By Chidi Nkwopara
Imo State Governor, Chief Ikedi Ohakim, says a recent local government audit report unearthed a staggering N21 billion misappropriated funds in the local government system.

Chief Ohakim, who disclosed this while addressing Imo stakeholders in Owerri, also said his administration inherited staggering judgment debts, which stood at over N4 billion.

“At the local government level alone, the biometric staff audit revealed that out of 14,600 staff drawing salaries from the Local Government Service, only a little above 8,000 were genuinely employed”, Ohakim said.

He further revealed that at the primary and secondary schools, the audit discovered that some teachers got their school certificates at the age of two, while others have fake NCE and degree certificates.

“A statistical survey we commissioned in 2007 on the state of affairs of our infrastructural facilities made a startling revelation. It revealed over 480 electricity transformers were lying uninstalled in different communities in Imo State”, Ohakim fumed.

While saying that over 65 percent of existing water schemes remained dysfunctional for very minor and flimsy excuses, without any trained maintenance technician, the Governor also revealed that he inherited over 1,000 primary and secondary school blocks that were left to dilapidate.

“On assumption of office, this administration inherited arrears of pension and gratuities of civil servants, which stood at N4.7 billion, and a state crippled by the war of attrition between the Onongono at home and the Abuja based politicians”, the Governor said.

In his considered opinion, those who profited from the rot in the local councils and who detest reforms, form the arrow head of the Alliance against the state and reiterated his determination to fully recover the embezzled local government funds.

All the persons who spoke at the event, including Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, Chief Ignatius Nwoga, Ambassador Kema Chikwe and Chief Fidel Onyeneke, expressed confidence in the ability of Ohakim to steer the ship of state in the next four years.