Tag: Okorocha

Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, is enmeshed in many battles, report Associate Editor, Sam Egburonu and Okodili Ndidi, in Owerri

SINCE the last months of 2016, there has been a running battle between Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State and pensioners in the state over non-payment of their pension arrears.

The situation, which has been a source of disagreement between the pensioners and the state governments for many years, became further aggravated late last year when the state government took a decision to slash a whopping 40 percent off pensioners’ pay.  This move was promptly rejected by the pensioners who have been staging what an eye witness in Owerri described as “an endless protests on the streets of the state capital.”

Till date, the battle is still raging. Just this Thursday, the pensioners again blocked the Government House, Owerri, accusing Okorocha’s government of owing 77 months pension.

The leader of the protesters, Chief Gideon Ezeji, reportedly told newsmen during the protest that: “Okorocha derives joy in seeing elders in this state coming out from time to time to the streets to ask for their pension. What did Okorocha do with the bailout fund that President Buhari gave to him? We are protesting for the third time…

“We say no to this latest government plan to deny us the payment of 60 percent of arrears up to December. As at December 2016, the state is owing Imo pensioners between 22 months and 77 months arrears. Our gratuities have remained unpaid since 1998 till date.

“Also, the government has refused to harmonize our pensions since 2000 to date. All the efforts by the union overseeing the welfare of pensioners have not yielded any fruit,” he said.

The fight over payment of pensions is just one of the many battles the governor is contending with. In fact, some observers said Okorocha may have arguably fought the highest number of battles among other Nigerian governors since his assumption of office in 2011.

But his associates said Okorocha has waded through the unending controversies and has remained undaunted in his self-assigned mission to “rescue” the state. His critics disagree.  They averred that his unconventional style of governance has worsened his public image across the state, a development that has pitched him against so many Imo citizens that even very simple matters aggravate to subjects of intense controversy and disagreement.

It would be recalled for example that with effect from Monday, August 1, 2016, Okorocha-led Imo State Government declared three working days for public servants, as part of an innovative “Back to Land for Agriculture Policy.”

To enable the state and its people engage and invest more in agriculture for self-sustenance, Okorocha had directed that public servants will henceforth work from Mondays to Wednesdays and use Thursdays and Fridays for agriculture, while Saturdays can be for ceremonies.

The government had explained that public servants on essential duties like teachers, nurses, doctors and people involved in internally generated revenue drive and political appointees were not covered by the policy.

Perhaps to make up for the man hours needed, the government directed that both annual and casual leave had been cancelled while resumption time for work was moved from 8am to 7.30am. The governor also threatened to dismiss any worker who is not found at his/her duty post between 7.30am and 4pm on the days concerned.

To demonstrate their disapproval of the policy, some workers openly refused to comply with the directives.

It was reported then that workers at the state secretariat, Owerri and in other government agencies and parastatals stuck to their usual work schedule. What followed were months of criticisms.

Lawrence Nwakaeti, the chairman, Nigeria Bar Association, (NBA), Imo State branch, had the described the policy then as “unconstitutional,” warning that the NBA would challenge government on the matter in court, adding that “the policy was not well thought out.”

Defending the government, the State Head of Service, Mr. Calistus Ekenze, frowned at some workers’ disregard of government orders, pointing out that “all civil servants must obey government directives as the new policy was in their interest.”

Shortly after he took the oath of office, the elites in the state, who were uncomfortable with his style of leadership, which did not accommodate political leaders and interests, allegedly ganged up against him and connived with the then PDP-led Federal Government to intimidate him.

But majority of the battles emanated from his policies and programmes, which may have been well intended, but did not sit well with the people perhaps because of his unconventional style of governance.

“Many critics of Okorocha’s government are confused over his style of government and his focus. It is difficult to read and understand him. Okorocha is not a conventional governor. The way he goes about governance is very strange to a lot of people. The man may just wake up one morning and introduce something that will destabilize known traditions and way of life of the people. We hear he does most of these things without consulting anybody in his government, not to talk of other relevant stakeholders. That is why he has been having problems with people in the state.” That was how Chief Romanus Nwachuku, from Mbaise, explained the source of the many battles.

Our investigation shows that since he assumed office as the Executive Governor of Imo State, there has hardly been any month that his critics had spared him and his government even though no one can deny that he has from day one remained very active. Across the state, Okorocha’s government has embarked on so many projects that even his critics are wondering how he got funding and energy to execute them. Ironically, even the execution of such projects and the policies that initiate them had remained sources of criticisms.

One of the early policies of his government that drew the ire of the people, especially the Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON) was the creation of the fourth tier of government, otherwise known as the Community Government Council (CGC), which was seen as a replacement of the local government system.

While the dust raised by the initiative was yet to settle, the governor had a fierce battle with the Catholic Faithful in the state, led by the Catholic Archbishop of Owerri, Archbishop Anthony Obinna when he signed Violence Against Persons Prohibition Law, also known as VAPLAW, which supported abortion as against Catholic faith.

Apparently overwhelmed by what he described as a campaign of calumny against his administration by the Catholics, bearing in mind the possible outcome on his re-election bid then, Okorocha quickly reversed himself and apologised that he appended his signature on the Bill in error.

But this did not do much to abate the growing face-off between the governor and the Catholic Archbishop, who was accused of criticizing the policies of the governor openly, especially the non-payment of workers’ salaries and pensions.

Again, Imo State became a theatre of protests when the state chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress, led by its Chairman, Comrade Austine Chilakpu, fought the governor over unpaid salary arrears.

The labour crisis that engulfed the state attracted the national leadership of the NLC, which shutdown the state in solidarity with the workers and extracted the historic 70-30 percent allocation sharing formula between the workers and the governor.

The Eke Uku saga

Perhaps, one of the major battles Okorocha has fought, which is yet to be lost or won, is the attempt to relocate the Eke Uko Market, located at the heartland of Imo State capital, Owerri, where he allegedly plans to build “Shoprite supermarket”. It was alleged that his plan to relocate the ancestral Eke Uku Owerri Market located along Douglas road to Egbeada was because he plans to build Shoprite Supermarket in the present site of the Eke Ukwu Market.

The governor’s decision was fiercely resisted by prominent Owerri sons both in the Diaspora, who sought and secured a court injunction that restrained the state government from trespassing or interfering with the market.

The governor had given the traders August 1, 2016 as the deadline to relocate their stores or face the wrath of his bull­dozers.

Following the pronouncement, angry traders and Owerri indigenes said the governor hates them and that his decision was a way of punishing them.

As a result, the protests were so intense that the paralyzed economic activities of the state. Youths and women of the state who necessarily do not own a store in the market often join the traders in solidarity.

 But the protests aside, the state government remains undaunted in the re­location plan. Okorocha had explained that the main reason of relocating the market was to increase the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the state by bringing in investors to the proposed market.

Many had concluded that the matter came to an end when the governor sent an executive bill to the State House of Assembly to enact a law for the purpose of relocating the market. The Bill was brought before the lawmakers by the member for Aboh Nbaise State Constituency.

But the matter came to national embarrassment when reports quoted the Imo State Government of saying it deliberately abandoned the mountain of smelly refuse along Douglas Road, Owerri, to get back at the indigenes who have been fighting the administration over the relocation of a market.

The report quoted Okorocha’s Chief Press Secretary, Samuel Onwuemeodo, of making the statement on Hot 99.5 FM during an early morning public accountability phone-in programme.

He was alleged to have said “Government deliberately abandoned the refuse along Douglas Road, Owerri, to get back at Owerri people who have been battling the state government over the relocation of the market.

 “Owerri people must be made to understand that they cannot eat their cake and have it.

There is a court order restraining government from tampering with the market and this also explains why we left the refuse,” he said.

Since then, many who believed the governor, who was not known to obey court injunctions, may have caved in to pressure and reversed the decision to relocate the market, now say the end of the Eke Uku Market battle is yet to come.

Another of the governor’s policy that elicited public outcry and pitched the governor against the people was the Urban Renewal Policy which was designed to give the state capital a facelift through the demolition of unauthorized buildings.

Okorocha stoked another round of crisis when he directed traditional rulers to collect taxes from all the adults in their domains or face sanctions from the state government.

However, despite these controversies, the Imo Governor has endeared himself to majority of the common people through his cardinal policy, the free education programme and massive infrastructural development.

Being an All Progressives Congress (APC) governor, Okorocha’s political opponents have also tried to take advantage of the controversies surrounding his dynamic governance to hit at him for political advantages.

Late last year, a faction of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Imo State said they embarked on a sightseeing of Governor Rochas Okorocha’s projects in the state and discovered that “Okorocha is just setting a dangerous trap for Imolites.”

In a statement signed by the state Publicity Secretary, Damian Opara, PDP said: “The attention of our great party, the People’s Democratic Party, Imo State, has been drawn to the numerous substandard projects scattered all over the state capital.

“We have also taken out time to embark on sightseeing of these projects and we have discovered that the state governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, is just setting a dangerous trap for Imolites”.

PDP said “we encourage any development that is going on in Imo State once it will be of direct benefit to the masses. The act of executing substandard projects in Imo State is totally out of place and unfortunate.”

“The PDP believes in standard and quality projects. There is no gainsaying that is the reason the only pliable roads we have in Imo today are those done by the past PDP administrations.”

Reacting to such criticisms of both his radical policies and numerous developmental efforts, Okorocha, during the inauguration of State Development Council (SDC) held at the Imo International Conference Center IICC in owerri, expressed dissatisfaction with the Imolites over their criticism of his projects and policies, stressing that some group of Imo citizens have vowed not to see anything good in his rescue mission administration.

The governor, in August last year, made a passionate appeal to Imo indigenes to be patient with his government and bear the hardship caused by ongoing road expansion, rehabilitation and urban renewal programme.

 “You know you can’t make an omelette without breaking an egg. I am aware of the traffic congestion caused by this road expansion and urban renewal programme. Our people should please be patient. The rains have caused more delay for us, but I promise after the rains, work will start fully on these roads”, Okorocha told reporters then.

As the country and his party prepare for 2019 General Elections, observers are worried that Okorocha, as the Chairman of APC Governors Forum, must win his battles at home in order to play the expected pivotal role in the fortunes of his party in the state and in the South-East zone.