Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State yesterday adduced reasons why he had not appointed commissioners and advisers to run his administration six months after taking charge of the state for a second term.
The governor was in June this year reported to have ‘to put the appointment of commissioners and other aides in abeyance’ in order to save cost. The appointments it was reported would be made in January 2016.
Speaking at a press briefing at the state government house, Owerri, Okorocha confirmed that the major reason behind him ruling the state solely was because of the current economic downturn in the country.
According to him, the state was poor and could not afford to pay commissioners, special advisers and other official aides, whose appointments, he said, usually come with other huge allowances and incentives.
He however stated that he would continue to make do with the various taskforce committees he formed recently so to address the challenges posed by the absence of commissioners and other aides.
On the concessioning of health facilities and six other parastatals in the state, the governor insisted that his decision to concession the hospitals remained the best for the state.
According to him, he had spent over N6.8 billion in the health sector alone with very little to show for it in terms of services to the people of the state, for whom the facilities were established.
He insisted that if given the chance, he would like to govern the state without civil servants because, according to him, the workers only come to work to receive salaries without rendering services.
Okorocha also disclosed that his administration was planning to slash the salaries of magistrates in the state as part of the government’s salary adjustment programme.
According to him, the state government paid more than 100 percent of what other states pay to their workers.
He noted that fresh magistrate in the state was paid N500,000 for a start as against N140,000 paid by other neighbouring states, saying he was only pleading with them to slash their salaries down to N300,00.
