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By Romanus Ugwu
From the transformative milestones recorded in the areas of technological innovations, education, healthcare facilities, housing, and infrastructural developments to recreational centres and many more, it is apt to conclude that Imo State is currently undergoing a comprehensive progressive revolution.
And for doubters, the Imo Digital City, a quiet technological hub that has produced over 75,000 youths trained in digital skills, smartphone assembling, and drones, deployed for security and logistics, bears eloquent testimony to the extent the State governor, Hope Uzodimma, has gone in actualising his campaign promises and, by extension, renewing the hopes of the people of the state.
Across the length and breadth of the State, signs of transformation are clearly visible, confirming that Imo is on a speed-lane trajectory to reclaim its lost glory as the eastern heartland, with boundless developmental strides.
In the area of physical infrastructure, the reconstructed Owerri-Okigwe and Owerri-Mbaise-Umuahia highways that have helped to decongest traffic and resolve pothole hazards in the state that have sent many innocent souls to their early graves, equally stood the state out.
Although urgent intervention is still needed to combat the incidents of flooding in the state, particularly during the rainy season, the current flooding challenge is only a child’s play to the massive deployment of resources to fix the erosion-ravaged and severed Orlu-Mgbee-Akokwa-Uga federal road.
Equally reclaimed from the erosion menace which had ravaged it is the Ukwa road, which was abandoned for years, but is now wearing a new look. It is a product of the Renewed Hope transformative collaborative partnership between the Federal and State governments. Other developmental strands include the renovated Imo Concorde Hotel and the Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu International Conference Centre (EIICC), a 10,000-seater capacity historic monument to boost the state’s ambition to host major events and attract investment.
In the area of health and housing developments, the 200-bed infectious disease centre at the Imo State University Teaching Hospital, built in partnership with Seplat Oil and NMPCL, to serve the entire South East, and the Renewed Hope Housing Estates proliferating in Oninyang, Bende and others across the State are part of the indelible statistical achievements.
In reality, it may not yet be an eldorado for the state in terms of development; the most significant progress is likely to be the talents and youths incubated at the Imo Digital City.
The digital hub, Governor Uzodimma’s signature project, stands out as the region’s innovative and technological entrepreneurship centre, a vision for youth empowerment and cyber transformation.
And by way of blowing his trumpet, Governor Uzodimma, while reflecting on the journey so far, attributed the transformation to the improved FAAC allocation to subnational governments by President Bola Tinubu’s decision to remove fuel subsidy.
While hosting the Renewed Hope Ambassadors in collaboration with the Presidential Media team on a tour of state and federal government projects recently, he boasted that Imo has unapologetically become a one-party state, assuring that the electorate in the state will massively deliver the needed votes to President Tinubu as a reward during next year’s presidential election.
His words: “Our people have already decided that they want President Tinubu to remain at the Aso Rock Villa beyond next year because without him, his policies and programmes, this environment we are enjoying today would have been impossible to achieve.”
“That has become the name that opens doors in Imo State now. Almost the same achievements are replicated in other states because I am certain that many governors of APC extraction in Nigeria are working so hard, and deploying the additional revenue that has accrued into productive use,” he said.
Celebrating the transformation further, Uzodimma stoutly backed Tinubu’s fuel subsidy removal, explaining that the policy freed up more resources to the state governments across the country.
“In 2020, January 15, when I was sworn in as the governor of this state, the Accountant-General told me after two days that they were going to Abuja for the FAAC meeting. When he came back from the meeting, I thought he was going to bring money. He told me that after salary we had only N100 million. That was what happened to many states.
“Immediately after May 29, 2023, I saw over N10.7 billion after FAAC. I said, what? So, when people were trying to oppose the removal of fuel subsidy, I had to put on my belt and my jeans, came out and insisted that subsidy must be removed.
“So, whatever this man has done to make us have access to funds to help the people must continue. So today. I am indeed glad that we were able to deploy these resources to visible programmes and projects that our people today are very happy for it,” he said.
The governor also attributed the developmental strands in the state to the improvement in the state’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) under his leadership from N400 million monthly in 2020 to nearly N6 billion at the moment.
“I met an IGR of less than N400 million in 2020; my IGR is very close to N6 billion a month now. In 2020, our debt profile was N287 billion; today, as I speak, we are less than N90 billion. So, day by day we are reducing the debt profile. The state has become very solvent. In 2020, movement from one end of Imo State to another took an average of two to three hours; it’s not the same today,” he noted.
Equally appraising his efforts in power supply, Governor Uzodimma disclosed that Imo is ready for business, as the state now generates, transmits and distributes electricity through what he called homemade electricity.
“Talking of electricity, my people forgot about electricity because what they had here was bulk billing. No metering; the light was not available, but as I speak today, we generate, we transmit, we distribute electricity in the state capital, including the Government House. This is homemade electricity, and we will not disappoint. By the end of this year, we will continue to respond to the local government. Imo is ready for business,” he assured.
In health infrastructure, the state equally recorded some transformative footprint, especially at the Imo State University Teaching Hospital, established in 2004. Coming from the setback of its medical graduates losing accreditation, resulting in leaving six sets of medical doctors stranded, Governor Uzodimma had done the unthinkable, stepping in, restoring the accreditation, and ensuring that the doctors finally graduated.
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Giving update on the changes in the hospital while conducting the Renewed Hope Ambassadors media team on tour, the Executive Assistant to the Chief Medical Director, Victor Samson, said: “It can boasts of a heart transplant facility, a 200-bed Infectious Disease Centre (IDC), a modern oxygen plant that at one point catered for the entire South East, and a 260 KV solar installation to keep the facility fully lit.”
“Before the coming of the governor, sometimes the wards had only two or three patients. But now, each ward has about 20 beds and most of them are always filled up. The inpatient inflow is estimated at 40 to 60 per week. The free medical interventions every December have resulted in over 4,000 surgeries since the governor came in. Just last December, they carried out nothing less than 400 thyroidectomy surgeries within that period.
“The infectious disease centre, though not yet operational, at 85 per cent completion, is a testament to the state government’s preparedness for future health emergencies. The joint venture operators have been supervising the work to ensure that it meets the quality standards. This is not just about treating diseases; it is about creating a centre of excellence that will serve the entire South East.
“The hospital has also engaged very relevant consultants coming back to serve the institution. Only recently, the Chief Medical Director engaged a Pediatric Surgeon, hitherto lacking among healthcare facilities in the state. All of these improvements have been made possible by the governor’s investment in modern equipment and infrastructure through the support of the federal government,” he said.
The governor has equally done well in fixing certain roads of economic benefit across the state; however, the administration’s commendable efforts in the landmark massive reclamation, diverting a river and building concrete bridges, to fix the Orlu-Mgbee-Akokwa-Uga federal, currently at 80 percent completion, stood out as the icing on the cake.
The intervention in fixing the road was so impressive that it won the Imo governor the admiration and encomiums of the Federal Government. Special Adviser to President Tinubu on Media and Public Communications, Sunday Dare, who gave the commendation, however, hinged the actualisation of the reconstructed road on the increase in FAAC allocations the federal government is releasing to the state governments.
According to him, “This road has a history. Three governors before Uzodimma made every effort to fix the road, especially the stretch which was cut off completely. The massive reclamation, the diversion of the river and the concrete bridge built show the quality of job done on the road.”
“The entire Imo side was completely cut off; the Imo-Abia section was also cut off from Anambra. Now what we saw is 80 per cent completion of the 31km stretch road. It will have massive economic implications from the positive point of view for the South East region. We can see what has been done with the reclamation.
“We can see the quality of the road, the concrete media, the street lights from Orlu. This wouldn’t have been possible without increased FAAC allocation that comes monthly from the federal government to the state government, providing extra funds for such projects as this,” he defended.
Speaking further, Dare, a former Minister of Sports, said: “We have seen in a couple of other states in the North and the South East how APC governors have been utilising these extra FAAC funds for infrastructural development. We saw 2,000-bed IDC in Orlu at almost 85 per cent completion. We saw the oxygen plants. We saw the revitalisation of the health centre that is been down for several years.
“This is the kind of project that is impactful on the people in terms of micro of the Renewed Hope Agenda services like infrastructure, human capital development, and we have seen how state and federal projects are working together. We learnt that the funding for the road, even though a federal government project, is a partnership.
“The Imo State and federal governments are funding the project. When we talk about vision, I said vision without clarity, without results, is completely visionless. But here we see vision; we see clarity in the manifestation of the projects we are seeing. We see the funds that have been freed up from subsidy removal,” he said.
Further justifying the removal of fuel subsidy, Dare said: “I have said that we were previously borrowing $7.5 billion annually to pay for subsidy, but now we are no longer borrowing. Those funds are freed up and that is why we see the FAAC allocation going up by almost 60 per cent.”
“The states are no longer borrowing. People forgot that 21 states were going, cap-in-hand, to Abuja for salaries every month. States are paying now. They have also increased salary to N70,000, N80,000 and some states like Imo, N100,000. So, we can boldly point in a positive sense to the impact of the removal of subsidy by President Tinubu.
Which “Senegal didn’t remove subsidy is on her knees completely. Nigeria has become a reference point when it comes to reforms, sectoral reforms in the oil sector, and Agric-sector because of the Renewed Hope Agenda,” he argued.
Beyond the physical infrastructure like roads, the crowning of the accomplishments is the investment in the digital centre, a public, private sector ownership conglomerate assembling hub for cellphones, drones and refurbishing of minibuses geared towards turning around the future of Imo youths.
In the words of Imo Commissioner for Digital Economy and e-Government, Chimezie Amadi, said: “The Digital City is training Imo youths in diverse digital skills, from basic to intermediate and advanced. They are not just learning theory; they are building products. Inside the facility, young Imo indigenes are assembling smartphones and feature phones on a partial-knockdown assembly line.”
“Most Imo State residents today come to the Digital City to buy their feature phones, smartphones, and other digital devices that are already assembled there. The state is now exporting the talents helping other states to advance in the digital economy.
“It is home to software engineers, cloud engineers, cybersecurity experts, artificial intelligence engineers and Internet specialists. Startups are incubated there, solving real-world problems. This is not a training centre for the sake of training; it is a talent factory producing the next generation of technology founders for Nigeria and Africa.
“The economic implications are profound. Instead of importing talent, Imo is grooming and exporting it. Instead of importing devices, Imo is assembling them locally. This is what digital sovereignty looks like. The application is widespread: security surveillance, delivery and logistics, mapping and more. The first phase is security, but the vision extends far beyond that,” he said.
Akin to the landmark projects, is the Sam Mbakwe International Cargo Airport currently undergoing rehabilitation. Eloquently standing tall as another pillar of the Renewed Hope transformative project, has seen the runway resurfaced, the terminal expanded and the cargo section now functional to handle exports of agricultural produce to other parts of Nigeria and beyond.
Although Imo has witnessed transformation like never before, however, the reality is that some projects are still at various and percentages of completion with funds still needed to sustain and deliver them. Among the uncompleted projects include infectious disease centre not yet operational, the Ukwa road still requiring finishing touches, the expansion of airport runway and cargo terminals among others.
