“You Are a Man Who Goes Against the Wind” — Shettima Commends Soludo As Anambra Governor Calls For Deeper FG-State Collaboration

MAZI EJIMOFOR OPARA 

There are moments in public life when conviction matters more than consensus. At the Delta State Economic and Investment Summit 2026 in Asaba, that moment came when Vice President Kashim Shettima turned to Governor Chukwuma Soludo and called him exactly what he is: “a man of conviction who goes against the direction of the wind.”

It was not flattery. It was recognition. For years, Soludo has said the hard things, pushed the unpopular reforms, and stayed the course even when the wind blew the other way. Shettima’s commendation was as much about character as it was about policy — an acknowledgment that Nigeria needs leaders willing to align with difficult truths in order to build something lasting.

From that podium, Governor Soludo made his own case. Not for Anambra alone, but for all of us.

“Nigeria has stabilized,” he said. And with that stability comes responsibility. The next step, he argued, is deliberate collaboration — not rivalry, not isolation. Delta should work with Anambra. The Southeast should work with the South-South. States should work with the Federal Government, with the 36 states, the FCT, and down to the 774 LGAs. Development, he insisted, cannot be a solo project. It must be coordinated, or it will not happen at all.

But coordination without action is just another meeting. So Soludo went further. “Let’s make investment a habit,” he said. “Investment must be taken more seriously.” Not in speeches. Not in talk shows. In habit. In daily choices.

To prove the point, he told a personal story. In 2019, his daughter introduced him to Akwete. He liked it. He kept wearing it. Today, it is his daily uniform. A simple choice, but a powerful one.

That choice is why he stood to commend the First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, for her ₦2 billion grant to Akwete women, and for wearing the fabric proudly during her visit to Abia. It is why he praised Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala for carrying made-in-Nigeria to the world’s highest tables. If our own leaders, our own global ambassadors, can wear us, then we can buy us.

The math is simple and staggering. “If 240 million Nigerians wear made-in-Nigeria, we will create more than 10 million jobs,” Soludo said. “We can now walk the talk.”

That is the wind Soludo is going against — the habit of importation, the comfort of rhetoric, the delay of action. And that is why Shettima’s words landed.

The Summit in Asaba gathered governors, investors, and policymakers to talk about growth. But Soludo’s message cut through the agenda: stability is here. The time for partnerships is now. The time for habits, not headlines, is now.

Because at the end of the day, nations are not built by speeches. They are built by choices made every day — in boardrooms, in markets, and even in what we choose to wear.