Stanley Uzoaru, Owerri
Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, has attributed the country’s major challenges to bureaucracy.
Okorocha said the practice has destroyed most of its good initiatives, thereby, keeping the nation in perpetual bondage.
The governor made the disclosure yesterday when officers from the Nigerian Army College of Logistics, led by General Richard Duru, paid him a visit at the Government House, Owerri.
Okorocha said the army has been able to come out of the problem of bureaucracy to get to the extent they are.
The system, which he said was inherited from the colonial masters, has done the country more harm than good.
“Sometimes, therefore, if you need to succeed, you must bend the rule, but don’t break it to enable you achieve your goal. The trend has done a lot of harm to the system and has drawn the nation backward to a very large extent.
“I’m told that you have been round the whole city to see for yourselves what Owerri looks like. And being in a school, I’m sure you are here to further acquire knowledge and see how things are done and how progress is made in a very given institution.
“If I had enough time, it could have been my pleasure to give a lecture as to what you must do in life to prove leadership in whatever form or place you find yourselves.
“But, let me say the things you have seen so far are products of vision and passion. When I came in 2011 as governor, for those of you who may have known Owerri capital city, you will agree with me that it was nothing to write home about in terms of infrastructure; but, it took vision to change the landscape of Owerri to bring about the projects you have seen.
“We have done over 2,000 projects since we started in Imo State and I’m not counting this building as one of them. Whatever you see within Owerri is either built or rebuilt by this administration just to meet up with our vision for now. So, the driving forces there are passion and vision.
“Everyone who must succeed as a leader must have passion and vision. Vision unites with your spirit. Passion is the inner force that propels you to act in a particular manner. So, you must love what you do. I love what I do. I love Imo State, I love being a governor and I love seeing changes in the society. So, it’s all about passion. When you have passion, to sleep is and rest are in not your programme. So, hard work is the secret of any leader.”
The governor said power in the hands of a lazy leader is power wasted and leaders must learn to take responsibility. “If College of Administration and Logistics is not doing well, hold Major Duru responsible for leadership. You must show leadership in whatever you do. If you love passion and vision, then, the sky is your limit.”
According to him “Since I came in as a governor in Imo State, I have never checked how much we have in our bank account or how much is coming from the Federal Government.”