From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
Chief Charles Obinna is a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), a philanthropist, boardroom guru and Chairman of Wheelbarrow Group of Companies who has dexterously combined business and politics successfully.
Speaking to Daily Sun in Abuja, Obinna, who will be sponsoring the payment of Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) registration for over 1300 indigent students in the 27 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of his home State, Imo, commended both President Bola Tinubu and his governor, Hope Uzodimma.
He also revealed that he has the magic wand to end insecurity in his State if his people elect him the next governor of the State, promising to reorient the youths, provide jobs and skill acquisitions to those unwilling to go to school as the way to tackle insecurity.
Can you tell Nigerians, especially Imolites, about your empowerment programme this week?
We are trying. We are doing our best to encourage the citizens of Imo State in education. I am going to empower and encourage them more in education. That is why we are embarking on empowerment in education through registering for UTME to over 1300 students across all the local governments in Imo State.
It is a gesture to support the government of the State in education. It is also aimed at encouraging our youths to go into education, get more knowledge, and desist from crimes and criminalities. It is aimed at motivating the youths to go into schooling and know the advantage of education.
Our target is to ensure that our State has the best students from now on. We are encouraging them to register for UTME, and any of them that will do well, we will look at the possibility of giving them more free education like scholarship up to the University level.
What informed your gesture to bankroll the programme?
Right from the start, even when I was in primary school up to University level, I have been a philanthropist. I like when people around me are very happy and excited over what we have done for them. We have been supporting our youths in business and those that want to acquire skills. We have been supporting our youths.
What is the numerical strength of the beneficiaries you are targeting for the registration?
We have 27 local governments in Imo State; I am from Ahiazu, Owerri zone. But we are doing it all over the local government across the State. We are targeting about 50 students in every LGA, which may total around 1300 candidates or thereabout.
We have gotten about 1000 and are expecting more to come between now and Tuesday morning, when we will flag off the empowerment programme at the Alvan Ikoku College of Education. Our target is to empower the youths in education.
We also want to support the governor, who is doing well in terms of infrastructure. It is not easy, so we are supporting him in our own little way we can. That is why we chose the education path, because we have lots of citizens without anyone to support their educational aspirations.
So, we want to start from somewhere by encouraging them in furthering their education. So, with time, we will explore other areas where we can support the government and the citizens of Imo State.
How much Nigerian politics do you know and how long have you been in politics?
First, let me inform you that I did not only study political science in the University, but have also been a politician for years. I have been in politics for more than 10 years now. We have been supporting both local governments and the State, including the present government of the APC. We are always there for them, supporting them.
Politics is not bad, especially when you have a good intention of what you are going to do for your people in terms of development, where we are looking at how to boost Imo State in terms of more development in the State, since the governor is already doing well.
We are also looking at how we can encourage and attract more development, and wherever he stops, we intend to take it from there. It is a race you will continue when the leader stops just like a father and a son. It is continuing when your father is no more.
It is not a race, you stopped because your father is late. For now, we will encourage our people, support the politicians and politics of Imo State, and encourage the governor for what he has done so far, and look up to God on what happens in the future.
The preparation for 2027 has started; do you intend to still continue playing by the side or go into the ring?
Well, if my people endorse me to lead them by telling me that they want to send me, as an errand boy, to go for such a message in 2027, I am very much ready to go for such an errand. There will not be any problem for that. I have my eyes already focused on the governorship. I am mentally and physically ready to provide the leadership as the governor of Imo State.
What are those things pushing you to contest for the governor of Imo State and what level do you intend to take the State to?
I will take Imo State to the highest level, especially in terms of infrastructure. When we take up infrastructure, we will look into hospitality and the possibilities of taking it to international standard. We will also take up industrialization because Imo State is well positioned in terms of manufacturing.
According to geographical location, River State is not far from Imo. We have seaports that anyone can invest in and make industrialisation a lucrative venture. We also have lots of mineral resources in the State. I will concentrate on infrastructure, hospitality, industrialization, healthcare, and the aviation industry through improvement of more aviation presence at the Imo airport.
I will also encourage the youths to be adequately educated to enable them to secure a better job after graduation from school. I am sure that giving the youths education can stop insecurity in Imo State. We will try to drive Imo to be the best State in Nigeria. I strongly believe I have all it takes to make it happen. Imo State is not too difficult to develop.
Imo people will want to also know your plans and approach towards stopping insecurity in the State?
The approach to end insecurity in Imo State is very easy and simple. The biggest challenge is that most youths are jobless. I will, first and foremost, create jobs. There will be lots of jobs. I am sure that the youths would prefer to work and earn a good living than engaging in crime and criminal activities.
I am not saying that there are not jobs in Imo State now, but I also know that the governor is doing everything possible to create more jobs. We will try our best to make it compulsory for every youth in Imo State to have something to engage in.
It is either you are in business that we know or you are working in different sectors like health, teaching or anything else, but they must be engaged. There are so many easy ways to empower the youths to ensure that we crush insecurity in Imo State.
I assure you that we will definitely do our best to encourage our youths because the problem in the State is the idle and jobless youths. But by the time we encourage them by reorienting them that there are more opportunities to become something better tomorrow than to languish in the prison or be wasted by the security agents or staying in the bush, having sleepless nights, fighting with snakes and the rest of them in the bush, they will change.
We will educate them that it is better to get a good job and go to school. We will tell them that education is not late at any age. Any of them who didn’t do well today, can do well tomorrow and become a human being and be relevant in the society.
We will tell them that society can make use of them as typical example tomorrow. Basically, we will set up a lot of centres to encourage the youths, and show them that banditry cannot work anymore in the State. And the earlier they start thinking of a better future, and quitting wrong and evil things, the better for them.
We will warn them that judging by the way the government of Nigeria is going against insecurity, shows that they are not sleeping over it. They are trying to bring insecurity down and delete it from the system so that nobody will be involved in it.
There are great opportunities in the country than taking up the dangerous option of joining banditry. For any youth thinking about that, my advice to them is that it is not good, because it is a dead end.
They should be able to know that thinking positive things like going to school is a better option, and anyone who doesn’t have the brain to go to school, should think along the line of skill acquisition.
What is your take on the clamour for APC to take over the entire South East States and do you think it is a mission possible?
Yes, it is a possible mission because APC is doing well and it is good to identify with what is good. Since they are not forcing people to vote for them, rather people are doing so because the party is doing well and they are happy. It is not about taking over by force but about people supporting them to do so.
And it will be wonderful if APC takes over the whole of South East States. It is because we can see the good works Mr President is doing. The government, the ministers, and everybody is working. And more particularly in Imo State, the governor is battling a lot of challenges, and still doing his best to ensure that Imo State is a haven and to be the best APC State in the country.
As a businessman, what is the kind of favourable business climate under this APC government?
I will say that so far, the government has been trying so much. We can see that things are getting better now in terms of Forex exchange. The Dollar is dropping every day, and you can see the oil production is getting better.
Insecurity is also getting the expected improvement every day. I think the level of complaints by people is also coming down gradually because they are seeing that the government is working.
The governments at many levels are working. It has not been easy, but they are pushing and are even in a hurry to ensure that they bring the dividend of democracy to the people to stabilise the situation.
Can you itemize those areas you feel that the federal government, under President Tinubu and your State Governor, have impressed you most?
For the federal government, President Tinubu has done a lot in terms of infrastructure, especially road infrastructures, and the relative improvement in insecurity, particularly in the North East.
He is gradually quieting the hostile noise little by little. He has also done his best in terms of education, in the power sector, and revenue generation like the Tax Reform Bill.
Then, in terms of production of crude oil and management of foreign exchange, we can see that the dollar is coming down. Nobody is complaining again and I am sure that it is just a matter of time for him to fix the country. If he didn’t finish in his first tenure, he will do so in his next tenure. He will be able to tackle all the troubles.
How much on the ground are you in Imo State even while growing up?
I am solidly on ground and apart from being an Imo indigene; I also grew up in the State. I suffered in Imo and can conveniently say that I know where the State is today, the size of the state and where we are going to it to.