Pls read about my Governor and his achievments so far in imo,for those of u that have been listening to evil propaganda,and tarnishing the image of my able governor, Since he was inaugurated as the executive Governor of lmo State on May 29, 2011, precisely one year ago, Gov. Okorocha has remained on Rescue Mission. He has done that with speed and passion that he has become the miracle worker of Africa and indeed the world, considering his achievements, within one year. Where some state governors come to office to plunder the state treasury and add to their private till, Rochas donated his salary as state governor to the Rescue Mission Agenda. A rare political philanthropy, you will call that. He also slashed his security vote, where other governors make a kill, from N6.5 billion to N4 billion. Political opponents said that free education is impossible in Imo State but Gov. Okorocha insisted that it is possible. Today, every Imo State child of school age goes to school from Primary to University absolutely free! Political contractors and merchants said that N18,000 minimum wage for Imo public and civil servants is impossible. Indeed, they claimed that lmo State will go bankrupt if it pays that minimum wage. Gov. Okorocha has also decoded that puzzle and lie. Today, courtesy of the visionary and patriotic governor of lmo State, public servants, not only earn minimum wage, but they earn N20,000 which is N2,000 above the national minimum wage. He has set the pace for other state governments to follow. Pensioners, who have been starving and waiting for non-payment of their pensions, now smile as they are regularly paid after clearing a back-log of about 2.5 billion naira. In Imo state, a plethora of networks of roads, gutters, sidewalks and culverts springing all over the three zones of the state are being constructed simultaneously. Several moribund industries are being reactivated and brought to life. Workers are getting their salaries as at when due. Today, Imo people wonder where Gov. Okorocha gets the funds to embark on these economic and socio-political development projects in a state that people said was poor without borrowing from any bank. The answer is very simple. As a successful man in the private sector, Gov. Okorocha carved a niche for himself as prudent manager of resources. As a Disciplined Prudent manager, the governor simply brought his wealth of experience in the management of human and material resources to bear in handling the affairs of the state. That translated to the blockage of revenue leakages and total abolishment of frivolous recurrent expenditures to cut down the cost of governance in the state. The reversal of the budgetary pattern in the state to 73% capital Expenditure and 27% Recurrent completes the rest of the story. A summary of Gov. Okorocha’ Rescue Mission: 1.Road Construction As at today, over 600km of roads are under construction across the urban and rural areas in the three zones of the state. In Owerri capital city, the entire roads and streets in Prefab, Aladinma, World Bank, Trans-Egbu and Works-Layout are under construction with drainages. Okigwe and Orlu cities are transformed to modern cities with massive road and infrastructural ongoing projects. At least, 25 kilometer of roads are being constructed in each of the 27 Local Government Areas in the state. In fact, it is massive road construction project in Imo which is too numerous to be captured in this piece. In addition to these massive road construction projects going on simultaneously across the nooks and crannies of the state, the following public buildings and facilities have either been completed or are nearing completion: I. New Executive Council (EXCO) Chambers 2. Expanded Exco chambers 3. A new Banquet Hall 4. First ever Government House Chapel 5. An Ultra-Modern office building for the First Lady 6. An Ultra modern office building for Deputy Governor 7. Odenigbo Government Guest Houses 8. Mbari Amphi Theatre 9. A new Musical Arcade christened “Bongo Square” 10. Remodeling of abandoned Imo Hotel 11.Construction of the Freedom Square/People’s Embassy 12. The Heros Square with 5,000 seats 13. Construction of the Heros Gate 14. Heros Guest House 15. Renovation of the Concorde Hotel 16. Renovation of the Oguta Motel 17. Construction Oguta Lake Conference Centre 18. The Ikemba Ojukwu Centre 19.Reconstruction of abandoned Imo Parliamentary Ouarters now known as Concorde Hotel Extension 20. Renovation of the customary Court of Appeal headquarters 21.Renovation of the commissioners quarters, deputy governor’s and Speakers’ Lodges. 22.Renovation of the State Secretariat complex along Port Harcourt Road. 23. Completion of the Abandoned Imo House at Abuja 24. Construction of Imo International Conference center The government also plans within its tenure to construct a five-star hotel in Orlu to be known as The prince, another five-star in Okigwe that will be also known as The Queen. In Owerri, the capital city, monumental projects including a 23-floor hotel that will be christened Crystal Hotel, 110-metre tall Tower known as Akachi and Ecumenical center also known as Amarachi will be constructed and completed before the life of the administration. Education i.Free Education It is no longer news that lmo Sate has become the first in Nigeria where children of school age go to school from Primary to University free. Pupils/students will be provided with writing materials (biro, pencils, notebooks, textbooks etc). They will also get free school uniforms, bags and sandal. Government has approved the payment of N60,000 for National Diploma (ND) and N80,000 for higher National Diploma (HND) students of Imo State origin studying in lmo State Polytechnic, Umuagwo . Also, students of Imo State origin studying in Imo State University shall be entitled to scholarship of N100,000. Meanwhile, the state government has ordered the release of the sum of N450 million promised by the previous administration as grant to mission schools returned to their owners. The government has also increased the monthly subvention to Imo State University (IMSU) from N57 million to about N250 million. In accordance with its electioneering campaign promise, of free education at all levels, the government has embarked on the upgrading of infrastructure in all government owned schools. One of them is the ongoing construction of 305 model schools to replace the dilapidated structures in each electoral ward in the state. The sum of N135 million has been released to Imo State Polytechnic, Umuagwo Ohaji-Egbema for projects development. The lmo College of Advanced next Professional Studies (ICAPS) and Young Scientist College have been established to give graduates and young people the opportunities to acquire skills that will make them employable in the various sectors of the economy. Health Over the years The health sector has suffered a drastic neglect in potency and facilities. To check this drift, the Rescue Mission Government has initiated several measures. These include the following; i. Construction of new General Hospitals in the 27 LGAs in the state ii. Upgrading of Umuguma General Hospital to a Specialist hospital and reconstruction of Aboh Mbaise and Awo-Omamma General Hospitals iii. Completion of projects abandoned at the Imo State University Teaching Hospital Orlu and the upgrade of Diagnostic facilities at the hospital, including the installing of MRI equipment iv. Increase of monthly subvention of lmo State University Teaching Hospital Orlu from N66 million to N95.4 million. v. Signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Apollo Hospital Group in India to equip and manage some of the new hospitals upon completion vi. Introduction of Heath Insurance Scheme to provide Health care coverage for Imo State citizens vi. Provision of 24/7 emergency Medicare to the citizen through the Health — At — Your — Door- Step programme REHABILITATION OF ABANDONED INDUSTRIES To create jobs and wealth and boost the economic potentials and revenue generation capacity of the state, the government has embarked on several measures to rehabilitate and reactivate some ailing and abandoned industries. These are: A.Rehabilitation of the Standard Shoe Company in Owerri The Standard Shoe Factory will receive Italian Technical Partners as majority share-holders under the public/private partnership arrangement. In a bid to boost the operations of the company, the state government has awarded a contract of the sum of N440 million to the Standard Shoe Factory to produce and supply school shoes to pupils in the school system. It is expected that the contract will be a lifeline for the company to return to full commercial operations. B:Construction of a modern Tile Factory at Nsu Ehime Mbano LGA The Nsu Tiles (Now Imo Tiles) will be lucky as well. It will receive an Italian company Fratelli Lerose as its technical partner. The project will attract foreign direct investment of 130 million Euros and create over 2000 jobs and other ancillary businesses. AGRICULTURE As the fulcrum of the Rescue Mission Agenda and mainstay of the economy, the agricultural sector, shall receive adequate attention for economic prosperity and to create jobs for the teeming population of Imo State citizens. To achieve this objective, the government has embarked on the following proactive measures: I. N400 Million has been approved for disbursement to local farmers to enable them enhance the productivity of their farms in pursuit of the goal of self sufficiency. 2. The Imo Palm Plantation (ADAPALM) has been taken over by new investors and it will generate at least 4,000 jobs upon full rehabilitation. The deal earned the state government the sum of N3.2 billion naira. 3. The Imo Modern Poultry Farm, Avutu Obowo, is undergoing rehabilitation. During the year, poultry farms will be set up in partnership with the private sector. 4. The Ministry of Agriculture will partner with private investors to establish rice farms at Arondizuogu, Ohaji Egbema, Obowo and Ngor Okpala LGAs. Oil Palm Plantation will be established at Ohaji-Egbema and Oru West LGAs. These projects will create I5,000 jobs in the next eighteen (18) months. SECURITY Government is aware of the importance of security of life and property of its citizens. To achieve this objective, the government has launched Community Policing programme in the state with 100 new security vans equipped with modern communication gadgets. To curb kidnapping in the state, the state government has announced a ransom of N1 million naira to whoever that volunteers useful information that will lead to arrest of suspected kidnappers and N100, 000 for an armed robber. This has contributed immensely in reducing the spate of kidnapping as many suspected kidnappers in the state. IMO MULTI – CITY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME In order to tackle the town planning and development challenges facing the state, the government has embarked on developing Umuaka (Njaba LGA), Nworieubi (Mbaitolu LGA), Anara (lsiala Mbano LGA), Okpala (Ngor Okpala LGA), Mgbidi (Oru West LGA) and Akokwa (Ideato North LGA) In the first phase of the projects, a minimum of I00 hectres of land shall be provided and each location shall have facilities such as General Hospital, Housing Estate and Guest Houses. Road networks will be constructed to connect these cities. In the long term, Imo State will be transformed into a modern one-city state. DEVELOPMENT OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREAS Over the years, Local Government Areas in Imo State have been neglected as a result of misappropriation of funds and squandering of resources at this level of government by government officials and godfathers. Government intends to achieve a turn-around of the fortunes of LGAs. To accomplish this objective, government has released over N1.BilIion naira to each of the 27 LGAs for capital projects. This is even as government plans to spend at least N4 Billion for projects in each LGA during the tenure of this administration. Some of the target projects are; Construction of at least l5kms of road in each LGA, establishment of a modern poultry farm in each LGA, construction of a mini sports centre/stadium, modern abattoir, modern market or rehabilitation of an existing one,Guest House official residence for Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Magistrate, Local Government INEC Officer and Head of SSS. IMO STATE CIVIL SERVICE & COMMERCIALISATION PROGRAMME For the purpose of re-positioning the civil service to make it proactive and resulted oriented, a number of measures have been initiated to reform the activities of the Ministries, Departments and Agencies MDAs, to become commercially viable and to cater for themselves with minimum government subventions. They should be able to generate enough revenues in the near future through commercialization programmes to enable the state pay salaries and overheads of the civil servants. This will enable the state government access enough funds for capital projects. To achieve this purpose, the government has embarked on comprehensive capacity building (retraining) programme for civil servants as well as computer literacy/appreciation courses that are meant to enhance their skills. COMMUNITY GOVERNMENT COUNCIL To achieve the objective of carrying the citizens along, give them a sense of belonging and bring the government nearer to the people at the grassroots, the Rescue Mission Government has decided to introduce developmental councils anchored on communities within the Local government system. Each Community Government shall be run by a Governing Council made up of the following persons: I. The Traditional Ruler 2. The President General 3. The Woman Leader 4. The Youth Leader 5. Community Liaison Officer The Community Government Council (CGC) will also have administrative staff made up of civil servants that will be deployed on secondment to run the affairs, implement and supervise development projects for the benefit of the citizens and residents of that community.
Posted on: Sat, 19 Jul 2014 18:39:24 +0000
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