Tag: Okorocha

Mr Chike Okafor, Imo State Commissioner for Finance and banker-turned politician, in this interview with OKODILI NDIDI, spoke, among other issues, on the challenges of governance, Governor Rochas Okorocha’s clout as well as the growing acceptability of the All Progressives Congress (APC). Excerpts:

With your private sector background, has it been challenging operating now as a politician?

Not at all. On the contrary, it has been very interesting. My training from the private sector is such that you can fit in anywhere. Do not forget the fact that when you say private sector background, we are actually talking about banking. You will agree with me that it is a lot more challenging environment there, because it is target-driven. We set tasks and targets, so it was not quite difficult for me to fit into the government system.

Like I said, we understand tasks and targets, and working with a governor who has also achieved so much in the organised private sector is more like bringing our private sector expertise to bear on governance and government and it has really paid off. What we have been able to do in this government in the last three years is more like what we do in the private sector. We set targets and we pursue it, achieve it and appraise our performance. If you have done well, you  try to do better and if you haven’t, you try to  find out where you got it wrong and how best to go about getting it right. So in a nutshell, it has not been difficult, it has been quite exciting and I’m enjoying.

What is the financial state of Imo?

Imo is very buoyant. You may have often heard my governor saying that Imo is the richest state in Nigeria. One of the surest ways of assessing a state or an organisation is by its ability to meet maturing obligations. It’s on record that we pay salaries every month before the 28th of every month for the last three years. This is in addition to servicing other inherited debt obligations

 Would you say the achievements of this administration were as a result of enormous funds at your disposal?

Well, we have been able to achieve what we have, not just because Imo has too much money, but because we have a responsible and a responsive Governor.

I do not think that  circumstances  have changed radically from what it was before  we came  in; I do not think that our  receipts from Abuja  has improved  drastically from what  it was  when we came into office, no, but what has changed is leadership. What we have now is leadership with vision and a mission. Imo has always been a rich and buoyant state but like I said, what we lacked in the past was leadership.

We have a Governor who is focused and has a vision of where he wants to take the state to. Imo is what it is today because we have an accountable, responsible and responsive leader who is passionate about leaving behind a worthy legacy and firmly planting his footprints in the sands of time. Like the governor will always say, he wants to write his name somewhere in history. So that’s what has changed; nothing else has changed and that has made all the difference.

What were the liabilities inherited from the previous administration?

When this government came int  ke up responsibilities especially the responsibility of meeting maturing obligations like some recurrent obligations. You will agree with me that it was the practice in the last administration that civil and public servants are owed salaries for upwards of three to four months.  And of course pensions were not even being paid.

So when this government was inaugurated in May 29, we discovered that civil servants had not even been paid their April  salaries  so that was a responsibility we faced and we immediately moved in to clear  the backlog of salaries.  Another major liability was the fact that the last administration on the eve of the governorship election borrowed a whooping N6billion, a government that was winding up! That money was borrowed, disbursed by the bank and drawn down within a space of seven to ten working days in the month of election.

That facility, though fully accessed by the previous  administration became the responsibility of the present administration. As a responsible and responsive government, we are squarely saddled with the obligation of liquidating that indebtedness.  Again also, in 2009, same government had contracted an N18.5billion 15.5% development bond which was to lapse in 2016.  We have been servicing this obligation with a monthly deduction via an Irrevocable Standing Payment Order (ISPO) with the implication that N358.43million is deducted monthly from our allocation to service this obligation.

Today, Imo has paid over N19Billion and that is an enormous fund from our paltry allocation. We were also confronted by the liability of several contractors who claimed to have done one job  or the other for government and were being owed huge sums of money. We are doing our best to offset that indebtedness. So we did not meet assets as it were, but huge liabilities. But like a responsible and responsive government, we understand that government is a going concern.

Not a few stakeholders at the time came out to tell us not to pay the N6B loan, as the fund was used by the former governor to execute his personal political ambition. As a matter of fact the facility was disbursed in April but like I said, we understand that government  is a continuum, it was  not just any individual that borrowed, it was the Imo State government that borrowed  and as we found  ourselves in office, that also became our responsibility as a government. Looking at the scenario again, it is also understandable because the previous government did not know and would not have believed that it would not succeed itself. Nothing any where suggested to that administration that it was not going to succeed itself. Considering how loud they were, for them, it was inconceivable until the Imo people told them otherwise. There is no doubt that these liabilities were contracted with the belief that they still had four years in Douglas House, but Imo people said no.

Have these liabilities affected your capacity to deliver on your promises to Imo people?

I will say yes and no. No in the sense that we have been able to do as much as we promised Imo people we will do. Yes in the sense that we could have done a lot more if we were not saddled with these liabilities.  But like I said, the mandate Imo people gave to Owelle Anayo Rochas Okorocha was not predicated on any level of liability, so for us it was more like a hurdle. We had to overcome it and so I said yes, if we did not have the liabilities we would have done a lot more and again no, as a God-ordained government  with vision, it became expedient to come over and tackle and dismantle such challenges to be able to deliver on his Excellency’s promises to Imo people.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

House of Representatives Deputy Speaker Emeka Ihedioha has come under fire over his comments on Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha.

He accused the governor of perpetrating acts that could affect peaceful coexistence by withdrawing the certificates of recognition of two monarchs.

The deputy speaker was slammed for his allegation that the state is indebted to the tune of N230 billion.

In a statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media to the Governor, Mr. Sam Onwuemeodo, the government accused Ihedioha of jumping to conclusion on the dethroned monarchs without having information on the incident.

The governor’s aide said: “Since Ihedioha joined other aspirants in the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) for the governorship race, he has never made any public speech without casting aspersions on Governor Okorocha as if that is his manifesto or one of the conditions given by his party to guarantee him a ticket.

“For instance, less than 24 hours after the government dethroned Eze Cletus Ilomuanya as the traditional ruler of Obinugwu autonomous community and Eze Cosmos Onyeneke as the monarch of Lagwa autonomous community, the first person to attack the governor was Ihedioha and he did that without proper information on the incident. He has remained the only Imo indigene who has attacked the governor over the popular action.

“Ihedioha accused Okorocha of incurring N130 billion as internal debts, which contradicted his party’s claim of N250 billion. These are lies fabricated and aimed at undermining the popularity of Governor Okorocha. By the virtue of his position, the deputy speaker has the capacity to access any document within and outside the country. Let him bring the document to back his claim or stop disturbing the peace of Imo people.”

THE Governor of Imo State, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, yesterday removed two traditional rulers from office. The removal was contained in a statement by the Secretary to the Government of Imo State, Prof. A.G. Anwukah. The statement was released to newsmen in Abuja last night by the state government. The statement said: “In accordance with Sections 11 and 14 of the Imo State Traditional Rulers Autonomous Communities Law No 6 of 2006, His Excellency, the Governor of Imo State, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, has approved the withdrawal of certificates of recognition and Staff of Office of Eze Cletus Ikechukwu Ilomuanya, the traditional ruler of Obinugwu Autonomous community in Orlu Local Government Area and Eze Cosmos Onyeneke, the traditional ruler of Lagwa Autonomous community in Aboh Mbaise Local Government Area of Imo State with immediate effect. “Accordingly, Chief Cletus Ikechukwu Ilomuanya and Chief Cosmos Onyeneke cease to be recognized traditional rulers of Obinugwu and Lagwa Autonomous communities respectively. “The secretaries of the Community Government Council of the respective autonomous communities will be liaising with the government on behalf of each of the affected autonomous communities pending the selection and presentation of an Eze-elect in accordance with the custom and constitution of each of the affected communities.

Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha yesterday ordered the arrest of contractors, who diverted the mobilisation fees paid to them for rural road projects.

Okorocha, who was at a town hall meeting at Isu in Njaba Local Government, said his Rescue Mission Agenda would bring change and development.

He warned that the era of taking public funds without executing contracts was over.

The governor said the project verification tour of the 27 local governments was to ascertain the level of completion of contracts.

Okorocha urged the people to partner the government to ensure the contractors justified the over N28 billion paid for rural roads.

He listed the achievements of his administration in local governments as free education up to the tertiary level, building of 305 primary schools, 27 modern general hospitals and Community Government Council (CGC) to boost agriculture and wealth creation.

The governor thanked the people for their support and enjoined them to resist politicians, who loot the treasury.

Transition Committee Chairman Chief Val Osuala said Okorocha’s achievements was unprecedented, saying about 9.6 kilometres of rural roads had been covered with asphalt.

He appealed to the governor to intervene in the gully erosion at Ekwe and approve a magistrate’s court and a police station.

IMO State Governor Rochas Okorocha may have shelved his presidential ambition, opting for a re-election.

Although the governor, who was believed to be nursing a presidential ambition, is yet to make his decision public, The Nation learnt the decision might have been reached after pressure on him to seek a second tenure.

Okorocha’s change of heart, it was gathered, might also not be unconnected with the need for the ruling the All Progressives Congress (APC) party in the state to present a credible candidate to stand the opposition, especially the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The governor, in a media chat with reporters at the Government House, Owerri, hinted that he might stay back to lead PDP’s renewed plot to take over the state.

Said he: “I think I may stay back to protect the state from these men, because if I am away, they will come and hijack the state, but if I am around, they know they can’t come back to the state after all they did in the past. The indigenes are mounting pressure that I stay back to continue the good work. If not, I would have gone to take my rightful place.”

The Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Media, Mr. Sam Onwuemeodo, said although the Imo people had been pressuring Okorocha to seek re-election, he was still consulting on his presidential ambition.