66th Birthday: Ben Nwankwo compares Soludo with Michael Okpara, Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew

By Tony Okafor, Awka

A political economist and public policy analyst, Dr. Ben Nwankwo, has argued that the true measure of Governor Chukwuma Soludo’s administration will not be the roads, schools, and other infrastructure completed before he leaves office in 2030, but whether the institutions and systems he is building remain effective decades after his tenure.

Nwankwo made the assertion in a policy essay titled Exiting in 2030: Building for 2070 – Soludo, Okpara’s Unfinished Business, and the Quiet Architecture of Lasting Leadership, in which he examined the governor’s long-term development philosophy.

According to the scholar, Soludo’s administration should be assessed through the lens of institutional sustainability rather than short-term political achievements.

He compared Soludo’s vision with that of the late Premier of the Eastern Region, Dr. Michael Okpara, whose industrialisation and agricultural revolution transformed the region before political upheavals interrupted the momentum.

He also drew parallels with Singapore’s founding Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew, whose enduring legacy, he said, lay in building institutions capable of outlasting their founder.

Nwankwo identified the development of New Niger City, Awka 2.0, the Anambra Mixed-Use Industrial City (AMIC), the Aerotropolis and the Innovation District as flagship projects intended to reshape Anambra’s economy over several generations rather than within a single political cycle.

He noted that the initiatives are aimed at creating new urban centres, expanding industrial capacity, attracting private investment and promoting technology-driven growth.

Beyond physical infrastructure, Nwankwo argued, the Soludo administration is investing in human capital, institutional reforms and long-term planning, including leadership development, innovation programmes and investment frameworks designed to outlive the present government.

The analyst, however, acknowledged that the ultimate success of the strategy cannot be determined before the end of Soludo’s tenure, stressing that the real test would come years after the governor leaves office.

“The verdict will arrive later—in the performance of the systems he leaves behind,” Nwankwo concluded, adding that the governor’s ambition is to ensure that Anambra’s next phase of development does not become “another interrupted chapter,” but a foundation capable of sustaining growth well into the future.