Poly Chinenye Samez
The razzmatazz of commissioning road projects by Imo Governors, past and present deserve probing more than the excitement.
Don’t get me wrong. Commissioning roads or any other project is good, at least it indicates that the government of the day is impressive or responsive to certain expectations of the people.
But what’s in rolling out drums to commission road projects, which apart from providing access for movements, do not impact directly on the wealth of the people, a people who are battling with unemployment, hunger, starvation and insecurity at different levels.
It’s disgusting that while many Governors are merrymaking over roads, only few have the templates to create sustainable employment or at most the enabling environments for jobs to thrive.
Good roads are no doubt important infrastructure, but it becomes unimpressive, and depicts failure of governance and leadership if those that use the roads do that on empty stomachs and pockets. There needs to be a balance to all the variables in development templates, of which creating jobs that give gainful employment is one of the variables in the template.
Concentrating governance on the areas that impress and neglecting the critical areas that promote life expectancy levels is bad governance. Worst still, concentrating the roads at Urban centres of the State capitals with rural communities groaning in penury due to lack of amenities and not even having access to the so called roads being commissioned with the funfares require further rethink of the plans and development strategies in place.
The government of the day should be able to show capacity by also commissioning projects that put food on the tables of the ordinary men, women and young unemployed graduates ubiquitous in the State. Failure to address this aspect, speaks volume of a government’s misfits in leadership and governance.
Imo State is, and has been in this mess for a long time. Little wonder the National Bureau of Statistics NBS recently classified Imo as “Nigeria’s Unemployment Capital”. And why should a State Governor showcase and commission only State capital roads in his one year anniversary? What happened to other development projects such as industrial parks, Industries, Agriculture, Health, Education etc?
The reason is not far fetched. No one gives what he doesn’t have. Come 2023 Imo State will have no need for a political dimwit with a penchant to impress his political bloc, but a technocrat that can revolutionize the economy of the State through templates that provide food security, health care, as well as jobs and eliminate unemployment. This is why my team and I say it’s Doable.
