Strides Of The Unusual Governor Of Imo State, Senator Hope Uzodimma
By Greg Obioha
The Governor of Imo State, Distinguished Senator Hope Odidika Uzodimma CON GSSRS (Onwa Oyoko) is undoubtedly the most deliberate and prepared leader ever produced in the South East Nigeria. He is not a politician by accident. He did not also become a Governor by accident. It is on record that Senator Uzodimma prepared ahead of time on where he was going and what he wanted to accomplish. Little wondered he started his aspiration for the Governorship of Imo State since 2003 and was consistent until he accomplished it in 2020.
Meanwhile the foundation of the flourishing political career being savoured now was laid decades ago when as a young man he was made the State Youth leader of the ruling NPP in Imo state during the second Republic. Also ahead of his accomplishment as a Governor, he was appointed as a member of the Board of Trustees of the then ruling PDP. Senator Uzodimma entrenched himself deeply into national politics with his election into the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 2011 and got elected for a second term of office in 2015. This solid foundation provided the beacon upon which his Governorship aspiration was based and actualized.
As a Governor since 2020, he has dazzled Imolites with breathtaking transformative achievements. These achievements are so novel and innovative that he makes bold statements through his programs and projects. He does not play to the gallery and as such his projects are not done for pyrich popularity with hollowness. Senator Uzodimma doesn’t wake up in the morning and start constructing roads or engaging in projects without studying and planning. As a stickler for details and due process, the Governor is not driven by quest and anxiety for empty claims or boast of over performance because he is not competing with anyone and therefore resolved to do things differently.
The crux of Senator Uzodimma’s mission is tied to his convictions and personal decision to change the narratives through quality infrastructure, good social services, transparency, sound economic planning and good governance. He plans well by thinking out of the box to conceptualize his projects before implementation and that is why policy implementation in Imo State has successfully hatched outstanding, durable, quality and result driven projects.
The greatest feat and legacy of the Governor has been his ability to score the first position in key sectors he has chosen to deliver. Whether it is conscious or otherwise, Senator Uzodimma has tried to put records straight with his capacity projects and programs. His is a proof of the Midas touch and always the first and the best to be experienced.It is heartwarming that Senator Hope Uzodimma is the first Governor in Imo State to establish some outstanding projects since the inception of the state. He is the first to establish three brand new Universities; University of Agriculture and Environmental Studi Umuagwo, University of Innovation, Science and Technology Omuma, Kingsley Ozumba Mbadiwe University Ideato.
Senator Uzodimma is the first Governor of Imo State to have attracted three Federal Universities at the same time; under his watch and lobby, Alvan Ikoku Federal College of Education got elevated to a Federal University status, thus currently known as Alvan Ikoku Federal University of Education. The Federal Medical Center Owerri under his watch and lobby got elevated to Federal University Teaching Hospital Owerri and a brand new Federal University of Okigwe was approved recently.
Senator Hope Uzodimma being a very conscious economic planner has under his keen watch and influence attracted two big Banks namely; Access Bank and Nova Bank to establish their regional headquarters in Owerri. He has gone further to host the first ever Economic Summit in the State which attracted world leaders and investors to the State.
He is also the first Governor to confront multinational Oil and Gas exploration Companies drilling Oil in the state on the issue of non remittance of taxes, non compliance with the local content legislation on employment and award of contracts to indigenous people and pushed for compliance.This was followed up in the floor of the Green Chamber of the National Assembly with a motion by the performing House Member from Okigwe South, Deacon Chike Okafor who smoothened the Imo State Government tax initiative with a legislative teeth at the Federal Parliament.
In the history of Imo State since it’s creation, Senator Hope Uzodimma has broken the jinx of addressing protracted road infrastructure deficit, especially federal roads. No time has the State engaged in making dilapidated federal roads passable or motorable. Previous administrations gave flimsy excuses that such roads belong to the federal government and abandoned them to deteriorate but Senator Hope Uzodimma has a different and brilliant idea that as long as those important economic roads traverse the landscape of Imo State and used by Imo Citizens, he must reconstruct them to make life easier and better for his people. He changed the narrative for good and made name for himself by ensuring that key federal roads connecting major cities in the State and other neighboring South East and South South states were massively reconstructed by the world acclaimed construction giant Craneburg. These roads include: Owerri/Okigwe road, Owerri/Orlu road, Owerri/Mbaise/Obowo/Umuahi road, Orlu/Mgbee/Urualla/Akaokwa/Uga road, Owerri/Port-Harcourt road, Owerri/Onitsha road.
Another important area the Governor scored first is the area of Workers welfare: he remains the first Governor to establish free transport scheme for the Civil Servants by procuring Costa buses that ply different routes to take the Civil Servants to the offices and back home on daily basis. He is the first to initiate the highest minimum wage for workers in the state and beyond the state, from 70,000 to 104,000 Naira and the first to initiate 13th month Salary bonanza for Imo workers every December since five years ago.
Uzodimma is the first to promote the permanent Secretaries purely on merit and further distributed official vehicles to all of them. Governor Uzodimma is the first to initiate backlog of arrears of promotion for Imo Civil Servants who were stagnated and denied promotions for over a decade.
It also so important to note that Senator Hope Uzodimma is the first Governor to empower and equip Chairmen of the Traditional Rulers’ Council in the 27 Council Areas with brand new SUV Utility Vehicles. The first to pay salary to Town Union President Generals.
The Imo strong man is the first Governor to establish Land Digitalized System of administration and carried out total overhaul and revolutionising of the state Land Ministry to curb fraud and sharp practices. He refused to allocate any land to himself and never embarked on any private property ownership or acquisition since he became the Governor of Imo State.
His aesthetic values and creativity got expression in his recent innovation of creating the first recreation park cum resort beach through conversion of the strip of land within the Nworie River corridors and waterfront for that developmental purpose.
Senator Uzodimma is the first Governor to have truly empowered the Imo Youths by establishing the Ministry of Digital Economy through which he trains and equips thousands of youths with laptops and other digital equipment useful for Cybercrime studies, photography, computer programming, Computer repairs and engineering, graphic designing etc.
Uzodimma is the first Governor that deliberately initiated social security measures that made food palliatives supplied free of charge to households and door steps of Imo Citizens to alleviate poverty and hunger at different periods of the year since 2020.
Also to address the protracted problem of primary education which lacks teachers, Senator Hope Uzodimma is the first Governor to recruit thousands of teachers at a time and sent them for professional training before posting to places of primary assignments.
Imo Governor is the first Governor in the state, in the real sense of it to have constructed interchange flyover bridges that are serving daily road users and tackling the protracted problem of grindlock in the Imo roads in the Capital City of Owerri.
He is the first Governor in Imo State to domesticate National Health Insurance Scheme.
Apart from Dee Sam that established Amaraku power Station, Senator Uzodimma is the first Governor of Imo State to truly establish an ambitious state owned power generating and distributing Company, Orashi Electricity Company which will be as formal as the defunct NEPA and not ordinarily power generating plant.He also scored another first as the Governor that initiated lightening programme known as operation light up Imo State which has flooded the state with different categories of solar powered street lights.
He is the first Governor to partner with federal agencies to dredge Oguta lake for the purposes of opening of its channel to the Atlantic Ocean for easy navigation and sailing of vessels down to our local waters.
Senator Uzodimma is the first Governor that got reelected to Office by winning the whole Local Government Areas of the State and equally got major opposition blocs collapsing into his reelection campaign machinery.He is indeed the first and only Igbo man that has played true national politics by integrating and connecting the South East geopolitical zone to the national grid of federal politics.This has earned him the confidence of the federal government and subsequent appointments into sensitive national positions for strategic national assignments like the Chairman of Progressive Governors’ Forum and his recent elevation to the Director General and Ambassador of Renewed Hope Agenda of the APC led federal government of Nigeria announced by Mr President.
This is the most unusual leadership ever witnessed in the state through the only unusual Governor of the State.Quite novel, unique and unusual in his approach to doing things, Senator Uzodimma is an unusual Governor who is focused doing his work and delivering massively without talking about his great achievements.His works speak for themselves and for him.This unusual Governor is obviously a case study and a total reflection of the ancient maxim that holds that Action Speaks louder than voice.