperative structures, technical training, markets, childcare support where feasible, and opportunities to build businesses and assets.

The objective is simple: more women owning productive assets, earning independent income and building businesses.

Anambra's young population should be one of our greatest economic advantages. We should give young people access to digital tools, technical education, apprenticeships, internships, entrepreneurship, finance and global markets.

Technology gives us an opportunity to connect a young person in Nnewi South or another part of Anambra to customers, employers and opportunities far beyond the state. But digital opportunity requires infrastructure. That is why broadband should be treated as economic infrastructure.

Farmers should not simply be encouraged to produce more. They should be connected to the industries that turn agricultural production into greater economic value. Imagine the chain:

Farmer → storage → preservation → processing → packaging → logistics → market.

Every stage creates economic activity. That creates opportunities for farmers, women, technicians, transporters, entrepreneurs and young people. Anambra should therefore build a modern food preservation and processing system that reduces waste while increasing the value captured by local producers.

Our markets are not merely places where people buy and sell. They are economic institutions. That means market infrastructure matters: electricity, water, drainage, transportation, storage, security, digital payments, broadband.

For Nnewi South, the four market days should be treated as part of the constituency's economic infrastructure and development strategy. The objective is to make each market more productive, connected and capable of supporting the businesses around it.

One of the central ideas behind my politics is that economic development should not be something that happens to communities from far away. Communities should have a greater voice in deciding what infrastructure and economic opportunities they need.

Nnewi South should have a clear economic development strategy. Other parts of Anambra should have theirs. The state should coordinate these strategies so that they reinforce one another. This is how we build a state with multiple centres of economic activity rather than concentrating opportunity in only one place.

My long-term economic vision is to develop Nnewi South into a major centre for technology, finance, enterprise and productive industry. The proposed Nnewi South Finance and Technology Special Economic Zone would not simply be a collection of buildings carrying the name “economic zone.” It would require the foundations first.

• Reliable power
• Affordable high-speed internet
• Efficient transportation
• Technical and digital skills
• Modern infrastructure
• Financial services
• Investment
• Business-friendly institutions
• A strong local workforce

The work towards those foundations should begin first. The objective is to work towards a formal Special Economic Zone process around 2030, subject to the relevant legal, regulatory and feasibility requirements. But the larger ambition is bigger than the zone itself.

The zone should become a launchpad for a wider Anambra economic transformation.

Markets are powerful. They are excellent at responding to prices, demand, competition and opportunity. But markets do not automatically provide every public good at the level society needs. That is why every successful modern economy has some combination of public infrastructure, regulation, social protection and public services alongside private enterprise.

My approach is therefore neither government controls everything nor government does nothing. It is:

Government does what government does best. Markets do what markets do best. Communities do what communities do best.

Government builds infrastructure and institutions. Businesses create products and services. Workers create value. Entrepreneurs take risks. Investors provide capital. Communities participate in development. And the public benefits from a stronger economy.

Redistribution is not simply about taking money from one person and giving it to another. The most powerful form of redistribution is to distribute opportunity.

A good public school gives a child from a modest household access to knowledge. A functioning healthcare centre protects a family's income. Reliable electricity reduces the operating cost of a small business. Broadband gives a young person access to the global economy. Technical training gives an apprentice a valuable skill. A good road allows a farmer to reach a market. A preservation facility prevents food from being wasted.

These are all forms of economic redistribution because they give ordinary people access to resources that would otherwise be available mainly to those who can afford them privately.

I want an Anambra where government is judged by what it builds, not simply by what it announces. Where public money produces public value. Where entrepreneurs do not need political connections to succeed. Where workers are treated with dignity.

Where women can build economic independence. Where young people can acquire practical skills. Where farmers can capture more value from what they produce. Where communities have a meaningful voice in their development.

Where healthcare is treated as a public necessity. Where education creates pathways into productive work. Where infrastructure is deliberately built to increase economic productivity. Where technology is used to expand opportunity.

Where prosperity is not concentrated among a small group of people or places. And where the strength of the economy is measured not only by how wealthy its richest citizens are, but by how much opportunity exists for everyone else.

My socialism is therefore simple

• Build the public foundations.
• Expand economic opportunity.
• Protect human dignity.
• Empower workers and communities.
• Support entrepreneurs.
• Let businesses compete.
• Redistribute opportunity through public investment.
• Build wealth and share the capacity to create it.

That is the kind of socialist, egalitarian and productive Anambra I believe is possible.