Rochas Okorocha: Beyond The Oratory

By Chuks OLUIGBO

Owelle Rochas Anayo Okorocha, the new governor of Imo State, is indeed a great orator. His inaugural speech on May 29, 2011 reconfirmed this. As I listened to his emotion-laden words to the mammoth crowd of Imo people who gathered at the Dan Anyiam Stadium, Owerri, venue of his swearing-in ceremony, I was moved to tears. The fact that the speech was punctuated with elaborate Bible quotations made it even more emotive. And my tears flowed, yes, but not so much for the words he spoke as for the task ahead of the young man.

Owelle Rochas Okorocha, Imo State Gov.

“Today, the Lord has loosened the captivity of Imo people. Today is indeed the day of freedom, the day of emancipation, the day of resurrection.... I know you expect so much from me. I know you believe in me. I know you believe I can deliver. And I promise I will deliver.... If the only reason that I will be poor in this life is to serve my people without being corrupt, then I declare myself a poor man from today onwards.” Great words indeed!

And as I wept, the words of Livy Iwunze on June 20, 2007, barely twenty-two days after Ohakim was sworn in as governor of Imo State, came back to me. “If there is any person with an unenviable job ahead of him, that person is Governor Ikedi Ohakim of Imo State,” Iwunze had stated in that article he entitled ‘Can Gov Ohakim Break the Jinx?’. Then he had gone ahead to enunciate the reasons for his statement to include the backwardness of the state in terms of socio-economic development and the lacklustre performance of its past leader, especially the military, who only came, enjoyed themselves and left the state worse than they met it.

Iwunze’s statement above, I must say, is still as relevant today as it was four years ago, or even more so, because Imo has progressed backwards since May 29, 2007, no thanks to the loud-mouthed, fraud-infested and ‘all-talk-and-no-do’ administration of Ikedi Ohakim.

Imo has not been lucky in terms of leadership. When Imo was created in 1976, Ndubuisi Kanu, then a young commander, was sent to steer the affairs of the new state. It was with high spirits that he arrived Owerri, the capital of the new state, on March 15, 1976 to confront the Herculean task ahead of him. And he confronted it frontally. Within record time, he had laid the necessary foundations for statehood and produced a master plan for the development of the capital territory. Today, history remembers him for the link roads with good drainages he constructed within Owerri metropolis, creation of 21 local government areas in the state, and establishment of the Imo Broadcasting Service, IBS.

His successor, Commodore Adekunle Lawal, established the Standard Shoe Factory, Owerri and Oguta Motel. Col. Sunday Adenihun who came after Lawal established Imo Newspapers Ltd (which published Sunday Statesman and Nigerian Statesman). It was also in his tenure that the College of Technology (now Federal Polytechnic) Nekede commenced operations.

So, by the time Dr Samuel Onunaka Mbakwe came on board as the first elected governor of Imo State in 1979, he had a solid foundation to build on, and he capitalised on the modest achievements of his predecessors to build and expand an industrial base for Imo State. To Mbakwe’s credit is the establishment of Progress Bank (now distressed), Concorde Hotel, Owerri, Imo State University (now Abia State University), and Imo Television Authority, ITV. He also initiated the building of Aluminium Extrusion Industry at Inyishi, Resin and Paint Industry at Aboh Mbaise, Cardboard Packaging Industry at Orlu, Imo Flour Mills Ltd., Aluminum Product at Naze, and the Imo Modern Poultry at Avutu.

Mbakwe was re-elected in 1983 but the Muhammadu Buhari coup of December 31, 1983 cut short the Second Republic. The military came on board. Sadly, the succeeding military governments in Imo State did not share in Mbakwe’s industrialization dream. From Ike Nwachukwu to Allison Madueke to Amadi Ikwechegh to Anthony Oguguo, through Evan Enwerem’s 22 months of civilian interregnum, to James Aneke, and Tanko Zubairu who handed over to Achike Udenwa in May 1999, Mbakwe's industrial expansion dream suffered a death blow. Within this period, 1984-1999, there was no effort to further Mbakwe’s industrialization dream and so the significant gains of the previous administrations took a big dip. Social infrastructure in the state collapsed and state-owned industries died an untimely death. Adapalm, Standard Shoe Industry, Avutu Modern Poultry, etc, decayed beyond recognition. Roads, hospitals and schools dilapidated. Amaraku Power Station and the Resin Paint Industry were auctioned away. IBC and Imo Newspapers became ghosts of their old selves. Concorde Hotel became abode for rats and cockroaches.

Perhaps the only events of note during these dark years were the marriage of Imo Television Authority and Imo Broadcasting Service to form Imo Broadcasting Corporation, IBC, the reduction of the number of ministries from 17 to 9, the establishment of Imo Transport Corporation, ITC, and the State Technical Committee of Privatization and Commercialization, TCPC,the introduction of Survival Levy and Imo Formula, and the laying of foundation of Imo Airport, which was built by Imo people themselves. I could vividly recall a certain sticker that was posted on my father’s doorpost. It fitted so naturally that you could swear that it came with the door. It read: ‘I support Imo Airport project. No amount is too small’.

When Achike Udenwa was sworn in as governor in 1999, he promised “To rehabilitate our infrastructure, provide basic amenities, ensure social justice and create job opportunities through reactivation of our ailing industries and encouragement of private sector investment”. In his address at a town house parley organised by the Centre for Leadership and Policy Studies in Owerri on March, 18 2002, Udenwa claimed as follows: “Today, with the return to democracy and the advent of my administration, I can say it loud and clear that Imo is on the march again. Under my administration, we are witnessing a great renaissance, a silent but sure-footed revolution, that is rapidly transforming Imo State and restoring its lost glory, every minute, every hour and everyday!” However, the reality on ground has shown that Udenwa’s administration was a far cry from the revolution that Imo needed, and still needs.

Then came the bad guy, Ikedi Ohakim, with his empty promises. He said he was transforming Imo into a one-city state, a modern model state, and tourist destination of the world. He introduced Imo Rural Roads Maintenance Agency, IRROMA, and promised to grade 300 roads in 30 days. He said he was constructing the most ambitious road project ever in the history of Nigeria, a 150-kilometre Boulevard called Imo Interconnectivity Multilane Freeway, which will pass through 500 communities, 19 local government areas, 39 markets with 13 electronic tollgates and connecting Oguta Resort and the entire state. He said it would be in four sections: Iho-Ogwa-Amauzari-Amaigbo Road (20km), Mbieri-T Juntion-Orji-Uratta-Naze Road (20km); Ahiara Juntion-Okpala Road Junction (25km) and Ukwuorji-Nworieubi-Atta junction-Amaimo-Afor-Ogbe Road (45km). He promised to dredge the Nworie River, to establish Agro Nova Farm Project, Imo Airline, Oak Refinery at Ohaji/Egbema, the Oguta Wonder Lake Resort and Conference Centre, among others. Today, four years after those promises, it has become clear to Imo people that those were mere rhetoric. Most of these projects never left the architectural drawing board. Those that did became permanent money-guzzlers and conduits for looting the treasury.

In the case of Standard Shoes Industry, which had been long abandoned by previous administrations, Ohakim claimed he was making a move to resuscitate it. He therefore secured a loan of over N350 million with high interest from Oceanic Bank. Up till date, the factory is still overgrown with weeds and yet to produce a single slippers. What happened to the Oceanic Bank loan then?

Evidently, Imo has not had another leader since Mbakwe. And since 1999, this would be the first time that Imo people have chosen their leader by themselves. Many have termed the election of Owelle Rochas Okorocha ‘the Imo Revolution’. And Okorocha seems to understand this. His speech on May 29 reflects that he knows that so much is expected of him.

He has said that he is on a rescue mission. That means he understands that Imo is in a state of emergency. He has promised to deliver. He has promised free education to Imo children. He has promised jobs for unemployed Imo youths. He has promised to fight corruption. He has promised community-based governance. He has promised to exceed Mbakwe’s records. And much more.

My advice is simple: Owelle, let’s go beyond these pious pronouncements. Let’s back them up with positive action. Imo needs more than oratory at this moment. Imo needs action. Imo people have heard promises in the past; they have also known disappointments. Don’t join the league of past governors who made so much noise in the media and did very little. I would wish you could borrow a leaf from President Goodluck Jonathan who said he would promise less and do more. It is good to make promises, but please don’t start what you cannot finish. As Prof Ukachukwu Awuzie, national president of Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, himself a true Imo son, has advised, concentrate on the things you can do for Imo people in the next four years and do them. No more promises. We need action. And the time is now. We are already counting...