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Oguwike Nwachuku
One must be blind not to see that ours is a government where Governor Uzodinma’s insightful, pragmatic leadership blends with his tested public and private sector experience that will ultimately lead to translation of the intangibles to tangibles.
It is not an accident that Governor Uzodinma sees himself as a licensed driver and no one is in doubt the appellation fits the mould. Going by what has transpired in Imo in the last six months of his swearing-in, Governor Uzodinma’s politically ebullient disposition has stood him out. Let me explain.
No sooner was he sworn-in than political detractors roll out their arsenal to frustrate his well-thought-out agenda for Imolites. Imolites still recall how detractors pursued the failed Supreme Court review with uncommon vehemence, including blackmailing the Supreme Court Justices, yet Uzodinma remained undaunted, till his well-earned victory became history on March 3.
In his six months in office, Governor Uzodinma has synergized the three arms of government – executive, legislature and judiciary – knowing full well that doing so is key to a strengthened governance process.
But the truth is, never in the history of Imo State since 1999 has there existed such camaraderie between the executive, the judiciary and the legislature the way we are seeing it today under the administration of Governor Uzodinma. The opposition would prefer a fractured relationship.
Those who came before Governor Uzodinma loved and even instigated war-war situations that dovetailed into lack of trust, lack of concord, and lack of synergy between the three arms of government with the attendant political instability and underdevelopment consequences for our dear state. To him, Imo will be better if everybody works together, and he believes there is strength in unity and more so, in government business.
Let me say that those who pretend not to know that Governor Uzodinma has achieved commendable gains in six months because of their bias inclination to the immediate past government may never reckon with anything good even if the projects are cited in their compound.
When journalists whose jobs that have so much to do with public trust, betray the sense of objectivity by stoking issues they know cannot pass the test of sincerity, then all of us are snookered. Who says subjective outing based on arrogant thinking that adopting whole and entire Ihedioha’s structure could have been the only panacea for assessors to score Uzodinma creditably after six months? How wrong can some fellows be?
In my previous interventions, I cautioned against crying more than the bereaved, because of our failure to bridle our greed as interested parties in the Imo project. I really find some pieces nauseating when their authors descend that low, to the nadir where only highly ignorant persons could be found when serious matters that demand critical assessment are being considered.
I am sure residents of Owerri municipal are not worse off today managing the perennial flooding that has become a hallmark of the town every rainy season. Reason is because Governor Uzodinma has within six months isolated roads that are critical to putting a final stop to the flooding.
I am sure we know the state of these roads before now: Oparanozie St to Relief Market Road, Chukwuma Nwaoha Relief Market Road, Assumpta World Bank Road, Assumpta Roundabout to Concorde Junction, Dick Tiger- Egbu Junction road and Dick Tiger Aladinma Lake Nwaebere Road.
Those who delude themselves with the “show us what you have done” fad ought to be reminded that the reforms in the State’s Civil Service have yielded monumental payroll fraud perpetrated by civil servants in conjunction with their collaborators in the ousted and past regimes.
For those who use the payment of workers’ salaries and that of pensioners as yardstick to tell unfounded lies about the Governor Uzodinma administration, just be rest assured that in another six months you will be disappointed.
We are not under any illusion that the governor is serious when he said payment of salaries to workers and pensioners is not an achievement worth showcasing and he hopes to make it a given every month given the improvement in the Internally Generated Revenue and the deployment of automated payment system that will make nonsense the criminal intents of the perpetrators of the pay-roll fraud.
The truth is that Governor Uzodinma feels for the pensioners much more than those who are using their plight to play politics and in the fullness of time, the pensioners will know who has their interest at heart the more. Notwithstanding that the Covid-19 caught the globe off guard, leaving nations hitherto perceived invincible in science and health matters begging for help, Governor Uzodinma is taking advantage of the situation to revive the state’s health sector.
Apart from putting in place six well equipped isolation and treatment Centres and providing 30 state of the art ambulances for emergency response to the Covid-19 pandemic at the 27 local government areas and the state capital, the Imo State University Teaching Hospital at Orlu recently hosted the ground breaking ceremony for a permanent emergency and infectious disease hospital for the South East. The project was attracted to Imo by Governor Uzodinma.
Talk of Operation Search and Flush vehicles with inbuilt modern communication gadgets now found in all parts of Imo State to help secure the lives and property of Imolites, you won’t delude yourself and misinform the people that “Uzodinma is yet to land.”
Concluded
Nwachuku is Chief Press Secretary/Media Adviser to Governor Uzodinma
