What Jonathan will see in Imo
By Uzoma Nwachukwu
Wednesday, October 13, 2010



The two-day working visit to Imo state by President Goodluck Jonathan between October 15th and 16th 2010 will be his third visit to the Eastern Heartland. President Jonathan first visited Imo state n November 2008, then as Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He was in the state to represent his then boss, the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua at the official launching of the Imo Rural Roads Maintenance Agency (IRROMA) now Imo Roads Maintenance Agency (IROMA). His second visit was in July 2009 when he came in the company of the late President and the entire national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to receive His Excellency, Chief Ikedi Ohakim, the Governor of Imo state back to the PDP.

By this third visit, Imo could easily pride itself as one of the states most frequently visited by the man Goodluck Jonathan. The instant visit is his first to the state since he became President and again Imo happens to be among the first ten states Dr Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan is visiting as President and Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria. But even so, Imo remains a familiar turf for the President. For a state which is always in the news for one or the other, it is only natural that it would arouse the interest and attention of those at the helm of affairs at the national level.

To be sure, not every news from the state has been palatable for the President. Apart from the few far and in-between cases of kidnapping in the state, which have inevitably attracted the attention of the President, Imo is also home of several politicians who thrive by laying false claims to closeness to the President. As a corollary, they relish in feeding the nation’s seat of power with false information about the goings-on at home.

When these are juxtaposed with the fact that by sheer hard work, the administration of Governor Ikedi Ohakim has hooked the state to the national grid, coupled with the fact that the nation’s judiciary got one of its greatest challenges from the post (2007) governorship election dispute in the state, it is little wonder that Imo is today one of the most talked about.

President Jonathan is very familiar with the antics of a few politicians in the state who try to give the impression that without them, the state cannot move forward. He is also aware of deliberate acts of sabotage by these few elements in the bid to see that the Ohakim administration is portrayed in bad light or indeed becomes an outright failure. Like millions of other Nigerians, the President is also aware that the majority of the good people of Imo have remained steadfast in their resolve to work in one page under the leadership of Ikedi Ohakim. President Jonathan and Nigerians know that Imo remains a study on how a people could get determined to work together in spite of glaring partisan differences.

At the beginning of this dispensation, nobody gave the state a chance. It was a matter of weeks or months for it to go into a conflagration, the book makers said. The interesting thing, really, is that the prophets of doom have never relented even after 40 months since governor Ohakim took office and in spite of his several triumphs. Till date, his detractors still take advantage of issues that would have been ignored elsewhere to embark on a campaign of calumny and to portray the governor in very bad light. As a matter of fact, these fellows sometimes succeed in making outsiders become quite skeptical about Imo and the administration of Ikedi Ohakim.
And that is where the same Imo and their governor remain the enigma. For, each time Nigerians from outside the state have the opportunity of listening well or watching the state more closely, they would discover that, contrary to what they are meant to believe, the state and its people are doing quite well under the dynamic leadership of Ikedi Ohakim.

Upon arrival in Imo Friday October 15, 2010, President Jonathan will discover, first hand, that politically, Imo is in tact, contrary to what a few elements who have access to his presidential lodge in Abuja would tell him. He will discover that all the big names he had heard about in politics even before he made a foray into it are working with Governor Ohakim. He would discover also that the few elements who try to paint a bitter picture of the state are mere black legs who are only on a rebel mission. He will discover that Ikedi Ohakim is not only in charge but also that a far majority of the people of Imo state believe in him. And the President will discover that the synergy between the people and the administration in one that is rooted not on employ semantics.

The President will discover that Ohakim’s Imo offers him a formidable platform to canvass for the Nigeria of his dream especially as he seeks the mandate of the people to preside over their affairs beyond May 29, 2011. The President will discover that Imo offers a typical example of what can be done to confront one of the biggest challenges of our time and, indeed, one major most single determining factor of a successful tenure:

The Unemployment scourge. President Goodluck Jonathan will discover that Imo is applying a formular that is working. And that is one area he will find the lie told by a few elements who have access to his Presidential Lodge, Abuja. He must have heard that Ikedi Ohakim came up with a certain bogus plan to employ ten thousand youths into the States Civil Service at a go. He must have heard that it was a mere ploy to con the people and defraud them. The President must have heard before now that not even the Federal government cannot offer 10, 000 jobs at a go.

Once in Imo, President Jonathan would discover that the process of offering the 10, 000 jobs is almost concluded. He would also have the opportunity of knowing from Governor Ohakim how the magic of 10, 000 jobs at a go was performed is or being performed.
And now, imagine a situation where under President Goodluck Jonathan 10, 000 jobs are created in thirty six (36) states of the federation. That will give three hundred and sixty thousand (360, 000) jobs for Nigerian youths. That will be a no mean feat. It will be “Up Jonathan!!” all the way.

But that is not the only thing President Jonathan will see in Imo state about job creation. He will discover that the plan to create job for the teeming population of Imo Youths is futuristic. He will see a deliberate, systematic and methodic plan by the Ohakim administration to create an economy for the state and put in place an organized private sector that will be operated by entrepreneurs, as against the current situation whereby all eyes are on the state and local government as the only means of livelihood.

This is why the President will see that in Imo, the Ohakim administration has embarked on some mega projects which, though having long gestation period, will, when completed, form the fulcrum of the economic transformation of the state. Prominent among such projects are the Wonder Lake Resort and Conference Centre, Oguta and the Oak Refinery Project both of which the President will perform foundation-laying ceremonies for the construction of physical infrastructure at the cites of the two projects. Before now, the President would have heard that such projects are white elephant projects that are money-juzzling and too complex and intricate for a state government to handle.

But the President will discover that that is where he has particularly something in common with Ikedi Ohakim. Both men think deep and like the late sage, and philosopher, Obafemi Awolowo, with whom both also share certain qualities in common, said, only the deep can call the deep. While in Imo, Jonathan will discover that to be able to take Nigeria to the next level will need men and women who are ready to put up their thinking caps. And that in Ohakim’s Imo not only is there a lot of thinking taking place, but there are also a lot of doing.

He will also discover that apart from the strategic projects which are being embarked upon to form an economic base for the state, the administration has also vigorously pursued and executed projects that are improving the quality of lives of the people. While in Imo state, President Jonathan is expected to commission several newly constructed or rehabilitated roads in the state. Perhaps he and members of his entourage will now have the opportunity to confirm the administration’s claim that it has built more roads than all the previous administration put together since the creation of Imo state in 1976.

The President would commission and inspect some water schemes undertaken by the state government. Dr Goodluck Jonathan will notice that the Clean and Green programme is not, after all, a fleeting programme. He will discover that Owerri, the capital city, adorns more aesthetics than when he visited last in July 2009 and that the decision of the federal government, which he now heads, to accord Owerri the status of the Cleanest state capital was not a misplace one.

Of course, the normal practice is for hosting state governments to tabulate the number and location physical infrastructure established and place it before a visiting President. While Imo has an abundance of such projects either fully completed or still in process of being completed, the President will see that by far the administration’s (Ohakim’s) greatest achievements are in non-tangible areas; that is, things you can hardly sit down and point at or take stock of.

Roads, water and hospitals, yes, but what goes most for the administration is that it has embarked on programmes and policies that have created the environment for people to find windows of viable economic activities in the state. Before the advent of the administration hotel rooms in Owerri stood at slightly over 2000. Now, there are over 10, 000 rooms with an occupancy rate of over 95 per cent. A high occupancy rate means that there are economic activities that are bringing people to the state. Today, Imo plays host to many national conferences workshops and seminars. Airlines have increased their flight schedules to and from the state.

Today in Owerri, a plot of land which used to sell for less than N500, 000 before 2007 now sells for over N5 million. This is an indication that some polices and programmes of the administration have led to increase in economic activities. But by far the greatest non quantifiable achievement of the administration is that it has broken the insularity of the state. Apart from deliberate steps taken to link the state to the national grid, the governor’s return to the PDP on July 25, 2009 broke the circle of insularity that is not the true political character of the people but which began at the end of the civil war when it was considered a sell-out to co-operate with the government at the center.

The consequence of this politics of isolation has been the absence of federal presence in the entire South East, especially Imo state. The governor’s return to the PDP realigned the state with the centre for greater stability and economic benefits for the people. The Ohakim administration has seriously engaged the government at the centre more than any previous administration in the state and the benefits are there for all to see.

No doubt, the Governor and members of his administration, together with their teeming supporters see the Presidential visit of October 15 – 16, 2010 as a consolidation of a cordial relationship that is already in existence. More importantly the visits has the potentials of throwing up benefits not only to the people of the state but to also President Jonathan who will soon be asking the people of Nigeria, including Imolites, for a mandate to run their affairs for another four years after May 29, 2011.

Nwachukwu wrote from Owerri


http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2010/oct/13/national-06-10-2010-0012.htm

PDP Antics!

Chineke! So ohakim sycophants dey nl, pls help tell ohathief and his deluded uncle joe that as imo is employin 10,000 ghost workers that abt 10,000 real students of SE campuses dey strike.Hope dat gej also hail him 4 lockin out igbo leaders out of concord hotel.

amaham:

Chineke! So ohakim sycophants dey nl, pls help tell ohathief and his deluded uncle joe that as imo is employin 10,000 ghost workers that abt 10,000 real students of SE campuses dey strike.Hope dat gej also hail him 4 lockin out igbo leaders out of concord hotel.

No way! It wasn't to praise him, but to expose his stupidity.

Goodluck Nigeria!

GEJ should also visit Otamiri Nworie and see if the level of the dredging tallies with the millions spent. He should also visit IMSU, it looks like a cemetary. I hope the students mobilize themselves and protest before him when he comes.

Ohakim is the worst governor ever to be produced in Imo state.Hopefully he will be disgraced out of office in 2011.GEJ should quit associating with losers like Theodore Orji and Ikedi Ohakim.Sullivan Chime of Enugu should have been his exemplary ally in the Southeast.

Ohakm was ok with his clean and green initiative but the moment he switched to pdp I hated him but Atleast he's better than udenwa the cleptomaniac

Ohakim,a political featherweight. I dont see anything good coming from a secretary of the 419 group.Ohahim represents the tyrannical military bigot in civillian garb