By Kenneth Uwadi.
Ralph Waldo Emerson did say in the Over-Soul “The soul is the perceiver and revealer of truth. We know the truth when we see it, let skeptics and scoffers say what they choose” You see, I blame the governor of Imo state for failing in his primary responsibility which is to secure the lives and properties of Ndi-Imo. The insecurity that happened in the state for four years is another gross failure of Governor Hope Uzodinma’s administration. When a governor and his apostles turn themselves into demigods, it will lead to agitations and disenchantments in the polity. Uzodinma prioritized the construction of roads in the state capital over improving the lives of the people in the rural communities. He basically functioned for four years in the state capital leaving the rural areas to suffer. Democracy is about delivering the greatest goods to the greatest number of people. And from our demography, it shows that the greatest number of our people live in rural areas.The governor did not work in the rural areas.
Ordinary Covid 19 palliatives that were to be shared to the rural people were diverted by government officials. The hoarding of the COVID-19 palliatives is just one example of how things went wrong at the state and at the local government levels, which by and large undermines the efforts of the government at the federal level. So why should anyone be surprised about the agitations and disenchantments in the state?
The insecurity in the state for four years brought about unimaginable underdevelopment and mass misery of the vast majority of Ndi-Imo.With an estimated population of five million persons, five percent of whom are statistically below the age of twenty-five years and based on stupendous agricultural and other innumerable natural resources, Imo should be an indisputable success story but insecurity and political thieving cabals made nonsense of the state.
From Prison breaks to ESN to Unknown gunmen attacks which claimed so many lives and properties in the last 4 years to banditry, kidnapping business, herdsmen-farmers’ conflicts, communal crises, street hooliganism, cultist attacks, and extra-judicial killing, the state was under siege for 4 years.
Behind the various security crises in Imo are unresolved questions of poverty and want, and most importantly, the neo-colonial capitalist system being superintended over by the Uzodinma’s government.
Where are the jobs in Imo? It is a known fact that poverty, joblessness and inability to meet basic needs, are drivers behind rising cases of crimes especially Unknown gunmen, kidnapping and robbery. In the four years of the present Imo state government, living standards have fallen drastically as the majority of Imo citizens cannot meet basic needs. Social services like education and healthcare have been priced out of the reach of the majority, while where they are available at all, the quality is poor. This has meant that a significant proportion of the income of the working people and poor goes to paying for these services that should ordinarily be social, good provided and adequately funded by the government.
Where are the opportunities for the majority of young people in terms of jobs ? The lack of jobs in Imo has led people to seek desperate means to meet basic needs of life. My state is now a state where youths are given laptops with a promise of fake jobs overseas. What will the youths do with the laptops? Maybe to do yahoo yahoo. Myself, I am educated, multi talented and I have working experiences but my state government has refused to give me a job. We have heard several cases of people who go into crimes such as kidnapping and robbery, just to meet basic economic and socio-cultural needs such as paying for medical bills of family members, paying for school fees, feeding, getting married, etc.
I call on the youths, traders, market women and men, shopkeepers’ associations, including PG’s, in the various communities to begin pressing political office holders in local government—the SOLADs, the State House of Assembly members, National Assembly Members and the State government to create some decent jobs by building or facilitating the building of SME industries and social amenities. This, we believe, will help begin to take away the youth who are being used as political thugs to cause havoc in our society. However, we believe that things will only improve when the capitalist thieving cabals and their anti-poor system are fully challenged and defeated and in its place we put in an order wherein production and exchange are carried out democratically to meet the needs of all. Who will save Imo? Time shall tell.
-Kenneth Uwadi lives in Mmahu-Egbema, Imo State and can be reached via 08037982714
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