The Anambra State government on Wednesday inaugurated its Smart City programme with the unveiling of street and house numbering project in Awka, the state capital.
Victor Oye, national chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), who inaugurated the project, said the initiative was a testimony to Gov. Willie Obiano’s determination to give the best to the state.
Eulogising Obiano on his seventh year in office, Oye said the governor has performed excellently in every facet of governance and that the street and house numbering project would boost the security environment of the state.
He commended those who conceived and were executing the project for their initiative, saying that good and clear directions were the hallmark of modern-day cities and that Anambra could not afford to lag behind.
On his part, Emeka Okwosa, managing director of Awka Capital Territory Development Authority (ACTDA), said the target was to upload every street and house within the territory to Goggle map.
He said the project would provide an informed guide to visitors and make response to emergency and security situations more effective.
“We are calling on every resident of Anambra to key into this project. We want to have every house and street on Google map within the shortest possible time and we want to have Uber and Taxify services in Awka,” Okwosa said.
Jude Emecheta, managing director of Anambra Signage and Advertisement Agency (ANSAA), the agency in charge of the numbering, said the project would move to other cities of the state after Awka had been covered.
He assured that the quality of materials for the numbering and signposts were durable, adding that the agency would need cooperation of the people of the state to implement the laudable programme of the governor.
“Now that we have an airport coming up, when somebody lands in the state, he does not need to start asking for locations, all he needs to do is to key in the place on Google and a taxi will take you there,” Emecheta said.
“We don’t want people to be prone to insecurity by asking people of streets and houses; the aim is to make Awka smart and easily traversable,” he said.
The inauguration of the street and house numbering project coincided with the seventh anniversary of the administration of Obiano who was first sworn in on March 17, 2014.
