New Telegraph

Setting tech-driven policies for Uzodinma

Comrade Fred Nwaozor

T

oday in Imo State, owing to the wind of change that blew early this year, Senator Hope Uzodinma is currently the Governor of the Eastern Heartland.

 

 

It’s noteworthy that this piece is aimed towards making Governor Uzodinma realize the needed facts with a view to ensuring that his Shared Prosperity Government changes the overall outlook of Imo as regards governance, especially in the area of science and technology, which is the prime interest of this column.

Anyone who truly thinks well of Imo is surely expected to render a service or advice that would critically enable Uzodinma come up with the required parameters and recipes towards ushering in his government’s 3R-mantra, which is focused on Rehabilitation, Reconstruction and Recovery.

 

 

Uzodinma is seriously in need of well-meaning and discerning Imolites towards attaining successes, not sycophants whose presence wouldn’t hesitate in ruining the acclaimed Shared Prosperity Government.

 

 

The governor is at the moment conspicuously in need of tech-driven agenda that would enable him tactically steer the affairs of the state to the delight of all and sundry including his perceived enemies.

 

 

First and foremost, the governor needs to wholly review the education sector in the state toward making holistic amends where need be. It’s not anymore news that technical colleges – not only in Imo but Nigeria at large – have ostensibly gone into moribund unannounced.

 

 

These institutions of learning, which remain veritable tools in any society that truly adores technology or technically-oriented development, must be revisited in earnest with a view to resuscitating them aptly and timely for the good of all concerned.

 

 

Similarly, the state-owned tertiary citadels of learning shouldn’t be left out. Each of these establishments is equally in drastic need of the government’s attention. Hence, the Uzodinma-led administration is expected to candidly look into any existing lapses towards addressing them, especially in the area of science and technology.

 

 

Time has really and obviously arrived for us to focus on or pay greater attention to technical education, which invariably leads to massive entrepreneurship, thereby yielding outpouring enterprises as expected within the shores of the benefitting province.

The health wing is another sector that remains inevitable. It’s on this premise I enjoin Governor Uzodinma not to take this area for granted. The ongoing construction of ‘general hospitals’ in each of the 27 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in the state initiated by the past administration led by Chief Rochas Okorocha ought to be discontinued headlong, knowing full well that such a white-elephant project is just a waste of our common resources.

 

 

In view of the above criticism, I enjoin the administration to consider reviving the already existing general hospitals and primary health centres within the shores of the state. If they succeeded in uplifting a particular general hospital in at least each senatorial district in the Eastern Heartland to a world-class standard, even people from the neighbouring states would be regularly trouping into Imo to patronize her health services.

 

 

The ongoing Coronavirus (COVID-19) that’s ravaging the global community has obviously revealed to us that Nigeria as a country has indeed been lagging behind in the area of health services. This is why each governor across the states must swiftly swing into action in this regard.

 

 

It’s only a visitor in Imo that failed to observe that public water supply, which used to be a thing of pride in the state – particularly within the capital territory – abruptly became a thing of the past during the Okorocha-led administration. This said public utility suddenly went into extinction under the watch of the erstwhile governor.

 

 

Public water supply, which is undoubtedly required by all and sundry, needs to be brought back for the citizenry’s consumption. It’s a shame and appalling that an ancient state like Imo cannot currently boast of potable water supply to the general public.

 

 

I’m glad, based on my candid advice alongside that of other well-meaning Imolites, the short-lived Ihedioha-led administration was able to come up with a sound and sincere initiative towards restoring the anomaly as regards water supply.

 

 

And presently, the Uzodinma-led government is equally following suit. This project mustn’t be abandoned regardless of the degree of challenges that might be encountered in the process. More so, after completion, its sustenance ought to also be handled seriously.

Considering the inevitable need of running water at the moment, as occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic and other infectious diseases, it’s needless to assert that the governments at all levels are required to take water project as priority in their respective jurisdictions.

The abandoned power plant situated in Egbema in Ohaji/Egbema LGA during the reign of Dr. Sam Mbakwe must be revisited with a view to reawakening its functionality. The proposed revival of this very monumental project requires inauguration of a well-tested and trusted tech-driven team.

The Uzodinma-led government ought to as well look inwards to ensure that transformers and other related gadgets are in earnest provided for all the communities domiciled in Imo that are presently deprived of such devices. It’s devastating to acknowledge that, at this 21st century, most localities in the state are yet to be electrified let alone boasting of relatively steady power supply.

 

 

On agriculture, rigorous strides are seriously needed towards doing the needful. It’s high time we fully embraced modern/mechanized system of commercial farming to the fullness, rather than continually dwelling on crude pattern. The real farmers need to be thoroughly discovered with a view to encouraging them by issuance of low-interest loans, subsidization of the prices of agricultural machinery, and what have you.

 

 

The government should also be ready to own and manage farms in various facets of the Eastern Heartland. There’s equally need for the state to henceforth boast of rice farms and mills considering that most other states have already keyed into rice production.

 

 

Inter alia, I mustn’t round off this analysis without mentioning road construction. A permanent tech-driven team that would perpetually see to the regular construction and maintenance of the various roads within the state needs to be set up. Branches of this proposed team ought to be physically present in each of the 27 LGAs domiciled in the state.

 

 

The Ihedioha-led administration came up with a good initiative to an extent. The Uzodinma-led government is expected to complement such effort. I’m impressed it has quickly awarded contracts to rehabilitate and reconstruct some roads and tunnels within the state. And works are already ongoing. This tempo needs to be sustained and should be extended to the rural roads that are currently crying foul.

 

 

Conclusively, the Uzodinma-led Shared Prosperity Government ought to be candidly willing and prepared to restore all the economically-oriented firms established by the Dr. Sam Mbakwe-led administration that have conspicuously faded into oblivion owing to neglect accorded to them by subsequent governments. 

 

We can’t sincerely overlook the fact that Imo in its entirety is deeply yearning for a serious-minded tech-driven approach towards rehabilitating and reconstructing it, hence the compelling need for Governor Uzodinma alongside Prof. Placid Njoku not to embrace frivolities to the detriment of priorities.

It’s not really by setting up a high-profile committee to advise the government, but by wearing the needed political will not unlike clothe. This is the reason the Uzodinma-led administration is required to concentrate solely on the needful.

 

 

So, for the government to evenly share the awaited prosperity among Imolites, the governor must understand the essence of initiating sound policies. Think about it!

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