General
Dissecting John Emeka’s Manifesto for Anambra State
By Edwin Emeka
Like any other state in the sub-Saharan Africa, Anambra is a state that has its own strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. How these threats and weaknesses are harnessed and turned in to assets for the overall development and wellbeing of the state and its people should however be the ultimate concern and pre-occupation among aspirants who seeks to govern the state in governorship capacity.
While not leaving out its strengths and opportunities to nosedive into a terrible nightmare, aspirants for the Anambra seat of power in Awka should be candid and truthful enough to admit that while the state is among the best states in Nigeria, it has not by any means realized its full potentials.
And like we all know from our basic knowledge of Physics, potential energy is the energy that is at rest. This energy would remain in a state of permanent rest until an outside force is applied to it to set it in motion.
Precisely on the 27th of this month, Anambra State would be marking her 26 years of existence after it was created as a full independent state on August 27, 1991 by former Military President, General Ibrahim Babangida.
Twenty-six years in the life of any man should be full of many positives, but what is the reality confronting Anambrarians today? Your guess is as good as mine!
In spite of these challenges, Anambra has great sons and daughter who will truly make the state great again. One of such rare gem among the array of aspirants jostling to succeed the outgoing Governor of the state, Chief Willie Obiano is Prince John Okechukwu Emeka, a man the Anambra state electorates have pencilled down to be their next Governor.
Somebody recently called me to ask why I am supporting this young and assuasive Prince from Anambra North Senatorial District to become the Governor of the light of the nation, my response to him was very simple. His manifesto is the best among the aspirants and his long established political ideology is developmental orientated.
For Instance, his six-points agenda under the Sustainable Development Action Plan captured the most pressing needs confronting Anambrarians of all ages, class and ideology.
As a political journalist, I am not married to persons, but good ideologies. It is this strong ideology that bonds people together ideologically, politically, socially and otherwise. Therefore, reading his manifesto, which has gone viral online, is like reciting my political beliefs as a journalist and as political operative in front of my standing mirror.
Before, I move further on Prince Emeka’s campaign manifesto for the November 18 governorship race in Anambra state, I want to quote some paragraphs from few of his many enthralling and inspiring speeches.
On what should be the qualities that the incoming Governor of the state must possess, here is what Prince John Emeka has to say: ”I believe we need as Governor, someone…who will not deviate while grappling with challenges of office, a Governor who understands that government is a continuum, a good manager of scarce resources, a defender of our core social values, a Governor with a listening ear and in touch with the people.”
Reaffirming that his word is his word, here again is what the Anambra Prince has to say: ”Fellow citizens, we are made for this moment and we shall seize it together. I am in this race so that I will fight for the cause you and I believe in – good governance.
“Under my watch, no zone, no community and no one shall be left behind … If elected as Governor, my administration will drive growth and development via Sustainable Development Action Plan.”
These action plans are modelled after the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) adopted by world leaders in September 2015 with home grown inputs and strategies by Prince Emeka.
The Sustainable Development Goal is a guide to the role government, private sectors, and nongovernmental organizations as well as other development agencies and partners should play in achieving the global development agenda.
Based on the peculiar nature and needs of Anambra State, Prince John Emeka painstakingly crafted his 6-point agenda for Anambra with local content. The 6-point agenda are; Security, Education, Environment, Agriculture, Trade and Industry and finally Infrastructure.
The first agenda which is Security is based on SDG11 whose goal is to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.
The second agenda which is Education is based on SDG4 whose goal is to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.
The third agenda which is Environment is based on SDG6 whose goal is to ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.
The fourth agenda which is Agriculture is SDG2 whose goal is to end hunger, achieve food security and improve nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.
The fifth agenda which is Trade and Industry is based on SDG8 and SDG1 whose goals are to promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and descent work for all as well as ending poverty in all its forms everywhere.
The sixth and the last agenda which is Infrastructure is based on SDG9 whose goal is to build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation.
These United Nations backed Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) which Prince John Emeka modeled his 6-point agenda after, were clearly crated and anchored on the Sustainable Development Action Plan for Anambra, where a touch of local content was given to it to suit the peculiarities of Anambra State and its people.
With these lofty ideas in mind, all that is required from Anambrarians both at the PDP Primary election and at the general elections are impressive electoral investments to solidify trust already invested in this young, talented and entrepreneurial minded Prince on August 19 and November 18 respectively.
These days would mark the beginning of the new vista of unending and equal opportunities for all persons in Anambra State.
Mr Edwin Emeka, a Public Affairs Analyst wrote from Abuja and can be reached on [email protected].
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has called for a regional benchmark that better reflects West Africa’s market realities, saying petroleum product prices in Nigeria and other African countries should not be automatically driven by crises in Western Europe and the Mediterranean.
“If we look at the refining capacity on the continent and how it has been increasing, it simply doesn’t make sense that if there is a problem in Western Europe or in the Mediterranean, it is going to affect our pricing in Africa.
“There may be issues which have absolutely nothing to do with what is going on here. And prices should be determined on the basis of geopolitical issues, demand and supply, and complexities within the market. So we feel this is a great opportunity for Africa, and West Africa in particular, to really have something that is specific to us.
“If we have a problem, it is reflected in the pricing. If we don’t have a problem, then we are to be shielded to an extent, I would say, from what is going on in other locations,” the chief executive of the NMDPRA, Mr Rabiu Umar, said this on Tuesday at the second West Africa Refined Fuel Market Conference in Abuja.
The conference is jointly hosted by the Authority, S&P Global Commodity Insights and West Africa Regulator Forum, with the theme Funding West Africa Infrastructure & Distribution to Create a Transparent Market for Regional Price Benchmarks and featured regulators, refiners, traders, financiers and other industry stakeholders renewed efforts to establish a transparent regional pricing system for refined petroleum products.
Mr Umar said West Africa needed a pricing system based on its own supply, demand, inventory, logistics, refining and trading conditions, adding that the objective was not to isolate Nigeria from the international petroleum market but to ensure that regional prices accurately reflected the realities of the market being served.
The NMDPRA boss said the push for a regional benchmark was not simply about publishing another price but creating an entire market structure capable of generating credible and transparent price discovery.
“Last year, our focus was on establishing the foundation. This year, our focus must be on execution,” he said.
He said the roadmap required reliable financing, refinery capacity, stronger logistics and storage networks, interconnected ports, roads, rail and pipelines, harmonised product regulations and standards, transparent market data, stronger cross-border cooperation and regional and international capital.
“A reference price is not by itself a trading hub. A conference is not a market. Regulatory cooperation, important as it is, cannot substitute for physical infrastructure, commercial liquidity, market information, and operational excellence on which a credible trading hub must stand.
“Africa possesses resources. Africa possesses demand. Africa possesses refining capacity, and that is also expanding. What we must now build is the infrastructure that efficiently connects all three,” he quipped.
He also identified differences in petroleum product specifications across countries as another obstacle to cross-border trade.
“We also have the second issue of what is the quality of products. What is the specification of products from one country to another? We cannot have from here to Nigeria, to Ghana, to the United Republic, even our right-next-door neighbours having different products and specifications. What that does is that it makes trading across the border very, very difficult.”
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) is developing a platform to aggregate small and distributed renewable energy projects across Nigeria into larger investment opportunities capable of attracting institutional investors.
The initiative seeks to address a major financing challenge in Nigeria’s energy transition, where individual renewable energy projects are often too small or fragmented to attract large-scale institutional capital.
By pooling the projects into a single investment structure, the wealth fund aims to create assets with greater scale and clearer risk profiles, making them easier for institutional investors to assess and finance.
The approach could also help attract international capital by placing domestic institutional funding alongside private and foreign investments, while providing investors with greater confidence in projects exposed to Nigeria’s regulatory, currency, infrastructure and commercial risks.
The financing need is significant, with Nigeria’s Energy Transition Plan estimating that about $410 billion will be required by 2060 to support the country’s transition to cleaner energy.
The NSIA’s aggregation model therefore seeks to move beyond financing individual projects towards building renewable energy portfolios that can unlock deeper pools of institutional capital.
The initiative will be relevant to discussions at the Nigeria NOW! Global Investors Expo, scheduled for November 19 and 20 at the Bola Ahmed Tinubu International Conference Centre in Abuja, where mining, infrastructure, finance and fiscal reforms will be among the key investment themes.
The expo will focus on mining, infrastructure, finance and Nigeria’s fiscal reforms, reflecting the broader conditions that determine whether investment opportunities can move from proposals to commercially viable projects.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The sextet of Onlinebanker, Adetunji Films, More Branches TV, Wearegst, Iswellthecapitalist and The Republic have been selected for the Emerging News Voices Growth Lab organised by Google News Initiative (GNI).
The six Nigerian independent news creators are among roughly 20 emerging news creators from across the region taking part in the multi-month virtual programme, which runs through late September 2026.
Over the course of the programme, participants work directly with Google trainers and product experts across four areas:
AI in the newsroom: hands-on integration of Google’s AI tools, including Gemini, NotebookLM, Google Trends and SynthID, into daily workflows for research, transcription, translation and verification.
Video and audience growth: practical frameworks for building YouTube channels, using both Shorts and long-form video to reach new audiences.
Direct reader relationships: strengthening open web presence and newsletters to build first-party audiences the newsroom owns.
Sustainable revenue: sessions on monetisation strategy, product differentiation and audience growth models.
“Independent news creators and digital-native newsrooms are shaping how Africans, and Nigerians in particular, find and understand the news.
“The Growth Lab gives these creators what growing newsrooms need most: practical AI skills, a clear video and audience strategy, direct relationships with their readers and a path to sustainable revenue.
“When emerging voices build capability and financial independence, the whole news ecosystem becomes more resilient, diverse and sustainable,” the News Partnerships Lead for the Middle East and Africa at Google, Marianne Erasmus, stated.
Commenting on being part of the cohort, the Editor-in-Chief of The Republic, Mr Wale Lawal, said, “Google’s Emerging News Voices Growth Lab is giving us practical ways to combine audience insight, product thinking and the responsible use of AI as we build a more sustainable future for The Republic’s journalism.”
Also speaking, his counterpart at MoreBranches, Mr Nasir Achile Ahmed, said, “The program has been valuable to our newsroom, providing information that validates observations we’d made previously, as well as access to tools and the knowledge to use them effectively. Beyond that, engaging with experts and fellow journalists has created a supportive environment that is helping us strengthen our storytelling.”
Creator-led digital journalism is changing how Nigerians, especially younger audiences, find and consume news. Social-first channels and digital-native platforms increasingly drive news discovery, yet the newsrooms behind them often run lean, with limited access to the tools, training and revenue expertise available to established publishers. The GNI Growth Lab is built to close that gap.
The Growth Lab grew out of the Global News Gap Project, a continent-wide mapping of independent African news creators conducted with Project Oasis and Code for Africa, which identified where emerging newsrooms most need support.
The Growth Lab is the latest step in Google’s continued support for Nigerian media. Since 2018, Google has funded newsroom transformation projects through the GNI, helped publishers grow advertising revenue through the Ad Manager Academy, and shared ad revenue with Nigerian publishers through Google AdSense and Google Ad Manager.
Since 2024 alone, Google has trained more than 1,500 Nigerian journalists and editors in online safety, advanced Search, digital verification and audience analytics. Google also supports media skilling through its collaboration with the MTN Media Innovation Programme, where fellows receive hands-on sessions on AI as a productivity partner and on newsroom technology, from News Consumer Insights to Gemini.
