In Nigeria politics today, it’s rare, if not difficult, to see elected public officials who have decided, through diligence to do things positively different. For many of our politicians, the central narrative of public office is easy to summarise: talk the talk rather than walk the talk. Very often, it has become hard to see a typical Nigerian politician answer these base line questions: why am I in public office? Is it for public good or for personal aggrandizement?
That’s one of the reasons why many of our elected officials when they leave office, there is nothing to show they impacted the lives of the people. They squander public trust. While in office, they pursued simple, personal things, all with zeal while approaching critical matters of governance, either half-heartedly or completely unattended to.
Again, that’s why many elected officials end up as waka just pass. If you don’t know, waka just pass are those who leave no legacy, no lasting impressions on their states and people. Nothing to remember them for except that they once occupied that office. They leave office just as they came in. that’s why our politics is replete with an awful lot of politicians who made so much promises but left office with no worthy footprints by which history will remember them for. However, it is inspiring, that within the context of Nigeria’s leadership challenge, few elected governors are making impact on the lives of their people. Such accomplishments are there for all to see. One man has broken from the pack. He is the Governor of Imo State, Owelle Rochas Okorocha.
I have focused on him today, not necessarily because he is the best in the country. It’s mainly because within the last five years of his administration, Gov. Okorocha has defined his boundaries, set out his goals. He has responded with speed, diligence and clarity of purpose the essentials of governance, and that is to say that governance is a human enterprise. In this regard, Okorocha has shown unparalled strength that neatly fits into the weakness that his predecessors in Imo State had shown while in the same office.
It doesn’t require argument that Gov. Okorocha has a good story to tell. It is a story that perhaps surpasses everything else since the creation of Imo State, 40 years ago. In the last six months, I have, in company of other journalists from the South East, visited Imo State twice. Our mission on these two occasions was simple: to assess how Okorocha has fared in the governance of Imo State, the Eastern heartland.
Before Okorocha was elected in 2011, a World Bank sub-regional publication had in 2010 ranked Abia and Imo States as two “most unfriendly” states to do business in the whole of South East. Insecurity was rife. Businessmen considered doing business in Imo States as high risk. Kidnapping was commonplace. But the story has changed. Last year, the World Bank rated Imo State as the second safest place to do business in the South East. It also rates the state as having the lowest poverty level in the South East, from 56 percent in 2010 to 14 percent currently. It is a measure of the pragmatic step that the Okorocha administration has placed on the value of lives and property of the citizens and making Ease of Doing Business a premium consideration.
Today, people can transact business and visit the state without fear. That’s not to say that the administration has completely rid the state of criminals. But criminals only operate at their own risk, knowing that when apprehended, they risk death penalty, courtesy of the zero-tolerant level for crime.
Never in the forty years history of the state has the state witnessed such massive infrastructural development. Even the governor’s most rabid critics agree that he has given the state a massive face-lift. He has changed the face of the state capital from its former “modern village” outlook to a modern “one city state”.
Okorocha, it must be said, is a man of high taste. He doesn’t settle for second best. Visit the Government House, you will be in awe. Imo Government House could pass as one of the best in the country. Before now, it was not more than a “glorified hostel”, completely unbefitting to receive visitors. A total reconstruction of the Government House is fittingly in place.
There is an Odenigbo Presidential Guest House for high-profile personages. There’s also a new Government Lodge almost completed. An expanded Executive Chambers that has recreated the original Douglas House (as the Govt. House, Owerri) was fondly called is an edifice of pride to behold. Add that to the Chapel for worship erected right within the Government House premises, for the spiritual upliftment of those that work there, you can begin to see why Okorocha is different.
But, if you say all these are personal, you must garland the state government for its achievement in road network that traverse the 27 local governments of the state. In the state capital, Owerri, the government has successfully tackled the traffic congestion that formerly made Owerri a dreaded place to visit. Today, with the first, second and third Inland Roads,  Ochiedike, Freedom roads, Okorocha has opened New Owerri, and made driving a pleasure. So far, the government says it has constructed over 600,000 kilometre road network, the highest by any administration in the state.
One of the innovations that set Okorocha’s administration apart is the Imo State Artisan City, along Naze road, near the state capital. The project is modeled after the Alaba International Market, Lagos. It is designed to bring Igbo traders in Aba and Lagos to Imo. About 3,000 jobs can be created. And this is in line with the governor’s second term promise to create more industries and jobs for the people.
Education is perhaps Okorocha’s most remarkable achievement. It is his passion even before he was elected governor. About 305 model Primary schools have been built and completely equipped. There are young scientist colleges to boost science education in the state. These the governor says, were made possible by his voluntary forfeiture of his N4bn “Security vote”. Before now, most primary schools in the state were like “poultry farms”, the governor says.
In spite of these achievements, Okorocha still needs to do more. With three years left in his tenure, Okorocha has brought confidence back to governance. But civil servants and pensioners are angry and complaining of unpaid salaries and pensions. The Governor says he is doing something to clear unpaid salaries and pensions. His administration is the first in the country to implement N20,000 minimum wage.
There is no doubt that Okorocha still have political enemies. After all, Machiavelli said that even the “reformer has enemies in all those who profit by the old order”. These are the godfathers who were not part of his emergence as governor. They still have a beef with him. That is why Okorocha is beating his chest that he is delivering dividends of democracy. But he needs to make the general public see these achievements, at least for the doubting Thomases to assess his government

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