I Will Cushion The Negative Effects Of Coronavirus In Imo State – Hope Uzodimma

Imo State governor, Hope Uzodimma is currently celebrating his first 100 Days in office.

He recently revealed that all the actions he has taken in office have been informed by the desire to serve Imo people to the best of my ability, in truth, and in utmost sincerity of purpose.

According to him, he has done his best to hit the ground running Of course despite the enormous challenges on the ground because he came with a clear road-map to guarantee Reconstruction, Rehabilitation, and Recovery in the state.

He added that COVID 19 is a threat to global economy but Imo State will keep taking proactive measures to cushion the anticipated fall out from the pandemic.

His words, “Well, thank you for congratulating me. All the actions I have taken in office have been informed by the desire to serve Imo people to the best of my ability in truth and in utmost sincerity of purpose. Knowing that Imo people have not been so fortunate with selfless service in the past, my actions have also been informed by the need to rekindle our People’s faith in governance by providing palpable good governance that is purposeful, result driven and incomparable with anything they have seen in the recent past.”

“Yes I am very much on course irrespective of the challenges I met on ground because I came quite prepared. I came with a well spelt out manifesto of three Rs; namely Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Recovery anchored on a new Imo state of shared prosperity.

So from day one I hit the ground running Of course I met enormous challenges on ground. For instance there was no handover note to me. I also met an empty treasury. There was also the COVID 19 challenge which broke out less than one month I came into office. Yes the challenges were there but they did not daunt me because I came in with a clear road-map And I can tell you that there is Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Recovery going on in Imo state as we speak.”

“I already mentioned some of them as no hand over note, empty treasury etc. But I think that one major problem I met on ground was a corrupt public sector that allowed millions of public funds to be fleeced by just a few. For instance there was this monumental payroll fraud in both the public and civil service through which billions of Naira were lost to a cabal monthly.

I also met a very sorry situation on ground wherein monthly allocation to the Imo state oil producing areas commission (ISOPADEC) was shared amongst a few Buccaneers from the area who claim to be leaders. The situation was really pitiable because every month these Buccaneers just shared the 13% allocated to ISOPADEC for the development of the oil producing areas leaving the area with no development.

So a corrupt public sector was a major problem. Another major problem was that official government offices and lodges such as the state civil service secretariat, the governor’s office, the State House of Assembly, the governor’s lodge, the Speaker’s lodge etc. were all in a state of disrepair. You can say that the entire government apparatus was in a state of rancid decay and this greatly ridiculed the image of government.”

On the coronavirus pandemic, “For sure COVID 19 is a threat to global economy. Nigeria and Imo state are not spared. But as I already explained we are taking proactive measures to cushion the anticipated fall out from the pandemic by our plans to increase our monthly IGR to N5b, without raising or introducing new taxes We will also rehabilitate ailing industries. Adapalm is already on line.

The Statesman Newspaper has been revived and it is now a daily Newspaper. I know that as a Journalist you will agree that that is a great achievement.

The rubber industries will follow, then show the industry. We expect not only to create new jobs by this industrial policy but also to increase IGR. Imo appears to show potential in tourism with hotels everywhere in Owerri. But is tourism all about hospitality business? Your roads, infrastructure, filth on the streets are not what a city that wants to boost tourism should showcase. The problems are huge and capital intensive. Aren’t you overwhelmed already?

You inherited these problems but where do you start? Is building hotels all you need to boost tourism? Of course building hotels is not all there is to tourism. We have already taken steps to control the perennial flooding in owerri capital city by constructing and rehabilitating six roads that house the main drainage systems that control floods in owerri. These roads have not been touched since the end of Dee Sam Mbakwe era. So with this initiative owerri will be flood free in the raining season.”