By Emmanuel Aziken, Political Editor

Dr Obinna Duruji, the Imo State Commissioner for Information and Strategy in an online interview reviews the first year of the Rochas Okorocha administration and responds to contentious issues that have recently stirred the political ambience in the state. Excerpts:

How would you analyse the first year of the Okorocha administration in Imo State?
I like to say that this government has exceeded the widest expectations of Imo people.  Nobody expected in the last one year that Imo State would embark on free education as was promised during the campaign; that even then it would be extended beyond the campaign promise to the tertiary education level.

The massive road constructions in the State are nothing short of a revolution.  Already over one thousand roads are under construction in all the rural communities across the State, not including Orlu main town, not including Okigwe main town and Owerri main town.  There are rural roads in the excess of one thousand and these do not include the massive resurfacing and patch works across the State.

In the area of infrastructural development, legacy projects like the Hand of God “Akachi”, – the tallest hotel is being built in Imo State, the tallest tower in the world is being built in Imo State, and many more.  So in the last one year it has been nothing short of a revolution in Imo State.  This is also inclusive of human capacity building.

Security has been beefed up by the provision of vehicles and state of art technology. Now there is a reward of N1, 000,000.00 (One Million Naira) for anyone who gives any information leading to the arrest of a kidnapper or to the bursting of a kidnap ring.  These things are going on, on a daily bases and it couldn’t have been any better.  No state government has recorded the kind of feat that this administration has recorded in the last eleven months.

Workers in the state are against the administration’s plans for a fourth tier of government. Why are you bent on it?
The government is bent on the policy of fourth tier government, better called Community Government Council because the policy is part and parcel of a larger policy of decentralization which is the fourth cardinal principle of Rochanomics.
During the campaign, Governor Okorocha addressed the communities, and assured the Imo electorate that if elected he would turn things around by establishing fourth tier of government.

The basis or reason for its establishment is because of the failure of the local government system to drive development to the rural areas.  To achieve that objective of rural development, it has become imperative that the frontiers of governance be decentralized from state and local government to the communities; hence the fourth tier concept.

Gov Okorocha

The workers say that many of them would be laid off?
It is only fear. Fear is False Evidence Appearing Real. There is no reality to it and there is no basis for the fear.  Nobody will be retrenched. It is not even redeployment in the negative sense.  It is a matter of secondment.  Secondment is temporary transfer for specific assignment.  Secondment is a preferred terminology than transfer

But your contenders say the arrangement is illegal?
What is their basis? Did they cite any section of the constitution that has been violated or that prohibits it?   Something can be illegal by virtue of prohibition or by contravening an existing section of the law.  In this case did they cite any authority or explain the basis for their insistence?  The mere fact that the opposition is saying it does not make it a fact.  Section 7 of the Nigerian Constitution of 1999 as amended authorizes the state House of Assembly to establish a system of governance for the Local Governments.

The Constitution recognizes 774 Local Governments and empowers the State House of Assembly to establish a system of government for them, and it is within the premise of the authority, that the House of Assembly is creating the Community Government Councils. Local Government Councils cannot hang in the air; they are made up of autonomous communities.  Under Law no 6 of 2006, the State House of Assembly established criteria for creation of autonomous communities. Within that authority to create autonomous communities is also the authority to establish a structure for their governance.

The governor has been accused of prescribing a particular uniform for workers in the state. How true is that?
When you say prescription, without debating the issue, you hire people, you prescribe rules and regulations for them.  What is wrong with uniform for civil servants that makes them look dutiful; that enhances their sense of decorum, their sense of prestige; enhances their sense of self worth, enhances their sense of performance?

What are the negative connotations?  Has anybody articulated any negative factors associated with the uniform – black suit on white shirt and red tie for men and black suit on white blouse and red scarf for women? Has anybody faulted it in anyway?

The workers themselves have not complained.  They have applauded it instead.

What was the basis of the relocation of the state university from Owerri to the governor’s hometown?
The relocation of Imo State University was informed by the National Universities Commission’s deadline to the state government to relocate the Imo State University or the university will lose its accreditation. So of all the contentious sites for possible relocation of Imo State University, the only one that is not in contention is the location in Ogboko where there is a lot of space, there is serenity for academic endevours.  It is not in contention and the people very much welcome it.

Those were the concerns of the University Relocation Committee. All the other possible locations are in contention.
For one reason or the other, it is also important to state that Ogboko is in Imo State and there is no legal prohibition against relocating the University to governor’s local government or home town.