Imo State Governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha has been asked drop his farcical third term agenda and quickly tender unreserved apology to Imo people for squandering their resources and plunging the state into economic quagmire, even when his major campaign promise, which is to industrialize the state, remains unfulfilled. This demand was made by a frontline governorship aspirant in the state on the platform of APGA, Mr. Okey Ezeh.
Speaking to journalists in Owerri on Wednesday, the former multinational banker averred that the most disturbing part the government’s disappointment is not so much that its industrialization efforts have failed than that industrialization was never on its agenda in the first place.
He said the failure of the government to create a single job for the teeming youth population of the state has defiled the administration and its functionaries, adding that Imo cannot afford to be left in the hands of well known non-performers any longer.
Ezeh also regretted that the pervasive infrastructural decay in Imo has further worsened the state’s business climate, saying Imo is one of the most difficult places to do business in Nigeria. The investment expert noted that the dearth of associated infrastructure has made it an almost impossible task to navigate through the complicated maze of doing business in the state.
He however assured that when elected his administration will holistically address the infrastructural decadence in the state and vigorously pursue the up-skilling and building of human capacity and improvement of all aspects of financing and access to finance by SMEs in order to unleash the energy of the entrepreneurial spirit of Imo people who are known to be great innovators.
He also vowed that Imo will reticulate her capital within her own territory and at the same time engage local skills and in the process build long-term capacity. According to him, the huge white clay deposits in Okigwe will be harnessed to build ceramic industries in Imo under Public-Private Partnership, as well as the granite deposits for industrial quarries.
