I have abstained from writing about our leaders for sometime
but I can hardly hold this one in. Last week, I saw a video of Imo State on
Instagram. I couldn’t believe I live in the same state where those miracles
were happening. If you believe that Imo State is now heaven on earth, you
might be right; just come and see for yourself.
Last Christmas, I saw a few tourism buses around town. I
heard our governor brought them for tourism. I never saw those buses carry
people on tourism; maybe it did but I never saw. Sometimes, I imagine the
places a tourist would visit in Owerri- Shoprite, House of Freeda, the Owerri-Las
Vegas Water Falls (warehouse junction), Ibari Ogwa Village and for the very important people,
probably our governor’s Speed bath (which is actually his lodge, and which he
changed the name to Rochas Foundation University after the president’s visit
last year). I stand to be corrected though. If you know anymore tourism sites
in Owerri, please add it to the list.
That same last year, when our state government were breaking
down shops and offices at Item street, I asked one of their staff I was
acquainted why it was so seeing there was hardly any traffic along that road,
and that people were being put out of business and being hastily ushered into
poverty. He replied the government was expanding and beautifying those roads
for tourism (maybe it confirms the reason those buses we saw were brought in to
the state). He asked me to watch out for the Christmas decoration. Yes, we had
quite some nice Xmas decoration all over town but does it make sense?
The greatest problem in Imo State is unemployment. Our
graduates become keke drivers. More than 30% of Keke drivers, if not more, are
graduates. The rest play Bet Naija, invest in ponzi schemes, go into internet
fraud, and do all manner of things to get by. When the government introduced
the “Youth Must Work” scheme, graduates were paid twenty thousand naira per
month at first, owed for 7 months, and then paid off after deducting seven
thousand naira per month from their salary. We are all Nigerians experiencing
the same biting economy; tell me how does anyone survive on 13K or 20K per
month? Pensioners were seen some time ago lying on roads in protest, asking to
be paid their money. This is after taking these old people through a rigorous
process of data validation.
Our government is aware of all these and yet their answer is
Christmas decoration and breaking down of roads, offices and destruction of
business premises for road expansion; and the more recent multi-storey car park
along bank road, and several other wonderful projects.
The people in Imo State are suffering. There’s so much
frustration in the state and yet all we see are sign posts and bill boards that
says, “Rochas is working.” What’s the use of all these projects when the people
are suffering and already established businesses are sent packing? Can’t our
government build industries and employ our youths? Most of the items we use in
the state are either from the western part of Nigeria or imported. If the
government cannot build, can’t they invite investors? (Although I’m not a fan
of inviting investors. That is how they colonize your economy.) We have a
teeming population of youths. That is trouble brewing.
So when I see the “Rochas is working” signposts, I’m tempted
to think that he’s building with his money and not the state funds. He is only
providing leadership to state’s resources and look how effective he’s been at
that. Abandoned road projects littered all over the state, yet they keep breaking
down more on a weekly basis; severe unemployment with the presence of a vibrant
youth population; constant repair of roads. Why can’t our government use good
materials and good companies to construct instead of these constant repairs that waste
tax payers’ money?
We see all these and yes, we can’t do anything. We can’t
even protest. People are too fearful and too hungry to organize protests. A few
of us can only blog or write on Facebook and then keep quiet. The State House
of Assembly acts if they have been bewitched. They can’t talk because of the
silencing power of money and political offices.
We can only wait for the oracle to finish his tenure and
hope that he will not install a puppet when he leaves. At times like this,
Democracy simply sucks.
Twitter/Instagram:
@club7teen
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