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The Okorocha Factor Kick Starts Imo State
By Nkiru Sylvanus
Newsdiaryonline Sat Nov 5,2011
Rochas
Just a couple of months into his revolutionary tenure as Imo
State Governor, it is plain to see why the entrenched political
overlords of so-called “Imo Politics” are bleating like stranded
sheep and losing their heads in their futile bid to undo what
has been ordained to happen and is happening. Long before
Governor Rochas Okorocha ventured into the politics of his home
state, he had made similar waves in unsettling entrenched
national politicians with his courageous and innovative
departure from their self-serving style of leadership. All it
took Rochas Okorocha to carve a distinct niche for himself in
the national political arena was his sincere and compassionate
resolve to focus on the interest of the majority over and above
those of the minority.
From personally dishing out free meals to the multitude of
hungry hapless Nigerians in several urban centres to
establishing schools where the priority admission was reserved
for children of indigent parents most of whom were literally
picked from street hawking and destitution, Rochas Okorocha won
the hearts of Nigerians across the nation but literally buried
elite politicians in a shameful heap of terminal political
debris. Since he was not looking in their direction, Okorocha
was not distracted from his humanitarian mission in politics and
soldiered on until he won the hearts of his people in Imo State
who overwhelmingly voted for his leadership with a human face.
No wonder it is only the expired and displaced political elite
of Imo State who are kicking and rolling in dust as the reality
of a new dawn in Imo politics brightens the life horizon of the
masses of the state who are understandably jubilating.
Consider the fact that Governor Okorocha inherited a debt
portfolio of over 100 billion Naira, a civil service overloaded
with cronies and party jobbers to which an additional 10,000
were added in a last minute enemy action by the dismissed
government to cripple the Okorocha Administration, several
public assets and resources arbitrarily disposed off for
political patronage, politically compromised traditional rulers
and abject neglect of internal revenue generation and you will
understand the quagmire that Imo State had been reduced to prior
to the emergence of Governor Okorocha.
There was simply no alternative to the urgent launching of a
desperate Imo rescue mission as Okorocha rightly did if a
cataclysmic implosion of such a promising state with progressive
citizens was to be averted. This was not a sudden discovery but
an anticipated and carefully planned initiative that Okorocha
had prepared even before contesting elections emanating from his
intimate familiarity with the cankerworms eating deep into the
economic fortunes of Imo State while its citizens sank into
despondency and frustration for want of responsible and sincere
leadership. He therefore had no qualms in taking drastic
measures to correct these anomalies. From sanitization of the
civil service, recovery of pilfered state resources and assets,
revitalization of internally generated revenue
sources,streamlining of government institutions to the
de-politicization of the traditional rulers council, restoration
of equity and merit in government appointments and pre-empting
the last-minute orgy of pillaging coffers of government,
Governor Okorocha’s new broom swept Imo State clean and provided
an ideal enabling environment for the rescue mission to be
accomplished successfully and for Imo State citizens to look
forward to brighter future of prosperity and well-being.
Among the remarkable achievements of the Okorocha
Administration, the policy of championing the integration of the
South East which he embarked upon with zeal to optimize the
human resource base of Imo State by retaining and employing
qualified and competent staff from any of the South Eastern
States exposed the xenophobic excesses and myopic perceptions of
some of his colleagues who were busy sacking so-called
non-indigenes or taking retaliatory steps against hard-working
citizens of sister states in knee-jerk reactions. Governor
Okorocha expanded the frontiers of carrying people across social
strata along to enrich governance and instill a sense of
belonging in hitherto ostracized sections of the populace while
proving the rich endowment of human resources in Imo State.
The ‘peoples governor’ unveiled several relief measures aimed at
giving Imo masses a break from the excruciating burden of
levies, fees and taxes imposed heartlessly by his predecessor
with scant regard to the poverty ravaging the less privileged
majority while prudently marshalling the state’s income to
rehabilitate eyesores of dilapidated government buildings and
provide much needed infrastructure for meaningful development, a
feat that has been hailed as giving governance its true meaning
by exhilarated citizens of Imo. He dealt a potent blow to the
rot in the local government areas which had crippled development
and wasted public funds by summarily dissolving the local
councils in full compliance with the extant laws conferring such
powers on the governor. Even criminally inclined chiefs who hid
behind resplendent regalia to aid and abet crimes were not
spared by Governor Okorocha.
It was really not
surprising that in only 100 days in office, Governor Okorocha
had made such tremendous impact through revolutionary policies
and people-oriented projects all focused on giving the hitherto
hopeless Imo citizens a huge dose of confidence building
encouragement to rally round his government for the attainment
of the long-awaited rescue operation that will reinforce popular
will as the essence and engine of governance.
Recently,
while his colleagues in other states are still battling with the
issue of the minimum wage pegged at N18,000, Rochas surprised
even his most ardent critics by approving
and implementing a wage whose minimum is N20,000.
This is a clear demonstration of
leadership with the fear
of God and the true feelings of the citizens in mind.
Although that act was not intended to draw some accolades
from the beneficiaries or the citizens, it is a gesture that is
worth acknowledging.
His positive actions overshadowed his few words of reassurance
to the satisfaction of Imo State citizens who had been literally
buried in the avalanche of meaningless grammar deployed by past
political leaders to embellish empty promises that never saw the
light of day. In today’s Imo State what you hear from the
governor is what you will see on ground with automatic alacrity!
Okorocha’s grammar is action packed for moving Imo State out of
the forest of failed governance.
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