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Tag: Imo

  • It’s now three working days in Imo

    It’s now three working days in Imo

    •Okorocha abolishes annual leave

    Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha yesterday announced that the state’s civil servants will henceforth work for only three days in a week – from Monday to Wednesday.

    The governor made the announcement while hosting traditional rulers at the Government House in Owerri, the state capital.

    He said: “The government of Imo State has introduced a policy, tagged: Back To Land for Agriculture, to enable the state engage and invest heavily in agriculture for self-sustenance since, from all indications, the state can no longer depend on monthly allocations for survival.”

    During the meeting, Okorocha said public servants would work from Monday to Wednesday, while Thursday and Friday would be reserved for farming and Saturday for social engagements.

    The governor exempted public servants on essential duties, including teachers, nurses, doctors and those involved in internally generated revenue (IGR) drive, as well as political appointees from the directive.

    He said: “We shall try this programme for one year, starting from August 1, 2016. Hopefully, this will help.

    “Let me make this emphasis before it is misconstrued or misrepresented, that this does not in any way affect the salaries of the workers. Workers will get their full salaries as has been the practice. So, the policy does not mean that there will be a cut in salary. Rather, let us now find a way for our workers to supplement their salaries.”

    Okorocha added: “For this reason, the issue of annual leave and casual leave is hereby cancelled. Resumption time for work has changed from 8 a.m to 7.30 a.m and work ends at 4 p.m. Any worker who is not found at his or her seat between 7.30 a.m and 4 p.m on the days concerned will be summarily dismissed.

    “Everybody must go back to agriculture. Every political appointee must own a farm. The youths would also be encouraged to take to agriculture. Schools, including universities, polytechnics and secondary schools in the state, must own farms. The Community Government Council (CGC) must be strengthened for the sake of this agricultural programme.

    “Two billion naira (N2 billion) has been set aside at the micro-finance bank for the purpose of this Back To Land For Agriculture policy so that those willing can access it. Time is gone again when politicians and some Imo indigenes would come to government under the pretext of farming and collecting loans and using it to buy cars and marry new wives.

    “The June and July salaries would be paid this week. We are making sure that our workers are comfortable and our pensioners are happy because this is one area the whole nation is having a serious challenge. Our problem is not being unable to pay salaries but paying bloated salaries. We are also making effort to pay our pensioners once the harmonisation is over.

    “I also want to announce that government has appealed to families and those who organise burials on Mondays to Wednesdays to please change and have their burials on Saturdays so that we can concentrate on government’s work and on the agricultural programme. Everything that has to do with agriculture, no matter what shape it comes, government will support it.

    “So many countries are going through economic crisis because of the fall in oil. Our nation is also going through a very difficult moment. We have taken responsibility as leaders and we are not blaming anyone. Wise nations and leaders save for the rainy days. There were periods the oil price was in our favour. But those in charge then blew the money. They made no savings. Today, the oil price globally has crashed and here we are. We must fall back to agriculture as the panacea.”

     

  • Six Imo undergrads get Onwuliri scholarship

    Six university undergraduates who hail from Mbaise, Imo State have been awarded this year’s Prof C.O.E Onwuliri International Liaison of Mbaise Indigenes (ILMI) memorial scholarship award.

    The beneficiaries included two each from the three Mbaise local government areas: Ahiazu, Aboh and Ezinihitte.

    They are Chikwendu Anicetus U, Anyanwu Innocentia T., Ugochukwu Ifeoma A., Oguh Emmanuel E., Chikwe Gloria N. and Ododo Chinecherem U.

    The scholarship award was instituted in 2013, following the June 3, 2012 Dana Air crash in Lagos, which claimed the life of the late Prof. Celestine Onyemaobi Elihe Onwuliri.

    It is awarded yearly to deserving sons and daughters of Mbaise, who came tops among those that passed the scholarship examination.

    This year’s event – the four-year memorial Mass for the late former FUTO Vice-Chancellor – was held at St. Jude Catholic Parish Amuzi, Ahiazu Mbaise Local Government Area under the chairmanship of the President-General of Ezuruezu Mbaise, Chief Cyril Anyanwu.

    Anyanwu paid glowing tribute to the late Onwuliri, whom he called “a great man, a living legend who remains perpetually a pride to Mbaise nation, Imo State, Nigeria and the international community”.

    The co-ordinator of the awards, Dr. Damian Dike, on behalf of Prof. Joe Onyeocha of South Carolina, USA, who is the president of ILMI, said the award is only for Mbaise undergraduates in year one in any tertiary institution in Nigeria.

    He said over 200 undergraduates applied and the six that were chosen were those that came tops in written and oral examination set.

    Onyeocha congratulated the recipients on their success.

    In a memorial lecture at DRACC, Emene, Enugu State, titled: “Prof. COE Onwuliri’s Four-point Agenda for Knights; A blueprint for peace and progress in Nigeria”, Dr. George Ikioumoton was of the opinion that the agenda, which focuses on spirituality, discipline, charity and fraternity, could be a blueprint for peace, progress and stability of Nigeria.

    The agenda, Ikioumoton said, is a crystallisation of the objects of the Knights of St. John International (KSJI), and itself synthesis from the teachings of Jesus Christ in the scripture, which have helped to redirect their focus on evangelisation of the universal church.

    He described the late Onwuliri as a man of any season, who left indelible footprint in all facets of life.

    The lecturer noted that that the KSJI has followed through the path he charted and tremendous benefits have been reaped in growth and stability.

    Enugu State Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, who was special guest of honour at the lecture, said, Onwuliri “was a colossus in his own field, a teacher and mentor to many other accomplished scholars.”

    Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah of the Sokoto Catholic Diocese, who chaired the memorial lecture, said the late professor was “a fine gentleman, a thorough academician, dedicated, robust man of faith, who carried the weight of the Catholic Church so proudly…”

    Prof. Viola Adaku Onwuliri described her late husband as a wonderful family man, whose legacies have continued to impact positively on the lives of members of his family and beyond.

  • Imo workers to get three months’ salaries 

    Imo workers to get three months’ salaries 

    •Governor orders immediate payment

    It was cheery news for Imo State workers yesterday as Governor Rochas Okorocha ordered the immediate payment of outstanding April, May and June salaries.

    The directive followed a meeting between the governor and top government functionaries, including directors of accounts, treasurers, permanent secretaries, leaders of Imo Council of Elders and Transition Committee chairmen at the Government House in Owerri, the state capital, on Friday night.

    A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr. Sam Onwuemeodo, after the meeting, said: “This is to inform Imo people and, indeed, all the personnel in the state’s workforce in particular, that Governor Okorocha has directed that the salaries for the months of April, May and June be paid before next Friday (July 8) and gave a marching order to the directors of Accounts in the ministries, local governments, and so on, to meet with the Accountant-General of the state immediately to work out the salaries of workers up to the month of June.

    “The governor also warned that this period should be the last time salaries would be owed in the state and assured that henceforth, salaries of workers in the state would be paid as at when due as it was the case before now. To avoid confusion and delay in the payment of salaries for the aforementioned months, the governor also directed that they could be paid within intervals of one or two days.”

    The statement added: “A committee to monitor the prompt payment of salaries in the state was also set up and the committee would be meeting with the directors of Accounts and Accountant-General on the 10th of every month to work on salaries and ensure prompt payment.

    “The governor equally explained that the 70 and 30 per cent revenue sharing formula between Labour and government in the state does not mean that workers would get only 70 per cent of salaries at the end of each month.

    “The governor said the workers could even get more than their salaries, depending on what the 70 per cent Labour gets would give them at the end of each month; it could at times get their exact salaries or otherwise, also depending on what the 70 per cent would give to Labour.

    “He said it would be wrong to use the 70 per cent agreement to peg the monthly salaries of workers at 70 per cent because Labour’s 70 per cent could give the workers either 100 per cent or 80 per cent or 70 per cent or less per cent of their individual salaries, depending on what Labour gets each month.

    “In paying the three months’ salary arrears, the governor warned that anybody found playing pranks will be punished accordingly; he reiterated that nobody in the state’s workforce should be owed.”

    On revenue collection in the state, the statement said: “The governor also directed that no government appointee, including commissioners, Transition Committee chairmen and so on, should issue authorisation letter or give permission to anybody or agency or company for the collection of revenue.

    “He cautioned that anybody that goes contrary to this directive will be fired.

    “He, therefore, cancelled any previous agreement anybody or group or company must have had with the government on the collection of revenue.

    “The governor also informed that arrangements have been made to clear pensions owed before the agreement on revenue sharing formula between government and Labour, while the technical committee handling the agreement would take care of pensions from the month of February when the agreement came into force.

    “His Excellency once again appealed to Imo people to always know that all his actions and inactions are in the best interest of the state and its people. He concluded that history and posterity will be fair to him because he meant well for the state.”

  • Kogi, Imo, Kano, Rivers rerun get dates

    Kogi, Imo, Kano, Rivers rerun get dates

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced new dates for some of the suspended elections in the country.

    According to its Chairman, Prof. Mahmoud Yakubu, the Kogi and Imo rerun elections, which were suspended as a result of infractions, would hold on July 23, 2016.

    Also, Rivers and Kano will take turn on July 30.

    The dates, which were announced yesterday in Abuja at the end of the National Stakeholders Forum on outstanding rerun, were agreed to by all stakeholders.

    Only recently, INEC boss said the only condition for conducting rerun in states where elections were inconclusive as a result of violence was for stakeholders to give assurance of providing the enabling environment for peaceful conduct of elections.

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is committed to concluding the suspended elections in Rivers, Imo, Kogi and Kano states disrupted by violence, not later than July 31, 2016, provided that necessary consultations and activities leading to the elections were concluded and that conditions were conducive enough for the conduct of the elections.

    “In spite of this commitment, it would not return to conduct elections or hesitate to further postpone or discontinue the suspended elections in any area where there was imminent threat to lives or to peace or security, especially where such threats were likely to lead to breakdown of law and order.

    Yakubu had gone on to blame the spate of inconclusive elections on activities of politicians, who want to win at all cost.

  • Imo judiciary, police and detainees in Owerri prisons

    SIR, The judiciary is supposed to be the last hope of the common man. The judiciary through its platforms (that is, the courts) provides the opportunity for the oppressed to express himself or herself. The oppressed common man gets justice through the courts. The oppressed common man secures his freedom through the courts. But most unfortunately in Imo State, it is not so. The oppressed common man is denied justice.

    Since Justice Paschal Nnadi became the Chief Judge of Imo State, the judiciary has gone on strike on three consecutive times. The first strike lasted for almost three months; the second for over two months. The third strike has entered its second month, and there is no sign that it would be called off. The law courts have been under lock and key, which has directly affected the fate of innocent prison inmates awaiting trials in Imo State. Honestly, this judicial imbroglio signifies incompetence in the hands of the current leadership of the judiciary.

    The Owerri Federal Prisons originally has the capacity for about 800 inmates, but today there are about 2400 inmates. Despite the fact that the courts in Imo State are not open, special courts sessions are held where suspects from the Imo State Police Command are brought or arraigned, and finally remanded at the over-congested Owerri Federal Prisons. This happened just few days ago.  Through this conspiracy, the population of inmates at the Owerri Prisons has continued to increase, to the detriment of both the prison officials and the inmates.

    Even when the courts are in session; corruption, long adjournments, absenteeism and perhaps deliberate manipulation of judicial process have been adopted to suffocate and indeed frustrate the desired freedom of these innocent awaiting trial inmates at the Owerri Prisons. The resultant effect is that these innocent inmates remain in prison custody for a long time.

    The Imo State Police Command and its very corrupt officers are part of this conspiracy against innocent inmates.

    The questions now are; if special courts are used to remand people in prison custody, even when the courts are not open, why can’t special courts be used to grant inmates with bailable offences bail? Why can’t special courts be used to discharge and acquit innocent inmates?

    At this point, it is expedient to let Governor Rochas Okorocha know that he cannot stand aloof and allow innocent inmates at Owerri Federal Prisons to continue to suffer in the hands of the moribund Imo State judiciary. He must step into the matter by ensuring that the judiciary calls off its strike.

    • Dr. Ikenna Samuelson Iwuoha,

    Owerri – Imo, Nigeria

  • Imo LGs without elected chairmen

    SIR: The last time I checked, Imo State – the Eastern Heartland –  was still earnestly yearning to witness an era where its 27 Local Government Areas (LGAs) would boast of substantive chairmen to emerge via an electoral process. It’s noteworthy that the lingering anomaly has existed for nine years now. The immediate past governor of the state Ikedi Ohakim came up with a façade that seemed like an LG election towards the end of his tenure in 2011. The present administration led by Owelle Rochas Okorocha, having understood the foul play displayed by the former governor, thought it wise to disengage the elected officers who happened to be the product of the said façade as soon as it assumed duty in 2011.

    Since then, little or none has been heard as regards LG election in the state. Once or twice in the past, the citizens learnt of an arrangement targeted at the awaited electoral process all to no avail, in spite of all the wails from various quarters. Rather than substantive/elected caucus, what Imolites have invariably been witnessing at the local government level is transition or caretaker administration whereby some certain individuals under the auspices of ‘Transition Committee’ would be empowered to be at the helm of affairs in the respective LGAs.

    We are not unaware of the dangers inherent in suchlike practice especially in a democratic system like ours. A transition-committee chairman or councilor, who can be disengaged or asked to leave at anytime, is no doubt surrounded with limitations. There’s certain limits to which he/she is bound to operate as long as his/her reign lasts. Such administrator is obviously acting directly in line with the directive of the governor who he sees as his boss; suffice it to say that he’s equally one of the aides of the governor.

    Few weeks ago during a parley with Imo based journalists, the governor revealed that some individuals in the state had filed suits against him over the local government administration in the state and that he would only conduct election for the Local Government Councils if the legal barriers hindering the awaited polls are withdrawn by their sponsors or plaintiffs.

    If truly there are existing legal barriers, I enjoin the amiable governor to create a harmony between him and the aggrieved minds. He ought to set up a platform that would bring every warring party together, therein let them know the reason they must withdraw the suits for the interest of the state at large. Since the suits in question were filed over LG election, the plaintiffs wouldn’t hesitate to withdraw them if given an obvious and genuine reason to do so, or if they are told that the polls would be conducted thereafter without further ado.

     

    • Comr Fred Doc Nwaozor,

    Owerri, Imo State.

     

  • Imo sustains crackdown on vice

    Imo sustains crackdown on vice

    The message is clear: the heat is on criminals in Imo State. Early last month, we reported a major operation the state launched against suspected criminals in Owerri, the state capital. Security agents moved into an area said to be a haven of kidnappers, drug dealers, robbers and common thieves, and tore it down, arresting some suspects.

    Midway into the month, a shanty district allegedly a den of shady characters in Okigwe was also destroyed.

    Now, a similar clean-up has been carried out in Ohubaa in Ohaji-Egbema Local Government Area of the state. There, bulldozers have been pulling down buildings and shanties patronised by people believed to have put residents through severe pain.

    As the bulldozers tore down  gigantic and palatial buildings owned by suspected kidnap kingpins, neighbours were stunned as stern-looking policemen and soldiers supervised the demolition.

    A handful of villagers who watched from a measured distance, swore that they never suspected that the men who often came home with exotic cars and a retinue of friends were kidnappers. But the security agents were not deceived by their feigned ignorance as they insisted that they were aware of the heinous crime but chose to conceal the information from the police.

    The exercise elicited widespread jubilation in Ohubaa, a sleepy community, which has earned notoriety as a major hideout of dangerous kidnappers and hardened criminals.

    Some of the elderly men and women were more forthcoming. They danced and hailed the security operatives for liberating the community from the clutches of the men of the underworld, who had long tormented them.

    They said, “We have been living in fear as they have taken over the community and no one can challenge them or dare report them to the police, even when we know what they were doing but for the fear of our lives we cannot say anything. But today we are happy that at last the security men have caught up with them and we are ready to point out their properties.”

    During the operation tagged “Operation Osheebe” led by the Imo State Deputy Governor, Eze Madumere and the State Police Commissioner, Taiwo Lakanu and the Commander 34 Artillery Brigade Obinze, Brigadier General Kay Isiyaku,  over ten houses were pulled down the in the agrarian community.

    According to Police sources, most of the kidnap incidents in the State are coordinated from a massive forest located in the community, where the victims are kept in connivance with the villagers who conceal the information from security agents.

    The Deputy Governor in his speech stated that the operation was in line with the determination of the State government to give priority to the security of life and property of the people living in the State.

    He said that the State government will not rest on its oars until those behind the unwholesome acts of kidnapping, armed robbery and other crimes are brought to book.

    Madumere who was shocked by the massive buildings owned by the kidnappers, said that the demolition exercise is a strategy that will have a lasting effects in the minds of the people so serve as a deterrent to others.

    He noted that it will be an unpardonable error on the part of the government if it allows those known for ill gotten wealth to continue to show off with their wealth, adding that, “such will be contradicting the cherished value and the very foundation of the society.”

    The Commissioner of Police, in his speech, noted that the strategy of demolishing the homes of criminals and their accomplices will send a warning signal that whoever indulges in crime and those abating and protecting them will not go unpunished.

     

  • Imo police smoke out suspects from hideout

    Imo police smoke out suspects from hideout

    Such was the drama that on Monday when some suspected criminals met their waterloo in Owerri, the Imo State capital, the state Commissioner of Police Taiwo Lekanu and Deputy Governor Eze Madumere were in charge of the operation.

    Lekanu and Madumere saw it all as they led a detachment of policemen into the suspects’ den.

    The operation brought great relief to residents of the popular Douglas Street and traders at the busy Ekeonunwa in Owerri.

    About 50 suspects were  arrested.

    Prior to the raid, a dreaded drug ring and cult groups operated freely from the hideout, robbing residents and traders at gun point, raping women and sometimes hacking their victims to death in broad daylight.

    In the popular market, all manner of fraud was also perpetrated by fake prophets, magicians, conmen and other criminal elements who took advantage of unsuspecting people coming to the market from the villages.

    In the last one year, over 13 cult-related killings have been recorded in the area. Rival cult groups frequently clashed in the market where they came to buy hard drugs which included cocaine, heroin and Indian hemp, among others.

    But determined to rid the state of all forms of criminality, the Commissioner of Police and the Deputy Governor stormed one of the hideouts along Douglas Road.

    At the uncompleted building,  scores of women have been reportedly raped, while all manner of hard drugs were consumed and sold openly.

    Over 50 suspects who are currently standing trial were arrested on the premises in previous raids.

    Items recovered included large quantity of cocaine, Indian hemp, female bags suspected to have been stolen from rape victims and other items.

    The Commissioner of Police warned that there will be no hiding place for criminal elements in any part of the state, while assuring that the command will sustain the current onslaught against criminals in the state.

    The Deputy Governor who expressed shock at the volume of hard drugs and other dangerous items recovered from the single raid, said that the state government will step in to ensure that the premises ceases from being used for nefarious activities.

    He promised further that the state government will continue to support and collaborate with the police command in the fight against crime and criminality in the state.

     

  • Controversy mars PDP congress in Imo

    Controversy mars PDP congress in Imo

    •Udenwa, Ihedioha, Uzodinma battle for party’s structure

    The ward congress of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Imo State was marred yesterday by violence and controversy.

    Loyalists of the various party leaders engaged in a shootout at the party’s secretariat in Owerri, the state capital, while the chairman of the congress and Abia State Deputy Governor Ude Okochukwu and other high-ranking members of the party escaped to a popular hotel, where the results were allegedly written.

    The hotel, which is located near the Government House, was manned by heavily armed policemen, while PDP senators and other party leaders were in a closed-door meeting with Okochukwu.

    The congress, which held across the country on Saturday, was postponed in the state to reconcile the warring factions.

    It was learnt that the party’s faithful, who had gathered for the congress, were disappointed after waiting till evening without the electoral officials or materials.

    A former governor, Chief Achike Udenwa, and former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Emeka Ihedioha, were among those who waited at their wards to participate in the congress.

  • Imo not owing workers salaries, dismisses ultimatum

    Imo not owing workers salaries, dismisses ultimatum

    The Imo State Government has denied owing workers salaries as claimed by a group, Ndi-Igbo Unity Forum and dismissed the ultimatum issued to Governor Rochas Okoroacha to pay.
    Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Sam Onwuemeodo in a statement on Sunday said “the truth, and the whole truth is that, Governor Okorocha or the Imo State Government has paid workers in the state upto February, 2016, and that of March is about to begin.”
    ” Anybody or any group that worths being called a group that has any contrary claim to make based on facts and figures should come up with it. In Imo, the government of Governor Okorocha does not tell lies.
    ” We tell our audience the truth at all times, to the glory of God. We sympathize with these enemies of good works and ask God to have mercy on them,” Onwuemeodo stated.
    While stating that the group that issued the statement was as fictitious , the Chief Press Secretary said it was not able to convince their audience on their genuiness by stating their stake and the particulars of the salary arrears and allowances they had talked about.
    He said it was ironical that the group made its allegations after the State Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) , Comrade Austin Chilakpu while making his speech during the Workers’ May Day Celebration commended Governor Okorocha for not owing workers in the state salary arrears like it is the case in some other states.
    ” Those scratching Governor Okorocha have always ended up displaying their weakness both mentally and spiritually. They are always petty because they have no valid claim to make against Governor Okorocha and the Rescue Mission Government he superintends.”