₦airaland Forum

michaelbiz:
Hmmm where are the seven guards that will need to hold one single 23 year old for one man to rape? Sounds cooked up, don't you think so? Just saying

My thought exactly. This is runs girl stuff. I suspect that the man may have paid her less than bargained and she decided to embarrass him.

When will Imo State begin to see mega and qualitative projects like those in Akwa Ibom State and other states. The beauty of engineering is in working to standards. I wish our governor will embrace quality as a prime factor in projects delivery. Qualitative work is far cheaper in the long run.

I vote JENNIMMA

I vote Jennimma

MyTime3:
I didn't want to comment on this thread all along but the level of denigration some folks are ascribing to Imo State is really annoying, irritating and thought provoking.

Imo State and Owerri in particular has witnessed tremendous changes in terms of roads and infrastructure in the last few years.
I visit Owerri regularly (at least once every week) and I have seen change right before my eyes. So many new roads have been constructed in New Owerri e.g. 1st Inland road, 2nd inland road, 3rd Inland road, C.B anyanwu extension, Sun city hotel road, etc. just to mention a few.
The bypass from new Owerri to Douglas road and other newly constructed bypasses are master strokes that helped decongest the Assumpta cathedral-warehouse junction traffic.


n.b: I'm not a fan of Rochas administrative style but I dare to say he is doing very well from an unbiased perspective. #youcantfightfacts


Plz guys I know 2015 elections are around the corner but lets give due credit to anyone that is performing... every country in the world has good and bad places. You don't need to post only the worst sites (maybe already corrected) just to overshadow or counter the good sites.


For verification purposes, I will appreciate if the pictures can be accompanied with date and location of capture to avoid misrepresentation of facts and maybe objectively draw the government attention to them.

Thanks.

Long live Imo State!
Long Live South east!
Long Live the Federal Republic of Nigeria!

Some paid agents are all over the social media spreading lies. The Bible said woe to those that call evil good. Imo gwuru agwu. The standard of the construction work in Imo State is embarrassingly shameful. The painful aspect of substandard construction work is that we will spend another money to excavate and dispose the materials used before remedying the work. This implies double expenditure. A well constructed road may cost more but will remain in service for long. What is the need of constructing roads that will serve only a couple of weeks? Why can't our roads be like the ones in Akwa Ibom, Enugu, Ebonyi, Lagos, Abuja etc.

I am a civil engineer and I can confidently tell you that all the roads you mentioned were poorly constructed and can not withstand traffic stress for up to 1year. Check out the roundabouts: it is against design principle in traffic engineering to obstruct the view of drivers with structures. Our standard is that a driver approaching a round about must have clear view of the feeder roads to the roundabout as such structures that obstruct driver's view are not to be sited on the round about. I feel ashamed that Imo with our population of technocrats are being disgraced with the charade going on in the state in the name of construction. Please let us leave politics out of this and call a spade a spade.

vanbonattel:
no new pictures of rochas development in imo state, instead they continue to recycle old pictures and blow long long dogo turenchi
the new road near freedom square have spoil less than two months after it was constructed. Abagworo will not show us this one. rochas is using the money to sponsor buhari hoping for vp ticket
I will continue to expose substandard projects in this state, if you like buy the white lies abagoro is selling you. owerri gwuru agwu.

Abagworo/Abagoro is doing a good job for his master. He is really working hard for his money. The Bible said woe to those that call evil good. Imo gwuru agwu. The painful aspect of substandard construction work is that we will spend another money to excavate and dispose the materials used before remedying the work. This implies double expenditure. A well constructed road may cost more but will remain in service for long. What is the need of constructing roads that will serve only a couple of weeks? Why can't our roads be like the ones in Akwa Ibom, Enugu, Ebonyi, Lagos, Abuja etc

RareDiamonds:
Group Rates Imo Best State on Road Construction

By Anolu Vincent Senior Correspondent – Owerri

Imo has been voted the best state in road construction in the South East with its Joint Monitoring Committee recommended as a model in the attainment of quality roads through prudent management.

In its mid-term assessment report released in Enugu, a global performance group, “South East Democracy Watch (SEDW),” described the processes of award of contracts, monitoring and execution of roads in Imo State as the best not only in the South East but the entire federation.

National Coordinator of SEDW, Chief Emeka Nnamani, who read the report, disclosed that the 300 kilometres of asphalted roads in Imo were of the best quality, yet with “competitive cost”.

“We were amazed that while other governments were using between N40 million and N60 million to construct a kilometre of asphalted road, Imo used only N21 million and yet the quality is fantastic”, he submitted.

He said their investigation showed that the monitoring committee headed by Hon Stan Dara of Imo State House of Assembly was able to save the people of the state a whopping N12 billion from the exercise.

According to Nnamani, the activities of the committee had shown that when officials are diligent in the execution of their assigned roles, contractors always complied with laid down procedure.

Said he, “when we interviewed contractors, they confirmed that the committee members were always at their neck but that when once a job has been fully completed, payment was promptly made”.

He noted that the transparent manner the Stan Dara committee handled the road projects was responsible for the[b] high quality job and speed [/b]with which they were executed.

He commended Gov. Rochas Okorocha for the wisdom in setting up the committee which he said has impacted positively on road construction in the state.

Chief Nnamani who said his group would write to other state governments in the South East to adopt the Dara committee as a model, urged the members to remain focused in their service to the people of the state.

He also announced that Anambra came second in the assessment, Enugu third, Ebonyi fourth while Abia came last.

http://dailyindependentnig.com/2013/08/group-rates-imo-best-state-on-road-construction/

What an amusing sarcasm. At the onset I was outraged by the title of the write-up but reading further I deciphered the acute sense of mockery of the author. The bolded depicts the satire that describes the poor construction works defacing our environment in Imo state.

mokaflex:
Buhari is the only hope for 9ja. I pray he wins

Buhari's credentials qualify him as a good candidate for the position EFCC or ICPC chairman. For the presidency? It is a no no no.

datribune:
I don't care 4 d PDP & APC but I care greatly about d patriot, GMB. if elections ar a referendum on performance while in office, GMB has proved himself & I will vote 4 him any day, any time, any platform.
Wit no visible achievement to point to, I can not in good conscience vote 4 GEJ.

Buhari's credentials qualify him as a good candidate for the position EFCC or ICPC chairman. For the presidency? It is a no no no.

oladapo_a1: -1000 + 40 + 1000 + 30 + 20 + 1000 + 10 + 1000 + 1000 = common everybody knows that the answer is 3100

This is the correct answer. The confusing element was take 1000

An eight year old bride in Yemen died from internal injuries on her wedding night, bleeding to death after deep vaginal tearing caused by sex with her 40 year old husband.

The girl, identified only by the name Rawan, died in Hardh in the governorate of Hajjah in northwestern Yemen, according to a report issued by UPI.

Activists in the region want to put an end to the practice of marrying young girls, and have called for police to arrest the girl's husband and family. Nevertheless, the forced marriage of child brides in Yemen remains a socially accepted custom in many rural areas.

Indeed, the practice has deep cultural and religious roots, and is widespread in Yemen. A February 2009 law set the minimum age for marriage at 17, but it was repealed after some conservative lawmakers called it un-Islamic.

In particular, a prominent Islamic cleric, Abdulmajeed al-Zindani, issued a fatwa in support of the practice, declaring supporters of a ban on child brides to be apostates, and ultimately leading a successful campaign against legislation that would prevent adult men from marrying children.

The issue of Yemen's child bride problem made headlines three years ago when an 8-year-old girl went to court, demanding a judge dissolve her marriage to a man in his 30s. The girl eventually won a divorce, and legislators began looking at ways to curb the practice. However, they have so far been unsuccessful. Currently the law states that parents should decide when a daughter marries.

Unfortunately, reports indicate more than a quarter of Yemen’s females marry before age 15.

SOURCE: http://www.examiner.com/article/yemen-8-year-old-girl-dies-from-internal-injuries-on-wedding-night?cid=taboola_inbound

oseiwe: 17. Toyota accounts for 80% of cars in Nigeria.

This is an over exaggeration. You can say that Toyota is the most popular brand

londoner: No, the correct word is actually "portable".

The correct word in water parlance is POTABLE. It refers to drinkable water. Probably derived from the ancient practice of storing drinking water in pots. The word portable refers to size while potable refers to quality when used in water supply context.

Imo State Governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha was at the receiving end of a tongue-lashing from the Archbishop of Owerri Archdiocese, Anthony Obinna, who opened up on the Governor on the finances and allocation of the state.
Venue was Maria Assumpta Cathedral premises and it was the high mass celebrated to mark this year’s Corpus Christi otherwise known as Christ the King in the Catholic Church. In rare display of courage and statesmanship, the maverick cleric lambasted Okorocha in his face by publicly informing the Governor who attended the mass service in person that he has lost touch with the reality and essence of governance, by undertaking unpopular actions related to finance of the state.

Signs that the Archbishop was turbo-charged to disgrace the State Governor at the Church emerged when he failed to recognize and acknowledge the presence of Okorocha and wife, Nneoma Nkechi as well as members of the enlarged Executive Council who arrived Assumpta Cathedral early for the Christ the King Mass. Instead of recognizing the Governor and wife as protocol demands, Archbishop Obinna merely acknowledged the presence of government functionaries and politicians in the church.

It was during the sermon that Archbishop Obinna sent what could be described as ballistic missiles against Okorocha who was dazed by the cleric’s preaching. On explaining how Jesus Christ became the King of Kings after he was killed and became a subject of mockery in the hands of his assailants, the Archbishop delved into local politics where he expressed reservations over the Anambra governorship. Said he; “there is nothing to show for our money in Imo State. Go to Anambra State and see what Obi has done with public money. But here in Imo, nothing. Our money is being used as if it is personal money of the Governor when it is not supposed to be so”.
While reminding Okorocha that it was at the same podium that he was elected, Obinna asked him to retrace his steps before the wrath of God falls on him because the present government has since disconnected from the governed. The Archbishop further told Okorocha who was within a spitting-distance from him, that “people of Imo State are still waiting for the fulfillment of your campaign promises”.
In a bid to further pummel the Governor, Archbishop Obinna while sympathizing with Nigerian politicians for spending great fortunes during elections, said that political desperation forces politicians to seek alternative means like cultism to survive.

Elaborating on the Anambra 2013 inconclusive election, Archbishop Obinna blamed power and money for the desperation exhibited by politicians. The cleric queried the rationale behind the quest of the APC candidate, Dr Chris Ngige, to cling on to power, adding that the intrigues that played out in the recent Anambra Guber election are ominous signs of what to expect in Imo in 2015 election.
While the congregation applauded, the fiery cleric informed the Governor of Imo State that the state allocation belongs to everybody and not his private fund. Archbishop Obinna lashed at Okorocha for using state money as if it was his personal fund and enjoined him to emulate the likes of Gov Peter Obi of Anambra who makes available the state fund to all strata of society and organizations.
To worsen the matter, Archbishop Obinna went further to deny Okorocha right of response when he closed the sermon and proceeded with other formalities for the service when he concluded with “I know the Governor would want to reply, but he should go home in a prayerful mood, for today is not for talking too much”.

In the same vein, Leaders in the society has been warned to stop playing God or equating themselves with God almighty because of ordinary political or traditional positions. This warning was handed by Rev Fr Alex Okoro of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Mother Parish, Emekuku in a homily he delivered during the 2013 Corpus Christi celebration of the Catholic Church at the church on 24th November, 2013.
The priest averred that Jesus Christ is the King of Kings ordained/coroneted by the God Almighty, whose reign is characterized, by humility, love, care and justice for the down trodden and advised leaders in the Nigerian society to emulate Jesus Christ and stop playing God by intimidating their subjects with connection, political and financial influences.

SOURCE : Imo Trumpetea

flexshop: and rochas can't provide tapwater in owerri capital almost more than 2years into his administration, SMH

Rochas is busy executing petty and irrelevant projects with borrowed fund. Projects that will benefit the masses like water supply and qualitative education are not in his agenda. Rochas is a big disappointment. I am worried that many Imolites have not seen the monumental failure we elected to rule the state and may hand him the ticket for a second term.

Cajetan speaks: And when last did you visit Imsu? IMSU is still one of the best state unis in nig.

Tell this to the birds. Call a spade a spade IMSU looks like a dog training school.

Symphony007: Keep wasting money on stupid dams. Their are milions of plants and oil platforms in the niger delta flaring enough gas to power cities in nigeria. They've invited the government to fund pipeline projects to transfer this gas to power stations that will ultimately boost the national power grid, but they're just tone deaf and shortsighted...today bonny island in rivers state is the only place in this country that enjoys uninterrupted power supply because of gas of the largest LNG plant in africa located there. Yet they still flare gas because they already have enough power. Non commonsensical government.

Energy from Hydo Dams is renewable and has less adverse impact. Gas is non renewable and can finish one day no matter the quantity of our reserve. We should be talking of harnessing our gas for domestic/industrial use and for export. Hydo dams have other benefits like providing water for irrigation, raw water for water treatment plants, recharging ground water aquifer, providing large volume of water for recreational activities like boating, rowing, diving, aquatic sports etc. Dams are very effectivie in checking flooding and making water available all year round.

There won't be enough virgins for the terrorists in heaven. Worse still there will be no virgin for them in hell where they actually belong.

Wily,Wily:
Say any governor that is better than him

Roachas Okorocha

[quote author=Cajetan speaks][/quote]Why must a governor wait for the workers to go on strike before approving their pay. Payment of workers salaries is not a favour. An organisation that can not pay salaries is clearly in distress. What is happenning in Imo State is a show of shame. Rochas should stop playing on the intelligence of people more intelligent than him.

There are 2 sides on a coin. You have told us the ugly side what about the beautiful.

The weird name of the Ministry shows the level of blockheadedness in Imo Government. What is the relationship between Public Utilities and Public Safety and Youth Entrepreneurship. Check out the specialisation to be obtained by the trainees. The commissioner is a comedian like Rochas

[quote author=emekatimsu]Imo govt commences recruitment of graduate trainees. The Imo state Ministry of Public Utilities, Public Safety and Youth Entrepreneurship has commenced the recruitment of trainees for the Imo Tobacco Control Programme.

The graduates would be trained to become smoking advisors and specialist stop smoking advisors.

The weird name of the Ministry shows the level of blockheadedness in Imo Government. What is the relationship between Public Utilities and Public Safety and Youth Entrepreneurship. Check out the specialisation to be obtained by the trainees. The commissioner is a comedian like Rochas.

Danhumprey: I am an indigene of Akwa ibom state,and after reading all the comments on dis thread,i cannot but laugh at some people's sentimental,biased and ignorant views. I don't want to sound unpatriotic to my State,but truth must be told. Most of those places you see in the pics,they are mostly situated in Uyo and it's environs. Some are in few of the major local govt headquaters like Ikot abasi,Ikot ekpene,Eket,Abak,etc. The rest of the local govts have little or nothing to show the govt's developmental interventions in them. Even in Uyo,for those of you who are saying that there is 24/7 supply of electricity,u may be wrong. There are places there that don't even experience 1hour of electricity not to talk of 24hrs. So before you comment,get your facts correct! Don't depend on hear-say. You can't guage the infrastructural development of a state through the lens of the development in the capital city alone! Though,i conceed that Akpabio is trying,he seems to be too much over-praised.

Your state is gradually being developed to a world class metropolitan. Rome was not built in a day. The quality of the construction works in Akwa Ibom State is highly commendable.

Where are the praise singers of Roachas of Imo State. Have u seen the beauty of using professional Civil Engineering Companies for projects. Compare what u saw with the charade going on in Imo State in the name of projects. Yes u can say that the revenue base of Akwa Ibom State is far above that of Imo State but Rochas should allow professionals to plan and execute projects within the limit of the resources of the state.

EFCC was Obasanjo's attack dog against perceived political enemies. Ribadu was selective and vindictive in most of the cases he prosecuted. He worked with Nigeria's police style - arrest before investigation, reactive than proactive. There was hardly any intelligence or covert input in their work. For failing to bring IBB to book, Ribadu should shut up.

Red-Light:
which country, state and local govt is this?

This may be one of the free education rubbish being peddled by some rogues in government

GEJ was the most credible candidate in 2011 presidential election. As long as the opposition keep presenting coup plotters, religious extrimists, senile and wasted politicians as presidential candidates I will vote for GEJ 2015.

All of us has our area of core competence and expertise. Those praising Rochas, either they don't live in Imo or they have little knowledge in civil engineering or both. No technocrat will give Rochas a pass grade on majority of his projects unless the pyscophants. It easy to impress those outside the construction industry with site clearing and laterite works because they can not see the big picture. All these gragra and media frenzy will eventually fizzle out. The truth is that he needs to use experts to get sustainable result. Rochas is squandering a golden opportunity to leave an enduring legacy. He indulges in praise singing and media attention. Okorocha has no agenda and most of the times he acts before he thinks. It is not late for him to make amends. He needs to be focused and pursue people oriented projects.

Eziachi: You all know for sure that I am and will be the last to praise any Nigerian politician, no matter who the person is but I can tell you that when I was home during the last Christmas with my family, I could not believe what I saw going on in Owerri and Orlu that I was able to set foot.
Orlu was like a building site, so many projects going on and I was laughing with my cousins and asking them where Rochas got the money to be doing all this at the same time?

The road that lead to my country home was first developed and had since been maintain by my family since 1972 until now. Udenwa awarded a contract for it due to pressure from us but the work never get started until he left office and that was the end of it. The last I was home in 2011, we spent vast amount trying to make it motor-able, but to my surprise, when I got home last December, the road is not fully completed to a first world standard, even with a modern drainage system and all the old private street lights we installed since 1988 had been replaced with a brand new ones and they are working whenever their is power, which was very skeletal. It was completely unexpected. I was so impressed compared to what was obtained before.

Also each year I KNEW HOW MUCH i SPEND EVERY september paying all sort of school fees and levies for my 10 relatives but suddenly I am spending far less now because they no longer pay the direct school fees, which leave the normal budget to be used by them and their parents to tackle some other needed essentials. so though I am thousand of miles away, for the first time I can say with coy that a Nigeria govt is saving me some cash.

I was told by a relative of mine who has a heavy machine leasing business in Port Harcourt but now a solid contractor in Imo since Rochas. That Imo policy now is, if you are capable of executing a project, come with it and the job is yours, but no mobilisation fee, and you will be handed a standard procedure expected of the job, then when the job if finish, an inspection is done and if it tick all the boxes in the standard charter, you are paid without delay. My relative told me, that it has cut out the usual corrupt 10% kick back and since the last six months, he said to hav executed 3 projects without any upfront fee from the govt and had been paid.
I then ask again where Rochas found the money? And I was told it came from the usual security vote fund, that the past govts usually use to share among themselves and keep the rest as the election time budget war chest. This is based on my personal experience for the three weeks I was home.
I won't be clapping for him for doing his job HE IS WELL PAID TO DO, but I must say that, compared with what was before him, minus Mbakwe and Alison Madueke, this is far better.

You think you have escaped paying fees. Please save money, because nothing is actually free. Those your relations will need special centres to pass their external exams and will also use money to buy admission (That is the school fees). Check out places like Lagos where education is free, how many people send their loved ones to public schools. Quality comes at a cost but in the long run is cheaper.

What Imo needs is qualitative education that will make our indigenes the preferred candidates. Imo state university looks like a dog training school and many of the graduates can not passs employment aptitude test. No offence meant. I just want Imo better. Away with quantity. Give us quality.

[i][/i]

Eziachi: Can you be a bit more specific? Generalisation of things is usually not a reliable way to make a point, especially for the interst of people like me that is not there every morning like you. What do you mean by- To make the matter worse he has no regard for quality and professionalism? Its very vague if you didn't explain. I am not saying that you are not right or you are wrong, just that I can't understand your cloudy-bold statement.

Thank you for seeking clarification. I will give a few instances

1.The policy of anybody that can build road and can finance it should come to Imo State and work exposed us to charlatans and non professionals. There was no pre-qualification of these contractors.

2. Quality checks in Civil engineering starts from planning stage and continues during monitoring and evaluation till the project is delivered. There is no supervision during construction so some road contractors place laterite on top soil. The quality of the laterite in most of the places is nothing to write home about. Civil engineering professionals know that all these roads are waste of our meagre resources because they will not last and to fix them we have to scrape the asphalt, the laterite and the top soil before building proper roads. In other words Imo will spend money on demolition and disposal before rectifying these works. Allowing a contrator to finish and then coming to tick quality parameters after construction shows that the supervising team is technically deficient. Many of the work components are no longer visible or measurable at this stage. The intergrity of the structure can not be guranteed if certain standard constuction procedures and methodologies were not adopted during construction.

3. The roads were awarded at about N40million per KM and no contractor is allowed to do more than 5km. This amount is too meagre to deliver a sound road - ofe di nma bu ego. No contractor can economically deploy batching plant, compactors, rollers, etc for such a short stretch of road project. With these there is no how these contractors can deliver on quality.

4. Who are those manning our technical ministries/parastatals like Works, public utilities, water board etc? I have nothing aginst appointing politicians to man these ministries but he should have looked for technocrats. Imo is highly endowed with human resources

Visit cities like Uyo, Akure, Enugu Abuja, Lagos, Port Harcourt etc and you will appreciate the beauty of quality and professionalism. Imo would have been better off with proper planning and taking scope of work commensurate with the resources of the state. The volume of earth moving works going on in several places shows an administration working without budget or sound cost management plan. Imo does not have that kind of money if our governor understands the cost implication of finishing what he started. Demolition and earth movement(clearing) constitutes less than 5% of the cost of a project

Biafra rep: I am a bonafide indegin of Imo state and God forbid that I would be a sycophant but truth be told, Imo state has never had it so good since the time of Dee Sam, from Owerri to Orlu and Okigwe down to the rural areas, you will see massive developmental projects going on, this leaves me wondering were on earth Rochas is getting the money he is using to execute them. Is Imo state this rich and if we are why didn't the previous PDP governors do anything tangible? Nigerians are no longer gulible and ignorant and Imo has got enlightened citizens that can not be easily decieved. This is the begining of the end for PDP!

You may be an Imo indigene but it is obvious that either you don't live in Imo State or you don't understand the basics of civil engineering. Rochas is clueless and has been beating about the bush. Earth moving constitutes less than 5% of the cost of civil engineering projects. Getting roadsides contractors to hire bulldozers and clear spaces in the name of massive development is a mediocre strategy that will eventually backfire. The most important process in project management is planning. It is very obvious that there is little or no planning in the so called projects. Rochas wakes up in the morning and starts anything that tickles his fancy in the name of project. To make the matter worse he has no regard for quality and professionalism. Rochas is a disaster. I weep for Imo.