Follow Us on Google
Some political pundits had expressed misgivings about Senator Hope Uzodimma’s capacity to deliver as Governor of Imo State. They beat their chest with authoritative finality. They were ready to make bets with high stakes. But when he emerged the Chairman of Progressives Governors Forum (PGF) – an umbrella of Governors elected under the banner of APC, and Chairman of South East Governors Forum (SEGF), the same people miffed and looked the other way. They said it was all for politics. And really, the guess was not completely out of place. The earliest framers of platforms like the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF), or at the geo-political level, the South East Governors Forum (SEGF), among others, did not set them out for politics and power struggle. The original intention was for them to serve as a melting-pot for information sharing, peer-review of best governance practices, intellectual backstopping, and consensus building on issues of partisan, regional, and national interests. It is however, a symptom of decay of the nation that august bodies which began with noble objectives degenerated into parodies of their original selves.
But like cold water to a weary soul, the news of wage increase, offsetting of outstanding gratuity, and the resolve to undertake ambitious economic empowerment in rural areas by Governor Uzodimma, is not only hope-inspiring, but arguably, the most emotionally-lifting policy pronouncement of the year. Kelly Odaro, a lecturer and newspaper columnist, describes the people-centric gesture as going beyond offering a cool breeze on a sweltering day to turning on the fan to create airflow.
The governor broke the cheering news during a meeting with the leadership of Imo State Chapters of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC). He set the tone of the declaration thus: “It is a thing of joy that we have started seeing the dividends of that bold decision of President Bola Tinubu to remove fuel subsidy…What government is confronted with now is how to ensure that the dividends of that policy trickle down to the common man on the street…IGR has improved and that reform policies of the President have also increased our allocations to sub-national governments, every responsible government must be transparent about it.”
Specifically, Governor Uzodimma noted the growth of the state’s IGR from N400 million to over N3 billion monthly; the monthly statutory allocation that was between N5 billion to N7 billion in 2020, but has increased to N14 billion with the removal of fuel subsidy since 2023. Consequently, he formally announced the increment of minimum wage from N76,000 to N104,000 for workers in the civil service; medical doctors from N215,000 to N503,000, while the entrance level take-home pay of lecturers in tertiary institutions in the State was increased from N119,000 to N222,000, among others. Not done, he equally announced that the payment of the last batch of gratuity of N16 billion owed to pensioners in the state would start in August 27. And to complement federal government’s rural empowerment programme, he declared the readiness of Imo State to key in and establish 1,000 businesses in every political ward in the state. Amazing!
Ordinarily, wage increase and payment of gratuity should not have been a thing of celebration. But today, it is. It has to be commended because it did not happen as a result of industrial strikes and endless verifications by committees, which would often pigeonhole workers’ welfare. The naysayers didn’t believe that Governor Uzodimma would be the first governor in the present dispensation to wield such political will and moral obligation through empathy and weighing of his conscience. Good remuneration is an economic lifeblood and a major artery for political stability and social harmony. A constitutional democracy that cannot rub off on the people’s material conditions will lack legitimacy. Thus, enhanced welfare is a self-effacing mobilizer for political support without emasculating people to cheer up megalomaniac political leaders desperate for street popularity.
Though everybody is not working in the public sector, the sector is a core spender and facilitator of velocity of money. The private and informal sectors feel the impact. When money is released in appropriate quantum to government workers, traders in the market feel it in their sales. The services of artisans are engaged. Businesses are boosted. The ripple effects are astoundingly palpable. Without a functioning social safety net, the cultural touchstone of Africa is the extended family system, and thus, a well-paid worker would in turn, help others in the family circle.
It is exemplary that Governor Uzodimma publicly acknowledged that the increased monthly allocations have helped to reduce the state’s debt overhang, improved the quality-of-service delivery, and necessitated the inching closer to a living wage. Even his resolve to clear off inherited gratuity without blaming his predecessors or tongue-lashing hapless pensioners, is worth emulating. Today, increasing people’s purchasing power is an emergency. Embarking on white elephant projects for media frenzy and at provocatively-inflated costs is self-serving heartlessness. Indeed, while some sanctimonious governors collected secret loans and kept sealed mouth on how the windfall occasioned by fuel subsidy removal has increased finances of both the states and LGAs, Governor Uzodimma, the stone which the builder’s rejected, has displayed statesmanship. Like or hate him, this is true!
As the Chairman of PGF and SEGF, it is now left for his colleagues to follow suit before the NLC and TUC start placarding the streets. Governor Nwifuru of Ebonyi State has done so instantly. But beyond wage increase, the idea of stimulating 1,000 businesses at the wards is a sure way of empowering the informal sector and lifting many out of poverty bracket. It should therefore, not end as a political rhetoric. In the same momentum, Governor Uzodimma should try non-kinetic approach in stemming the dastard killings orchestrated by non-state actors in Okigwe Zone of the state. Local businesses cannot grow in an atmosphere of security fears. In fact, if he is able to curb this challenge vis-à-vis a welcome fillip in other performance indicators, his place in history will be difficult to surpass.
