Closecall:
But what kind of projects do you think the president will do in the South-east again?

There are many road projects to do. We are cut off from the rest of South-south and South-east. You cannot drive safely from here to Aba neither can you drive from Aba to Ikot Ekpene. You cannot even move from here to Bayelsa who are less than one hour close to us. We are cut off. The Inyishi water dam in Ikeduru is not completed. The Imo International Cargo Airport is a political fabrication which does not reflect any practical reality. Now, the Onitsha bridge has remained a cam­paign slogan that has never been done. So, when Buhari does my Onitsha bridge, finishes my Inyishi water dam, give me international cargo airport, fix my road from Enugu to Port Harcourt, from Owerri to Aba and from Aba to Ikot Ekpene and links me up to Bay­elsa, excuse me; he can as well hold his appointments.

But some of your kinsmen are thinking differently, they believe that what they want the presi­dent to do is to implement the national conference report so that the Igbo will have an addi­tional state to level up with the zones of the federation; how would you react to that?

It is only fair and just that the Igbo in their large number should have a sixth state like any other state or we should make all states equal, everybody should have the same number of states, even seven, seven states; I am for it. But we are talking about development, not state creation. State creation is what we have all been looking for and I would love to have additional state for the South-east. We have to ask him to do that for us, even if we have to ask the president to make it an executive bill. But I am talking about develop­ment issues now. I know the creation of state could help; so I support and like it.

Your state, Imo State has plenty of prominent citizens but unfortunately most of them seem to be in the PDP; so how are you coping with them?

That is quite interesting because we share different political ideologies. All the political who-is-who in Imo State even in the South-east are all in the PDP; all of them, just check what makes the name in politics in Igbo land and that is the problem we are suffer­ing today nationally. Coping here is fine. I have no problem; I don’t heat up the polity. Even though there are a very vocal few who are able to travel to Abuja and they are being heard. And so most of the time, they criticize this government beyond reasoning. And you will be shocked to hear that what this government has achieved in the last four years, none of these people has reported one per cent of it.

Rather the news out there is that this government is not doing well, who said so? These are people that have the political voice, but you can’t hear that from the masses of Imo State. Never. And that leads me to say, though we cope well, we don’t fight, we don’t quarrel, they just abuse me and I don’t abuse them back, I say God bless them. But I challenge them and say if there is any governor, past or present, who has done 50 per cent of what I have done in Imo State let him go on paper or televi­sion to say so.

And I will mention those projects. And they will keep quiet, they have nothing to say. I brought free educa­tion; they said the free education is a ruse, a mirage, that it is not true. But to­day in Imo State there is free education from primary to university, no child pays a dime except for some charges they make which is either for their uni­form or for those in Law, whatever it is, ID card, I don’t pay for. But no child pays for school fees in Imo State.

And today, these people cannot come to you and say, well done for the free education. And their chil­dren’s children, directly or indirectly, are benefitting from them. They don’t understand how I do it with the mea­gre resources. What Imo State collects in 10 months is what Akwa Ibom and other rich states collect in one month. What Rivers collect in one month is what Imo State collects in six or seven months. In fact, it will shock you to know that what Rivers collects in one month is what the entire South-East collect in one month. So, you do these, they don’t speak any good of you. These are my political opponents. I built rural roads, there is no local gov­ernment that doesn’t have at least 15 kilometers of road. I have built more than 800 kilometers of road. Instead of saying the man has done well, they say it is China roads. Okay, if it is China roads, have you given us Ghana roads before? If it is China, manage China before American roads will come. You can’t see anything good here from my political opponents. And they bite me here, they bite me there, they do all kinds of things but I say to them God bless you.

But my challenge is that if there is any one, any governor, living, past or present, who has done 50 per cent of what I have done in four years, includ­ing all the PDP governors – Udenwa, Ohakim, all of them – all their projects put together; if they have measured up to my project, I stand to be challenged. And I say this publicly and loudly; check in the areas of health, infrastruc­ture, education, agriculture, and in ev­ery area. When I came in as the gover­nor, the poverty rate in Imo State was 60 per cent going by the World Bank record. Since I started being the gover­nor, the poverty rate now is 19 per cent. In some northern states it is 75 per cent. I am sure in the next four years it will come down totally. Doing business in Imo now has increased from 25 per cent to 85 per cent.

You then ask, what has the governor done wrong that he will not be appreci­ated even by his worst enemies? And that is why if you ask them what Ro­chas has done, they cannot tell you that Rochas has not worked. None of them could say that Rochas has not worked. Because they see it and they see that we have done what they could not do. In the area of health today, we have built one of the best diagnostic centres in Nigeria.

It was built by the Israelis. A renal centre, where people could go for their kidney treatment. And we are building 27 100-bed hospitals. That is, 2,700- bed hospitals across the whole state.

This was built by this government within four years with the little resourc­es that are coming. And still counting, we have built about 350 schools, 250 12-blocks class rooms which has never been recorded in the history of Imo State.

http://sunnewsonline.com/new/fg-appointments-blame-yourselves-okorocha-blasts-ndigbo/

Closecall:
You have said much about infrastruc­tural development, what about human development because the other time I learnt that Imo workers went on strike?

Well, the strike by Imo workers was really un­called for and was highly politically motivated. I will tell you why I say it is politically motivated. Four years since inception of office I know what I have done for the workers of Imo State. When I came in, the workers of Imo State were owed three months arrears of salary. I paid them off the three months across board. Secondly, when the issue came up about minimum wage, the Fed­eral Government pegged it at N18,000. Imo State was the only state that pays N20,000 minimum wage. Now, take for instance, those in the health sector, a level nine officer in Imo State gets about N393,000 a month while his colleague in the neighbouring Southeastern states and South-south states get only about N130,000 to N150,000, al­most 100 per cent more than what they collect.

So, I pay the best salary in Imo State. For the four years, there was no day there was a strike in Imo State because workers were paid on the 22nd of every month, for good four years non-stop. Now, we came and inherited 12 years of pension arrears. We cleared the 12 years of pension ar­rears. Now, every Christmas, we give the work­ers bonuses. Some per cent of their salaries are paid to them as Christmas bonus which has never happened in the history of Imo State. In addition to that, their dress code, people try to dramatize poverty for civil servants. I said no, we can’t go that way. We introduced a dress code and today all Imo teachers and civil servants wear black suit with red tie and white shirts; you can hardly differ­entiate them from the bank managers. Now, their secretariat was renovated and computerized. Now, you wonder, what has gone wrong within when I came in for second tenure and the three months. Because most of the labour unions come from one particular section of the state that has sympathy for the PDP.

So, it is politically motivated. That was what happened. And I felt very bad about it that the la­bour union has not treated the state right. And they wrote agreement, we had an MoU then, agreement that clearly spells out what to do and what not to do. They reneged on all the agreements. And it is public knowledge that within the last four or six months, oil price went down and most of the states could not afford to pay salaries. And most states whose teachers are being owed 12 or 13 months, none of them went on strike. Why should Imo State workers go on strike because of two months of salary? Why should teachers who are owed only one month go on strike? And we never owed any teacher one month, civil servants two months. So, that is why I said it was politically motivated because there was no justified reason for it. In fact, it was when they went on strike that I decided to reduce their salary to start infrastructural develop­ment, to start building the two-road flyovers we are building now in Amakohia and Okigwe. We are building new flyovers in Imo State. And I told them that I am going to use their salaries, I won’t pay you again. That was what happened. But now I think they have come back to their senses, they have understood the mistake they have made and I appeal that they don’t make such mistakes again. Because there was no reason, trying to in­dict a governor that has shown love. And because of that, we have decided to go back to the original things others are paying, so I have resolved that I will not pay one naira better than any other state in the country. I have to pay the real salary others are paying.

Are you stepping down from your own minimum wage?

We are stepping down but not on the pegged minimum wage, there are excess charges that we are taking. Like now we realized that for some of the health workers, we are paying rural allow­ances. Owerri can’t be a rural area, Orlu can’t be a rural area, same with Okigwe. They pay them rural allowance every month up to 20-something million. To couple with the money they have taken, it is more than N1 billion in four years. So, we should bear the pain; that was a false payment. Some carry cash and pay themselves, some build up salaries that are not there and pay ghost work­ers. So, I need to restructure the entire civil service in Imo State.

Let us come to this innovation you brought into governance, the fourth tier system, the CGC you have in Imo State. How is it running or have you abandoned it?

CGC (Community Government Council) is perhaps the best thing that has happened to Imo State Government in the past four years and might be the only way out for the rest of African nation. From the colonial arrangement, whether anyone believes it or not, even democracy is part of the colonial arrangement. In our government, we have three tiers of government – the local, state and federal government. These tiers are all in the creation of our constitution. I have no prob­lem with that. But you will agree with me that, a typical Nigerian, in his way of thinking, does not believe that the Federal Government exists nor that the state government exists. Neither does he believe that the local government exists. But he believes that communities exist, where he has a proper stake, where he has a point of order.

So, the community government is a fourth tier of government, not on the constitutional ba­sis, that will give everybody in the community a sense of belonging that he will contribute to the development of yourself and your community. And that has worked like a miracle. With this ar­rangement now, agriculture has received a new lease in the state. Community government helps us to tackle the issue of security and kidnapping in the state more than anything else. If we catch any kidnapper in your community we will hold you responsible. So, everybody stopped and shunned kidnapping. We pay pensioners through the com­munity government. So, pensioners of 10,000 do not have to come to Owerri city to collect their money, they stay there in their home and collect it. And we are now having a new city master plan, community master plan, local government mas­ter plan, state master plan for the future, not even for today. So, you see that the government has really touched the lives of people. And with this you have jobs, factories, industries which I have promised the people of Imo State. I have declared now, one community, one industry. No, matter how small it is, they must learn to do things by themselves. So, the community government for me is very effective. It is helping the people to realize that they are a government. They are no longer on-lookers, they are now participants in the governance process.

I am interested in this your job, job, job, factory, factory slogan; three months is  gone, at what stage is it across the state?

Right now the awareness is high. The investors are coming here, troop­ing in everyday. We are on our way to Turkey now to talk with some of the in­vestors. Over 100 of the Imo industri­alists will be going to Turkey to go and meet their partners and start bringing those things there. Whatever we con­sume, we have the right to produce it here. That is what I am saying. And we have built the Imo International Trade and Investment Centre formally called Ahiajoku Centre. We changed that and remodeled it. And this is where we are going to be having international exhi­bitions. By November, the Turkish are coming here for exhibition. We are in­viting Italians to come here for exhibi­tion. So, many nations will come.

And let them look at these things that we have produced, these cassava, vegetables, what can they do for us to add value to them? That is the begin­ning. So, the industries and jobs are agro-based. And in line with that we have what we call the Imo College of Advanced Professional Studies. This college which we have built is to pro­vide basic training in preparation for the industrial take-off. Taking courses that are related to production is what we do there, like underground water, welding, computer and so many of such courses that can help people to fend for themselves. Now, on the job, job, job also, we have been able to re-establish the Avutu Poultry that has been abandoned for over 30 years. Now life has come back to the place in a small scale. And in the next one year we are going to make it upper scale. And it is capable of producing one million eggs per day when fully operational. Now, the Imo Palm Plan­tation, Adapalm which was left to rot for 30 years; now has received a new lease of life.

These are part of the job, job, job we are doing. The Shoe industry has kicked off. Now, even the sold facto­ries built by the previous administra­tions, the Resin Paint in Mbaise and the Paper Package industry at Owerri- Ebeiri, government has gone back to repurchase them, after false chains of sales because it was sold to a company who sold it to another company who couldn’t pay and AMCON took over. So, we have gone back to AMCON to repurchase these two industries. So, truly the place is agog for the indus­trial take off. We are going to start with small scale industries, fish farming, snail farming, cassava; these are all what we are doing now for the job, job, job and it is working and doing well.

Recently, President Buhari made some key appointments, the so-called kitchen cabinets, where no Igbo got a slot. And before then, it was hoped that one of the persons in APC, a prominent Igbo son, would have been appointed into the office of SGF. And you came out to defend that appointment saying that what the Igbo need is development. Do you think the Igbo have not been shut out from the core area of the cabi­net at the federal level?

Let me say to you, I share in what I call the sentiments of the Igbo. Hav­ing to look at the list of the appointees and they have not seen a face that looks like one of them from the South-east, I share the same sentiment. My state­ment was that the appointments made by President Buhari first, he made those appointments under his con­stitutional power and right. Number two, those are his personal staff. When he appointed the service chiefs, even three of the service chiefs are from one particular zone, the North-east. It is common sense that since the problem is there, let’s use the locals to solve the problem of the locals. There is more commitment to saving your own than anyone else.

So, there is nothing wrong with the appointments. Now, chief of Staff, secretary to the government and press secretary are too personal, they are the people you meet every day; they are like your wife you have to be with ev­ery morning. So if you bring somebody that you don’t know too well, even for me here as a governor, you have to meet with persons you must have worked with before and know that they have something to offer. They can understand when you turn your eyes to give them signal. These are some of the things put into consideration when you are appointing personal staff. So, those ones are too personal. So, I don’t think Buhari will make appointments any further, ministerial appointments, board appointments and all that and an Igbo man will not be there, it is not possible.

The Igbo will get their share. And some of the appointments we lost were of the doings of our people. When I was crying like a lonely voice in the wilderness that look at where Nigeria was going none of these leaders heard me. Igbo decided to put their eggs in one basket. After all that cry, they didn’t hear me. That is why today we don’t have a Senate president. Our son today would have been the Senate president if they didn’t do the evil they did in Orlu or in the South-east by our leaders. They made us lost the Senate president, the Speaker, the made us lost in all the key positions. So, I became helpless. I don’t have a Senator to make a Senate president. If I had a Senator, there was no way I wouldn’t have pro­vided for Ndigbo a Senate president. But you cannot eat your cake and have it. So, our position right now, despite the appointments Igbo will get, my ap­peal to the president, they should show presence in the South-east by building projects. That is the only way I can jus­tify telling Ndigbo to support President Buhari. After all, we had a Secretary to the Government from the South-East, so many key positions from the South-east, what single project came to Igbo land for six years of the last administra­tion? None; so what do you want more, projects or appointments? And we are telling people to go and become min­isters and SGF to bring projects. So, if that is the only reason you to have the projects, then that shouldn’t be the issue. So, that is my point before I get misunderstood.

When I came in here, the First Lady and the deputy governor were operating from a three-bedroom bungalow. Now, I went and built an edifice for the office of the deputy governor and the First Lady which I  called the twin house, which is standing there on three floors.

If I had a Senator, there was no way I wouldn’t have pro vided for Ndigbo a Senate president.

permsec:
I'm allergic to long sermon thats why i choose evening mass.

dayo23:
Well Okorocha has make his point, I think he is right.