There is a reason employers of labour often look for cognate experience when employing their senior or management staff. The reason is that experience is everything. Not only is experience the best teacher, it is life itself. The 2019 governorship election campaigns were largely driven around who has the cognate experience to become the Governor of Imo State after Governor Rochas Okorocha. The people envisaged that the post Okorocha Imo State would be difficult and would require an experienced hand to navigate through the murky waters. Today, here we are, with Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha as the Executive Governor of Imo State, and Hon. (Engr.) Gerald Irona as the Deputy Governor. They come with uncommon cognate experience in governance that have spanned over a decade. For the first time in history, we have a Governor and Deputy Governor who were both lawmakers at the National Assembly. Ihedioha was in the House of Representatives for 12 unbroken years, while his Deputy rose from being a Councilor to member of the state assembly, and finally member of the House of Representatives. Both had also served in executive capacities, the Governor having served as Special Adviser to Vice President Atiku Abubakar while his Deputy had served as Executive Local Government Chairman. These experiences come handy now for the benefit of the people of the state.
The cognate experiences of the Governor and his Deputy is aptly demonstrated in the speed and precision with which they have responded to issues. Nothing was more reassuring than the speed with which Ihedioha set up his Transition Technical Committee in April. This committee has responded with equal speed and commitment and turned in its report before the Governor was sworn in on Wednesday, May 29. That Ihedioha was prepared for the governance of Imo State is therefore no longer the news, what is the news is that he is now running with the ball. While addressing the people shortly after his swearing in ceremony he minced no words when he stated that he would run with the ball. He said: “I diligently sought this office, knowing not only the issues involved, but also the questions that agitate the minds of our people. We do not have all the answers, neither do we have the magic wand. But we promise you our honesty, sincerity and genuine commitment and candour. We will strive to always tell you the truth. We promise a complete dedication to your service, and yes, my considerable experience and capacity would be brought to bear on governance issues with due humility. With God on our side, we shall prevail”.
With a full appraisal of the ugly situation he met in the state, the Governor reeled out his roadmap to rebuilding Imo. Under the new dispensation Imo people will see a Smart Imo anchored on ICT. With the introduction of innovative measures such as the Treasury Single Account (TSA) in the state, the state government is on the path to blocking all leakages in the process of revenue collection and funds remittances. With the TSA cleaning the table, Governor Ihedioha will bring back transparency, accountability and meaningfully fight corruption in the system, the minster the outgoing government failed to fight as evidenced in the infamous JPROSS saga and other cases of contract failure. We can beat our chest and go to sleep with two eyes closed with the assurance that whatsoever resources we have in the state, even when we cooperate with the government and pay our taxes, will not be stolen. With our resources well protected, the new government will no doubt have the needed funds to leverage upon to embark on the myriad of projects that will uplift the state and the people out of the trajectory of poverty and penury. No longer shall we depend on words from the governor as evidence of government transaction. No more shall we fall for the crap of a governor claiming publicly that he would not touch his security votes only to secretly swallow his words and demand it as first item on the payment roll. The domestication of the TSA is therefore not just another jargon in the running of the state. It is a veritable tool for the tracking and protection of public funds and engenders the accountability and transparency we yearn for in the management of our commonwealth. It will produce wonderful results. As encapsulated by the Governor, implementing the TSA shall lead to balancing the state “revenue goals with social justice imperatives” and enhance the Internally Generated Revenue of the state as a veritable funding component.
Another thing Governor Ihedioha has committed to doing is the revamping of the dead local government system and embarking on true and meaningful community development initiatives. Ihedioha will usher in a paradigm shift from the impoverishing shenanigan and hooliganism that existed in the past eight years in the name of community development under the fraudulent Community Government Council (CGC) and State Development Council (SDC). There is no gainsaying that many communities in the state for the past eight years were ruined and became battle fields for all kinds of armed bandits. This was occasioned essentially by the inglorious manner the previous government deposed traditional rulers, or imposed new ones on the rural folks in utter disregard to the local processes of selecting traditional rulers, and the confusion the CGC policy produced.
While Ihedioha toured the nooks and crannies of the state canvassing for the votes of the people, he promised that under his watch the local government system would have a breath of fresh air. Not only would he make the local government’s stand on their own two legs, he would allow them to leverage on their funds and other resources so as to make room for the rapid development of the rural areas. Those who understand the workings of the local government system tenaciously hold on to Ihedioha’s pledge to free the local government system for the overall rapid development of the communities. Achieving this would tantamount to achieving not only political, social and economic stability and growth of the people, but most importantly, it would make the state safe from criminal activities as everyone would be busy no matter where you reside.
This was what the Governor was saying on Wednesday when he addressed the people. He said: “In view of the role of the communities, in matters of security and governance at the local level, our administration shall reach the grassroots through partnership with town unions, the traditional institutions and local government councils. The town unions will thus be the fulcrum for community development efforts…We shall revamp administration at the grassroots level by reinvigorating the local government system, by restoring the constitutional powers and responsibilities of the local councils as provided in the constitution. Good governance at the local government council level is critical for delivery of our anti-poverty and other developmental programmes”. The Governor assures that the communities in the state would “form the basis of the development of Imo Rural Infrastructure Development Plan” of his government. Nothing can be more assuring.
It has been argued by several experts that Agriculture is the next jackpot for development. Realizing the huge potentials in the Agricultural sector, Governor Ihedioha gives the assurance that Agriculture will bounce back in the state under his stewardship. The lip service and disjointed programmes meted on the sector in the last eight was shameful. If we must therefore produce food and feed ourselves, Agriculture is the sure path. Of course, there cannot be any meaningful policy that has the potential to guarantee food security and wealth creation if it is not anchored on Agriculture. With the introduction of innovation in Agriculture, the Governor looks to simplifying access to land for those interested in Agro-businesses. With his Agricultural Capability Map also the Governor will identify and locate the various natural endowments in the various communities of the state, because in Imo State every community has a unique thing that makes it thick, such as livestock production, crop production, fishery, etc. Adapalm, the major state owned Agro-investment which has witnessed policy summersault and mismanagement in the last eight years will receive tremendous boost. And with the planting of about three million palms in the next four years as captured in the Governor’s manifesto, Imo State might be urging Malaysia to trudge on behind.
It is of particular interest to most farmers in the state that the Ihedioha administration is poised to addressing the issue of fund availability. One of the major setbacks to farmers has been the nagging question of funding. But with Ihedioha’s Agricultural Loan Scheme and the Agricultural Insurance Scheme aimed at securing the income of farmers against the fears in agricultural activities and creating the overall enabling environment for agro-processing chain in the areas of palm production, rice production, cassava, fish, cocoa, cashew, rubber, yam, investors in Agriculture are bound to have Imo State as their first destination choice. Consequently, Imo State will be primed to witness robust activities in processing, packaging and marketing of agricultural produce. Ihedioha is optimistic that he would usher Imo State into national and global attention in the National and Global Cassava Index. For communities in Arondizuogu, Onuimo, Ihitte-Uboma and Ehime Mbano local government areas, they should fasten their seatbelt for the rice revolution programmes that would knock on their doors. We will soon begin to eat genuine made-in-Imo rice.
Gone are the days when farmers languished in the pain of losing their produce as a result of either bad market, natural disaster or lack storage facilities. The state government would introduce a mechanism to buy back their produce as the last resort to relieve them of the anguish of losing their produce. Apart from the buy-back proviso, the Ihedioha plan in Agricultural would provide the needed information and marketing tools that would connect the farmers to the processors of agro-products and customers as well. This scheme, when it comes on stream, would “curb wastages in order to protect and enhance earnings of farmers”.
On Wednesday, therefore, Ihedioha reechoed his commitment to ensuring a thriving Agriculture in the state. He assured the people that his “government shall promote massive investment in agriculture with a view to reducing unemployment and tackling poverty in the State. This shall be done in collaboration with the private sector, multilateral agencies and development finance organizations in the agricultural value chain, in addition to leveraging on the various agricultural development programmes available in the financial sector as supported by the federal government…Every community will be encouraged to set up functional cooperative societies which the State will support with agricultural loans, improved seedlings, and other support services…An Agricultural City, in form of a layout, will also be established for our agro-allied industries and agricultural initiatives geared towards achieving self-sufficiency in food production and food security”.
The targets the Ihedioha government has set for itself are reassuring and challenging. Apart from reeling out the government’s commitment and ingenuity in resolving the myriad of challenges in the state, these lofty agricultural initiatives challenge the people to brace up for the era of great possibilities under the Ihedioha administration. One of the targets the Ihedioha administration has given to itself is that just a little above three months, exactly 100 days in office as the Executive Governor of the state, his Smart Imo programme would have produced dividends. The Governor assures that his Smart Imo project which is an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) project will propel the state to rapid “economic prosperity and inclusive development”.
It has been argued severally that crude oil which is currently the mainstay of the Nigerian economy and therefore the mainstay of the various states’ economies is at great risk in the market owing to innovations by the powerful customer nations who are now looking elsewhere for alternative source of energy. On Tuesday, May 28, the Imo State born ICT giant, Mr. Leo Stern Eke, speaking at the Inauguration Lecture at the Ahiajoku Center, tasked Governor Ihedioha to pursue investments in ICT as the next source of wealth. He noted that the richest companies in the world today are ICT firms, and no longer oil companies as was the case. It is therefore heartwarming that the new Governor has completed plans to make the state the ICT hub of the country, so that the youths can benefit from the global attention in ICT. To achieve this massive and innovative wealth creation and empowerment platform, the Governor has committed to deploying internet broadband connectivity across the state, so that the people would have “access to the latest technologies and innovations to provide development solutions, which will improve their socio-economic well-being and competitiveness.” This is in addition to the Google Cloud Engineer Certification Programme that will birth Imo State University [IMSU] soon. He also assured that within the first 100 days in office, he will establish a Digital Incubation and Innovation Hub in the state, working in synergy with leaders in the ICT industry to equip thousands of Imo youths with IT skills.
The Governor’s well intended ICT investment for the people of Imo State is a right investment. It is far better than giving out handouts to some randomly-politically selected youths and handing them a cheque of one Million Naira each, which never got home with them. Imo youths are extremely glad at the huge opportunities the investment in ICT will open up to them. As noted by the Governor, the ICT investment would help address the nagging question of high rate of unemployment in the state and also expand the revue stream of the state. The Governor assures that even the state’s civil service will witness a turnaround as “The entire government service would be computerized and an e-government platform will be established so that government activities can be conducted online for improved efficiency and transparency.”
Window dressing and edifice mentality as witnessed in the last eight years never solved the problems in the state but rather compounded them. With the roadmap showcased by Governor Emeka Ihedioha, Imo people are rest assured that the state is back to the path of growth and prosperity.
Collins Ughalaa could be reached via email: ughalaacollins@gmail.com, or by telephone: 07066222944.
