Governor Okorocha And His Imo People: It Shall Be Well

I write as a son of the soil. I write as an Imo son who has been there for so long. I write as one who remembers things. And I recollect that at the time Nigeria had self rule in 1960, Lagos was both the commercial nerve centre and the federal capital territory of our country. Lagos had always been a thriving commercial coastal city that held massive attractions for traders and business men and women from many parts of the world.

Lagos swarmed with people. Being a coastal city, men and women arrived from all nooks and crannies of the universe to add to the glamorous night life that made Lagos tick. Lagos thrived. Traders of sorts and business men and women of all persuasions trooped into Lagos in their droves to make money.

With time, Lagos became congested. The city began to find it difficult to accommodate the teeming number of people who came in daily to live and do business in the land. The infrastructure became over-used and consequently became inadequate for the swarming population that thronged into the city. Expansion became a necessity. And so was the urge to separate the seat of government from the commercial nerve centre.

When the military government of General Yakubu Gowon was toppled in a military coup on 29 July 1975, the new military Head of State, General Murtala Mohammed, appointed a panel to evaluate the possibility of relocating the federal capital. The panel approved a relocation of the federal capital and seat of government and recommended that while the seat of government should be moved to a new location, Lagos should remain as the commercial nerve centre of the nation. Government officials immediately set out to study world capitals. They looked at Brasília, the new capital of Brazil. They visited Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan. They went to Paris, the capital of France, and to Washington D.C., the capital of the United States. Nigeria was looking for a central place to build a new national capital where its entire people would be equally represented. The new territory was to have favourable climate conditions, vast acres of land and plenty of water.

In 1976, after Abuja was chosen as the land for the new national capital, General Mohammed spoke to the nation. He said: “We believe that a new federal capital territory created on such virgin lands will be for all Nigerians a symbol of their oneness and unity. The Federal Capital Territory will belong to all Nigerians.” The General predicted a new era of “justice, peace and unity” for all Nigerians. But seven days later, he was assassinated. As a soldier, General Mohammed made the supreme sacrifice for what he believed in. Look at Abuja today, sprawling with high rises and a lush topography no one would have thought possible only a few years ago.

That is one lesson Imo people have to learn. That is one lesson we have to live with. That is one lesson we have to always remember as government after government commits itself to the development of Imo State. Never say “we can’t. It’s so difficult.” Don’t ever discourage government. In many democratic countries, the role of government in state development is always designed to be in continuity. A new state government which is elected into power continues from where the previous government stopped.It reviews the policies and policy thrusts of the last government, makes amendments where necessary and continues with the work at hand before new measures or dimensions are introduced into the system as the hallmark or distinct identity of the incumbent government.

Unfortunately, this has never been the case in Imo State. Created in 1976, its first three governors were military officers who stayed in office for so short a while that whatever impact they claim to have made on the development of Imo State was scarcely visible to the good people the state. Ndubuisi Kanu, a naval officer was there for barely one year, from March 1976 to 1977. Then Adekunle Lawal, another naval officer, took over. He governed for almost one year from 1977 to July 1978. A military officer, Sunday Adenihun, governed from July 1978 to October 1979. In barely three years, from 1976 when Imo State was created to 1979, the state already had three military governors. And what would anyone expect a military governor to practically achieve in the development of a state in just one year in office?

That was the situation of things when the democratically elected government of Chief Sam Mbakwe came on board on 1st October 1979. It was the monumental stride Imo people made in those four years Dee Sam was governor, which included the building of Imo Airport with the self-help effort of Imo people that laid the foundation for the development of their state. But seeing that the civilians were making progress, the military struck and came back to the stage.

For the next 8 years, they took turns in the Imo State Government House. First was General Ike Nwachukwu who governed for about 20 months, from January 1984 to August 1985. He was replaced by Rear Admiral Allison Madueke. Madueke governed for about one year, from August 1985 to 1986. Amadi Ikwechegh, another naval officer who replaced Madueke governed for four years from 1986 to 1990 with practically nothing to show for it. In 1990, Anthony Oguguo was appointed governor of Imo State. He governed for two years, from 1990 to 1992.

Chief Evans Enwerem, a civilian who was democratically elected under the banner of National Republican Party (NRC) governed after that for nearly two years, from January 1992 to November 1993.

For the next six years, the army was at it again. James Aneke, a naval officer became governor for about three years, from 9 December 1993 to 22 August 1996. He handed over to Colonel Tanko Zubairu, a military officer who governed Imo for another three years, from 22 August 1996 to May 1999.

A close look at the way Imo State has been governed over these 40 years shows that there is a policy pattern in place among the military brass – a policy of assigning short periods of duty to the military governors who worked in Imo State, thereby making them unable to contribute meaningfully to the development of the state they were supposed to be governing. In the 40 years of the existence of Imo State, nine military governors ruled the state over a period of 17 years with practically nothing to show during or after their tenures as contribution towards the development of the state. How can this be explained? Was it, perhaps, a deliberate military policy aimed at stifling the growth of the newly created Imo State? Did other states in the Federation suffer the same fate as a result of this policy?

It was not until the advent of the Chief Achike Udenwa administration in 1999 that Imo people began to think and to talk of democracy, free trade and all that, like their counterparts in other parts of the world. It will be needless to enumerate what Udenwa achieved in his eight years as governor, from 29 May 1999 to 29 May 2007. All Imo people know what efforts his administration made to develop their state. After him came Chief Ikedi Ohakim who governed Imo State for four years, from 29 May 2007 to 29 May 2011. The developments recorded by the Ohakim administration are also visible and well known to Imo people. And now, the current Imo governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha.

Compared with those who were there before him, it will be a travesty of justice to believe that the Okorocha administration is not on top of the list. The point to consider is that government implies continuity. Each incoming government starts from where its predecessor stopped. When a new government comes into power, it first studies what is on the ground in terms of the policies and projects the previous government initiated. It makes necessary amendments, completes the projects on the ground and then goes on with new projects and new dimensions. In the case of the current administration, the governor, it must be said, has always had his vision of creating a viable Imo State that will be the envy of many other states in the federation. Unfortunately, this vision has affected some areas like prompt salary payments. The point is that to achieve certain ends considered as priority, sacrifices have to be made in some other areas. Take the expansion and modernisation of roads or the relocation of markets and mechanic villages in Owerri for example. These markets and workshops have been in place over the years. People have got so used to them that relocating them would seem difficult for them. They agitate. But then they tend to forget that this was the exactly same experience Imo people had when government decided to relocate the Timber Market from Wetheral Road to Naze. Today, one only needs to go to Naze and see how that place has opened up. Now who is complaining about the Timber Market any more?

There is concrete evidence that Imo people truly want to build up their state. They are anxious to see their state take a place of pride among all the other states in the federation. That means they just have to do what other developing and progressive states are doing. They know the truth. Expansion for Imo people has become a necessity, just as it once became a necessity for Lagos.

In the process of these developments, the government will inevitably step on toes, some of them raw. Okorocha knew that he would hurt some people in the process of implementing some of his decisions. And that was why he appealed to them to understand that his intention is to build a state of Imo peoples’ collective dreams and aspirations. He has told Imo people that his policy of “Imo my Pride” is dear to his heart and that he would do everything within his capability to ensure that it is realised in the overall interest of the state and its people. But even at that, no one would expect all of the problems of Imo people to be completely solved in the duration of one governor. Democracy and state development involve consistency and time.

Today, Owerri is the fastest growing state in the federation. There is a need to maintain the momentum. The government of Owelle Rochas Okorocha is expanding the roads created by his predecessors and creating a network of new roads in the state capital to ease congestion. His government is relocating the markets and the mechanic villages from the heart of the city to more spacious areas within the city's suburbs, with plans to modernise the stalls, the shopping plazas and the new mechanic villages to international levels. And to complement his efforts, Reach-Out and Link-Up Limited is publishing the Imo State Business Link Magazine to enhance Demand and Supply in the state and thus make it easier to give Imo people a wider choice in their demand and supply needs.

Developing a state to an international standard is not one-day affair. It takes vision. It takes time. It takes money. It takes the good will of the people. It demands trust in the leadership on the part of the citizens. If that trust is lacking, enemies of state progress whose only interest is self-aggrandisement will seize the opportunity they always schemed to have, to capitalise on the situation and hamper the growth of the state.

That, Imo people must resist. If Imo people can give the current government of Owelle Rochas Okorocha the support it needs to clear the state capital, Owerri, of the rubbish that litters every of its streets and make Owerri clean once again, even if that means relocating the markets and the mechanic villages, we will surely reclaim that glory for which the state was known – as the cleanest city in West Africa.

The governor cannot carry the cross alone. Even Jesus was not allowed to carry His cross alone. The governor will need the trust and support of Imo people and their understanding that his government means well for them. On their part, Imo people should anchor their trust in the fact that at some point in time, the achievements of all the governors who governed Imo State will be laid down on the table for all to appreciate. Will Okorocha be the one they will congratulate most? Governor Okorocha knows the answer. Most Imo people know that at the end of the day, it shall be well.

*Mr Asinugo is a London-based journalist and Publisher of Imo State Business Link Magazine

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Articles by Emeka Asinugo