The various States and the Federal Government are presently agog with celebrations to mark the First 100 Days of the various governors and the President, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. The First 100 DAYS of any administration has been surreptitiously accepted globally as a great landmark which should be celebrated with vim, pomp and ceremony. But what is the origin of this celebration? In fact, the kernel of this viewpoint is to highlight the origin of The First 100 Days Celebration and to take a little peep into Governor Okorocha’s tenure. The FIRST 100 DAYS which is globally celebrated today started in the tenure of Franklin D. Roosevelt, a member of the Democratic Party in U.S, who served as the Governor of New York before he became President. Franklin Delano Roosevelt won the election in a landslide. He rode to victory on the crest of “remembering the forgotten man” in the same way Owelle Rochas won the governorship race on the crest of “Imo Rescue Agenda”. On his inauguration day, Roosevelt addressed his countrymen on radio and announced plans for what he called a “New Deal” which became the main agenda of his administration. A tumult of applause rent the air when in his inaugural speech, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt(FDR) said: “…, First of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself…”
He was the first politician to be judged on his performance in the first 100 Days. Like Rochas Okorocha, Roosevelt took office at a time of great anomie and angst among the citizenry. It was during the Great Depression of 1929-1933 when U.S. citizens had lost faith in the political system as a result of the systemic collapse in the system. Economic depression could be defined as a period of high level of unemployment as a result of the downturn in the economy, especially when this is sustained for months and even years. Roosevelt was voted into office in 1932 and he was inaugurated President on March 4, 1933. This was a time when the citizens were languishing under the weight of the Great Depression which was actuated by the stock market crash of October 29, 1929. His ascendancy to power also took place within the period of World War II when humanity suffered untold hardship and anguish globally.
It was in this scenario of despondency and loss of faith in the political system that Roosevelt emerged as President. Just like Chief Ohakim was voted out in his second term bid, President Herbert Hoover who was president from 1928-1932 was defeated in his second term bid in a landslide victory by Roosevelt. In the same way Ndi Imo lost faith in Ikedi Ohakim’s Administration and reached a consensus that they needed a change in the 2011 election, U.S. Citizens also lost faith in Herbert Hoover on account of his poor performance hence they voted massively for Roosevelt in the presidential election of 1932. Sensing the frustration and despair among his people, President Roosevelt charged on that inauguration platform: “the only thing to fear is fear itself”. Owelle Rochas Okorocha had said that much when he said on his official declaration as governorship aspirant: “I have heard the cries of my people that I should be your governor. Today, I have accepted that offer and I assure you that the Egyptians you see today, tomorrow, you shall see them no more”. The euphoric and ecstatic crowd went wild with joy and shouts of Amen and Alleluia rent the air.
As a result of the hopes built around him, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (a.k.a FDR) stepped out with so much energy and dynamism that within his first 100 days, he had achieved so much that his people became so fulfilled as they applauded his every move. He was sworn in on March 9, 1933 and by June 16 when he was 100 days in office; his administration was already a tumultuous success. Within that short period, he had signed into law over a dozen recovery programmes in his frantic bid to reflate the comatose economy and to give his people a new lease of life. Some of the agencies he set up survive even to this day and age. They include the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Securities and Exchange Commission. FDR New Deal Programme was so effective that his first 100 days is officially recorded as the busiest fifteen weeks in the history of U.S. democratic evolution. He was a president who brought so much vim and verve, so much creativity and innovation to governance to the extent that he ruled united states for three full terms while he was voted into office on four presidential elections, His first inaugural address was read on March 4, 1933; the second inaugural address was read on January 20, 1937; the third inaugural address was read on January 20, 1941 while the fourth inaugural address was read on January 20, 1945. By the time he commenced his fourth tenure, the burden of leadership and the stress of prosecuting the ongoing World War II had taken its toll on his health. His major official function was the Ydta Conference in the Crimea with Joseph Stalin and Winston Churchill after which he embarked on plans for a post war world and an international peacekeeping organization, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt died suddenly at his retreat in Warin Springs, Georgia on April 12, 1945. His sudden death was a great national tragedy to the citizens of the United States. Tears cascaded down the cheeks of several United States citizens as if their lachrymal glands had gone burst. It was a period U.S citizens lamented inconsolably on the death of a great president who pulled his country from the brink of an economic chasm to the zenith of economic prosperity and political calm and tranquility .Ndi Imo have faith that Governor Okorocha will pull Imo State out of its present economic coma and stagnation to another era of economic bliss and prosperity.
In looking at Governor Okorochas’s First 100 Days, one can see a rehash of the great days of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Governor Anayo Okorocha came to power at a period of great frustration and despondency by the citizens of Imo State. Ndi Imo was fed up with the failed government of the last four years under Chief Ikedi Ohakim. There appears to be a consensus that the one-term administration of Chief Ikedi Ohakim was the worst that ever ruled Imo State since its creation. It was on account of this ineffective, corrupt and rudderless administration of Chief Ikedi Ohakim that Ndi Imo reached a tacit pact among themselves that Chief Ohakim would be voted out in the governorship election of 2011.
To a cross section of the people of Imo State, voting Ohakim out of power was the veritable do or die affair. It was against this backdrop of despondency and abysmal frustration that the electorate trooped out on that election season to confront the so-called power of incumbency which was the reason for Governor Ohakim’s impunity and poor performance. Having reached a pact among themselves that they would never live to tolerate Ohakim’s second term, they gird their loins, put their backs to the walls and set out to confront Ohakim’s political machine. As a hyperactive and swashbuckling political Governor, Chief Ohakim went to great lengths to actualize his second term bid but all to no avail. In spite of the incumbency, appurtenances and the accoutrements of power which were at his beck and call, the electorate especially the youths blocked his every move. He threw open the state treasury and started sharing money as if the Naira was going out of fashion; the people took all his crisp wads of naira notes and gifts in kind (Luxury / exotic cars) but still refused to budge.
When the first governorship election was declared inconclusive, it was Governor Ohakim and the bigwig of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who threatened that they would catalyze anarchy in Imo State if INEC did not conduct a supplementary election. In order to resolve the impasse, Governor Ohakim used his cozy relationship with the political hierarchy at the national level to hoodwink and compel INEC to run a supplementary election in which they felt they would have the last ditch opportunity of manipulating the poll result. On the morning of the day of the supplementary election of May 6, the PDP was shocked to observe that the affected Local Government Areas (Ngor-Okpala, Oguta, Ohai Egbema, Mbaitoli, Orji) had been taken over by APGA faithful who infiltrated into these areas under cover of darkness in order to beat the illegal curfew which was imposed by Governor Ohakim. It was at this point that Ohakim knew that the game was up; the cookie had crumbled. When the result of the Supplementary election and the first poll was released it became clear that the wall of Jericho had collapsed; Chief Ohakim the say-styled Ikiri had bowed to the superior firepower of Owelle Anayo Rochas Okorochas.
In his FIRST 100 DAYS, Rochas Okorochas has made good his promise that after the elections, the Egyptians you saw yesterday, you will see them no more. He has also commenced his free education scheme in line with his campaign manifesto. Before now, nobody knew that it would be possible to actualize a free education scheme in Imo State. This free education scheme is the most important political development in Imo State since the return of party politics on 1st October; 1999.It is a big relief to various families who see this scheme as a big source of disposable income to the family budget. Rochas Okorocha’s free education scheme to the Senior Secondary School level has superseded the requirement of the Universal Basic Education (UBE) Scheme which stipulates that education should be free and compulsory for the first 9 years (i.e. from primary to JSS3). Under the UBE Scheme, there is no obligation on any government in Nigeria to offer free education to the Senior Secondary School level; what Okorocha has done in extending his free education to the secondary school level is a bonus, a value added gesture which some ungrateful and perfidious elements have failed to acknowledge. The money being used to run the free education scheme today is money which some corrupt and fraudulent politicians were sharing among themselves in the past. Today, it is a windfall which is a disposable income to the IMO State economy. I did not know that free education could be actualized in Imo State in the foreseeable future. We were simply brainwashed to have a mindset that Imo was so poverty-stricken to venture into free education. At the tertiary level, education has become accessible and affordable in line with Okorocha’s campaign promises. In this State, Governor Ohakim set up a panel headed by a former vice Chancellor of Imo State University, Professor T.O.C. Ndubuizu, which recommended N150, 000 as the school fees in Imo State University. Ohakim was a wily guy who knew how to use people of integrity to achieve his ignoble goals. He quickly distanced himself from the panel when Owelle Okorocha and Senator Ararume started making comments on free education and affordable and accessible education at the secondary and tertiary levels respectively. If Okorocha did not succeed, most of those in the state school system, especially IMSU, would have pulled out on the grounds of financial constraints.
In the same vein, a brand new institution: IMO College for Advanced Professional Studies (ICAPS) is being built on the site of the former premises of Statesman Newspapers. Unlike the former Imo Job Centre which was a safe haven for defrauding jobless youths, ICAPS is a centre for producing professionals in different walks of life. In the same vein, Government has released the huge amount of N100ml to each of the 27 Local Government Areas in Imo State for the purpose of upgrading the deteriorating facilities in the primary and secondary school levels. The budget for this project is N2.7bn. The administration has also embarked on the building of 12 model classrooms in each of the 305 INEC wards in Imo State. Each of the 12- room blocks will gulp N30ml. The schools will be equipped with model laboratories, computers, libraries and related learning aids. A state of the art Young Scientists School is under construction at the former premises of Imo Broadcasting Corporation (IBC).The school is targeted at those students who are naturally endowed to excel in the sciences. Construction work on the ICAPS and the Young Scientists’ School is progressing at a frenetic speed.
Never before has this level of speed in the construction of capital projects been witnessed in the First 100 days of any Administration since Dee Sam Mbakwe left office. Chief Udenwa’s first 100 days in 1999 was basically a period of learning. He also made impressive impact in settling debts owed staff of the Civil/Public Service. In the case of Alvan College of Education and Statesman Newspaper, outstanding salaries of about fourteen months were settled. Chief Udenwa also made a good foray in sanitation in Owerri Municipality, although he could not sustain the tempo. Ohakim’s first 100 days in 2007 is noted for his Clean and Green programme during which shanties and illegal structures were demolished. The climax of his First 100 Days was on 10th August, 2007 when the Senate President, Senator David Mark, made an official visit to IMO State to officially launch Chief Ohakim’s Clean and Green Initiative. It was a one day wonder which attracted so much media hype. But by the time Chief Ohakim was voted out on 6th May, 2011, Owerri Municipality had become as dirty as it was before Ohakim took power. I am not aware of any capital project in Ohakim’s First 100 Days. Unlike Governor Okorocha who has embarked on a number of capital projects in his First 100 Days, neither Ohakim nor Udenwa embarked on any capital project in the first 100 days. But today, in Okorocha’s First 100 Days, Imo State has become a massive construction site. The projects are ongoing not just in Owerri Municipality, but in all the nooks and crannies of the three senatorial zones.
This viewpoint did not set out to discuss the details of Governor Okorocha’s achievements in his First 100 Days, but rather to unravel the origin of the First 100 Days celebration. I have however discussed only a small segment of his projects in the education sector. Aside the projects in the education sector which I listed above, one may mention such other projects as Ojukwu Conference Centre, Heroes’ Square, Commissioners’ Quarters, Concord Hotel flats, and the Concord Hotel itself is being upgraded to a mega–star luxury hotel. Today, the Concord Hotel boulevard is a piece of entrancing and scenic beauty – all these within first 100 days. Governor Okorocha has also paid arrears of pensions for three months to the erstwhile abandoned IMO State pensioners. This quantum of activity has not been witnessed in the First 100 Days of any administration since Dee Sam Mbakwe left office on December 31st 1983. Perhaps, one may focus a full searchlight on Governor Okorocha’s First 100 Days in due course. Governor Okorocha should remain focused on his promise to supercede the performance of Dee Sam Mbakwe. The vociferous vituperations of the Mafiosi cabal that held Imo State hostage over the years should be ignored. Governor Okorocha had promised during the campaigns that “the Egyptians you saw yesterday, tomorrow you shall see them no more’’. He actualized this promise on May 6TH when he defeated the PDP. Nobody expected such deeply entrenched interests in the political ambience to vamoose without throwing some punches. Such stereotypes and shibboleths (e.g. Rochas has achieved nothing) with its accompanying acrimony should be seen as a de javu (i.e. something we are used to). When Chief Samuel Onunaka Mbakwe (PHD) won the governorship election in 1979 under the platform of Nigerian Peoples Party (NPP), his opponents dragged him to court on the grounds that Dee Mbakwe’s victory should be cancelled because his Deputy Dr. Amalaha did not resign formally from Alvan Ikoku College of Education where he was a staff. The tribunal ruled in favour of the opposition party (NPN) but this did not invalidate the governorship victory of Governor Sam Mbakwe. Dee Sam Mbakwe picked Prince Isaac Uzoigwe as his Deputy Governor and the brouhaha ended abruptly. In the first 100 days of Chief Achike Udenwa in 1999, a member of the House of Assembly, Hon Jasper Ndubuaku, accused him of money laundering. He was alleged to have stolen N100 ml from Imo State and used it to buy houses while he was on an official visit to United States. Speaker Noel Agwuocha set a panel to investigate the matter. Hon. Jasper Ndubuaku who set up the scam fled to Amaifeke and asked Chief Achike Udenwa for pardon. In 2007, Ikedi Ohakim’s First 100 days was turbulent and bumpy. Before his First 100 days, Chief Ohakim had become a sworn enemy of his godfathers even till this day. It was in the midst of this crisis that chief Ohakim said: “I owe my victory to Professor Iwu”( and not to God or Udenwa). With that statement, the glory departed from him, thus setting the platform for his ignominious fall from power. Our Lord is a jealous God who will not share his power. The bottom line is that the ‘First 100 Days’ of any governor in Imo State is always marked with acrimony and recrimination; it is a trend which is deeply entrenched in the system. So, the ongoing recriminations should be seen as a gale which will soon subside. It’s a family affair.
The reason for the massive gang up and hostility against Okorocha’s Administration are not far to seek. The group who has been looting the monthly allocations to the State and Local Government Councils in the last four years is not expected to be happy that Governor Okorocha has demystified their invincibility. Those who had planned to take education beyond the reach of the masses are not happy that education is now accessible and affordable to the masses. Do you think that politicians are happy that Governor Okorocha slashed his security vote from N6bn to N2bn thus exposing the looting that existed in the Government House in the locust years?
If you take the education sector alone for analysis, it becomes glaring that in just 100 days, this administration has surpassed what the administration of Chief Ohakim achieved in four years. In the whole of his 4-year tenure, Chief Ohakim did not commission even one-room project in Imo State education system. Huge budgets to institutions such as IMSU, IMO Polytechnic, IMSUTH Orlu, and College of Engineering, IMSU, Okigwe campus were misappropriated/ embezzled by politicians. Ohakim’s Administration was the first time that a State Governor would complete a full tenure without building, even one room in any of the tertiary institutions in his state. At the end of Governor Peter Obi’s first term, he commissioned various capital projects in Anambra State University. They include the Faculty of Law building, Moot Court, Faculty of Social Sciences building, Department of Mass Communications Building, a state- of- the- art library complex (fully equipped) Hostels and class room blocks. He laid the foundation stone for Faculty of Agriculture building, Management Science complex. Just to mention a few of the capital projects actualized by Governor Peter Obi on his first term in his State University. Can Ohakim’s admirers provide a list of what projects he actualized in IMSU in his 4-year tenure? My investigation shows that Chief Ohakim abandoned IMSU in particular and the education sector in general during his autocratic regime. In Akwa Ibom State, Governor Godson Akpabio performed wonders by transforming the much maligned Akwa Ibom State to a modern state. In Akwa Ibom state, education is free and compulsory and over 20000 students are on university scholarships tenable at home and foreign universities. Governor Godson Akpabio built the first ultra modern e-library in West Africa.
He completed Ibom International Airport; he completed three new fly over bridges in Uyo, built a world class Tropicana Business and Entertainment Complex, first Gas processing plant which is said to be the first in Africa. He built an International Specialist Hospital and Reference Centre, five brand new General Hospitals, first-in Africa underground pipe-jacking drainage project and a brand new State University (AKUTECH). These are just a few of what Ohakim’s peers did in Akwa Ibom State in four years. At the pace of Ohakim, it would have taken Imo State about 30 years to catch up with the present economic transformation in Akwa Ibom State. The economic miracle of Governor Godson Akpabio, Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State and the Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi is better seen than described. The first 100 days of Governor Anayo Okorocha has been eventful and a paradigm shift from what we are used to in Imo State. Whatever real or perceived mistakes made should be seen as mistakes of the head and not of the heart .Such mistakes should be seen as a family affair which will be resolved amicably presently. Perhaps, there is a need to state that Lagosians rejected Fashola in his first 100 days. They said he was ineffective and slow and unable to do anything. Governor Fashola pleaded with them to give him time. Today, there is a consensus that Babatunde Fashola, Governor Godson Akpabio and Governor Rotimi Amaechi are just some of the most effective governors in Nigeria today. Of course, one cannot forget the irrepressible and resourceful Mr. Peter Obi of Anambra State.
I wish to conclude by stating for the umpteenth time that in his First 100 Days in 2007, Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State was ridiculed by Lagosians on the grounds that he was both ineffective and bereft of ideas. After overcoming his initial setbacks, there is a consensus that Fashola is about the most effective and resourceful governor in the present political dispensation. have no doubt in my mind that in 2015,NDI IMO will join Owelle Okorocha as he sings the age-old victory tone of Julius Caesar: Veni,Vidi, Vici (meaning: I came. I saw. I conquered).Objective criticisms are necessary in order to ensure that the RESCUE IMO Administration is not lulled into a fall sense of complacency.
The ongoing call by a tiny cabal for the imposition of an emergency government on Imo State is most absurd as it is a classic case of youthful, sorry, adult exuberance/delinquency. In order to help Governor Okorocha to take us safely to the Promised Land, let us emphasize those variables that unite us and jettison those that are acrimonious and divisive. Finally, 100 days is so short a time for any objective analyst to write off a governor who has a statutory tenure of four years, more so, when there are numerous ongoing capital projects and the State has become a large construction site. Yes, the real and perceived mistakes of Governor Okorocha should be seen as the pattering of little feet of a child that is learning to work. It is comparable to the initial turbulence of a plane that has just taken off. Presently, the plane attains balance and stability and the flight becomes a great fun. Such real or imaginary mistakes must be made in the normal course of governance because that political leader and, above all, that man who is omniscient and cannot make mistakes are not yet born.
JOHN I MGBE
08032722897
No comments:
Post a Comment