Governorship aspirant on the platform of the All Progressive Grand
Alliance in Imo State, Mr. Okey Ezeh, has said that Governor Rochas
Okorocha has wasted N236 billion on Christmas tree, statues and
maintenance of convoys as well as overhead costs even when the critical
sectors of the state’s economy remain in a shambles since he came to
office over three years ago.
Ezeh who stated this through a statement signed by his Director of Media,
Collins Opurozo, warned that the state cannot afford to have another
wasteful, insensitive and unaccountable government after Okorocha.
The APGA governorship aspirant insisted that the Okorocha has plunged Imo
state into huge economic crisis by mismanaging scarce resources and even
obtaining loans to finance waste.
“This administration has only succeeded in squandering all we have and
mortgaging future generations with unpayable debt stocks. Imo State has a
budget deficit which runs into almost N2b monthly as a result of waste,
corruption and poor managerial acumen of the present administration in the
state.
“Every month this administration blows N2.81b on overhead costs, which
specifically go into maintaining luxury guesthouses, lengthy convoys,
flying private jets, erecting statues, shooting bangers and building
Christmas trees. This means that for the period this government has
lasted, over N236.04 billion has been wasted on frivolities. How these
have come to be priotized in a state where pensioners die of starvation,
where civil servants are punished with a pay cut even in the face of
falling purchasing power of the Naira, where nearly one million youths are
completely unemployed, and where there is no single kilometer of road that
is in good shape only reminds us of the depth of bad leadership which Imo
is enmeshed in and the need for collective action to salvage our state,”
Ezeh said.
He lamented that Imo is perishing amid vast human and material resources
and assured Imo people that there is a glimmer of light in the horizon, as
they have another opportunity to scrutinize the type of people to entrust
leadership in 2019.
He added that if given opportunity as governor, he would place on the path
of sustainable growth and development through agro-industrial initiatives
which will gainfully engage the energies of the teeming youth population
in the state, berth food security and earn the state foreign exchange.