New Telegraph

In two years, Uzodinma’s monumental projects speak volumes

A picture is worth more than a thousand words, is a popular cliche among journalism teachers, particularly in photo journalism. It is not actually meant to deride prose writers or belittle their efforts in imparting knowledge. It is used to bring home the power of image above imagination.

No matter how you weave words, you can never achieve what the photograph of a malnourished child evokes emotionality. That, succinctly, explains why journalists like to be physically present to witness and record an event than to rely on the bland and biased press releases from image makers of government and organizations.

It was not surprising therefore that after the formal celebration of the two years anniversary of the first tenure of Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State, some select national journalists from all over the country elected to visit the state to see things for themselves. Drawn from both print and electronic and traditional and new media, the journalists visit was to ascertain whether the claim of government regarding its monumental achievements in road infrastructure, education, health, agriculture and urban renewal among others were real or contrived as alleged by the opposition.

It was a moment of test between words and pictures. Incidentally,as the media men were driven through the same roads that President Muhammadu Buhari passed through last year to Commission the strategic projects executed by the Uzodinma’s administration, the surprise on their faces was understandable.

The Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Hon Declan Emelumba, who conducted the team on the tour didn’t gloat, he just wanted them to see things for themselves. Seeing things for themselves was the only way for people to believe that Uzodinma, who took office two years ago was not only fulfilling his campaign promises but is determined to transform Imo state according to his developmental vision. It is instructive that Uzodinma who assumed office amidst the challenges of COVID- 19 pandemic and the #EndSARS riots had pledged to turn the state around irrespective of the rot he met on the ground. He met a dysfunctional civil service.

He met an infrastructure that had been run down. He met a dispirited workforce. Above all, he met an abandoned Government House. However, when the journalists visited the state Secretariat which by 2020 was competing with a piggery in status, things were different. The structures had been revamped. Basic facilities like water and electricity have been restored. Working facilities have been provided and a conducive environment created for enhanced productivity.

The journalists may not have known the psychologist boost given to workers by Uzodinma through the automation of the process in the service and restoration of seniority and discipline, but they were aware of the prompt payment of salaries including 13th month paid the workers last December. The junior workers also testified that they have staff buses that take them to and fro work free while the permanent secretaries have brand new official vehicles.

But government is happy that the workers are happy and that the automation process is saving more than N2billion monthly for the state, an amount the previous administrations used to steal under a nebulous and fraudulent payroll system. If the journalists couldn’t feel the pulse of the savings, they saw the roads.

The Uzodinma’s road revolution sounds like a myth until one sees the roads for themselves. When the governor took over, almost all the roads were impassable. Even some people blamed the new governor for the poor state of the roads which started collapsing from 2011. Not one to engage in blame games, Uzodinma began the rehabilitation of the roads the very first month he assumed office. He began with Owerri roads before moving to the hinterlands. By the time President Muhammadu Buhari visited last year, a total of 90 roads were being worked on.

By January this year, 32 of the road projects had been completed while serious work is ongoing at the rest including the signature dual Owerri- Orlu road and Owerri- Okigwe road. These are dual carriageways that will practically connect the three senatorial zones of the state. Because words would never be enough to describe what is happening in those two roads, worth billions of naira, the journalists had to see them. They met a traditional ruler at Amaraku on the Okigwe axis who told them that what is happening there is a revolution.

In fact he told them that the level of work shows that the governor wants to bequeath a legacy project to Imo people. The words were superfluous for the journalists saw things for themselves. They also saw the Owerri water works known in local parlance as Otamiri. The facility had been abandoned for a quarter of a century.

Uzodinma brought it back to life and today water is flowing from the public taps for the first time in years. More pumping machines have been procured by the governor and installed. Many parts of the city outside Owerri municipal are now enjoying the public water supply.

At the nearby Douglas road, the journalists also saw the rebuilding of the Owerri main market known as Ekeukwu Owerri market. The old one was demolished by Rochas Okorocha during which a young lad named Somtochukwu was murdered. Okorocha went further to punish Owerri people by reducing the entire demolished market to a refuse dump with the attendant health hazard.

Emelumba told the journalists that Uzodinma hearkened to the appeal of Owerri elders and undertook the rebuilding of the market which is now 40 percent completed. And the good news is that upon its full completion,the original traders will be given concession in the allocation. Even as the traders and Owerre Nchise people are in joyous mood, landlords whose houses were rescued from flood at the Chukwuma Nwoha axis of the state are ecstatic. The journalists were taken the flood control mechanism otherwise known as balloon driven tunnel which has checked the incessant flooding in the area. President Muhammadu Buhari inad the critical project executed by Uzodinma. Flood had claimed the Chukwuma Nwoha road with tens of houses abandoned. Uzodinma has rebuilt the road and landlords have repossessed their houses.

The joyous song is also the lot of medical students from imo state University Teaching Hospital Orlu who for five years have not graduated to join their colleagues as doctors. Uzodinma came and reversed their misfortune. Apart from providing the necessary equipment consequent upon reaccreditation of their courses, Uzodinma ensured that they met all other conditions. Now 130 of them have taken the Hippocratic oath which qualifies them as medical doctors. Incidentally, since the opposition swore on their parents’ graves that the teaching hospital was non functional and lacked specialists, Emelumba had to take the journalists, again to see things for themselves!

At IMSUTH, the journalists saw the brand new structures put up by the governor. More than that,the chief medical director, Ifeanyi Nwamba, took them on a tour of the hospital. He showed them the modern equipment procured by the governor to enhance the capacity of the facility.

They included digital x-ray machines,mammogram machine, ambulances, dialysis machines, molecular biology and chemical pathology laboratory equipment and anaesthetic. They also saw the 100 new hospital beds. And contrary to the vile vituperation of the opposition, the CMD confirmed to the journalists that they have specialists and equipment to handle any kind of health challenges in the state. It is the same confirmation the media men received at the newly revamped Adapalm Nig Ltd,Ohaji.

The General Manager, Mr Reginald Okereke, told them the company will employ 2,500 people when it achieves full production. He attributed the success achieved so far to Uzodinma’s doggedness and managerial ingenuity which led to the tripartite agreement that saw to the resuscitation of the company. He disclosed that the government has planted 140,000 seedlings across 4,000 hectares of land to feed the mill and aid produce. Yet the opposition said the facility is not working. The journalists saw otherwise. It was the same story when they were taken to the newly inaugurated cluster for fashion designers recently commissioned by the Vice President Yemi Osinbajo in Owerri. They saw industrial sowing machines and other equipment driving the Imo State micro small and medium scale enterprises.

That’s part of the industrial revolution being envisaged by the governor. The shoe factory in Owerri is being reactivated following the resolution of the financial tussle with AMCON. The Avutu poultry and Nsu tiles are next. These are steps being taken by Uzodinma to enhance the economy of the state as well as create employment for the youth. Already, through the empowerment programme of the government, more than 15 000 youths have been trained and empowered.

They are also creating employment for their fellow youths. The more than N8 billion spent by the government on the programme is certainly yielding dividends. What is also yielding dividends is the determined effort of the governor to religiously implement the white paper on the recovery of lands and assets of the state looted by some greedy and unscrupulous former office holders. Already, the KO Mbadiwe University worth more than N40billion has been recovered same with the Shell Camp land. Another area yielding dividends is the security situation in the state. The journalists were safe throughout their stay contrary to scary picture painted by the enemies of the state.

Indeed, government has invested a lot to restore peace in the state. It has assisted the security agencies with hundreds of patrol vehicles and communication equipment. But above all, it has been alive to its constitutional responsibility of protection of lives and property. At least the journalists toured most parts of the state and they are in a better position to report on the security situation now.

However, as much as they observed all the physical developments in the state, they may not appreciate the hard won freedom of a once subjugated people who are now regularly consulted on how their state is being governed. This freedom, though being abused by the opposition, is what actually drives democracy. And this is one area which Uzodinma is really proud to be associated with in spite of his towering achievements in infrastructural development and human capital Development.

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