Message to Ihedioha: Learn From Okorocha’s Mistake, Revive Imo sub-Treasury

By Casmir Nguzoro

Experience they say is the best teacher, but wisdom instructs that, learning from other peoples mistakes/experience is the best because where they got it all wrong, could be a starting point to your success only and only if you learnt and corrected the mistakes.

Learn from the mistakes of Governor Rochas Okorocha, knowing the areas he failed to treat well which has led his administration into a laughingstock and total shame,and created hardship to the people, will help the incoming government to aimed and rebuild Imo State.

Do we still remember that, there was a time governor Rochas Okorocha was the best governor in Nigeria?
Do we still remember that there was a time he was much loved and adored by about 70% of Imo state citizens?
Can you believe that governor Rochas Okorocha is the best governor Imo state has ever produced, after Mbakwe when it comes to infrastructural development?

Can you believe that governor Okorocha is one of the governors in Nigeria that did alot of community development projects in his state, and elevated structures in the state ministers, though, many of them are still uncompleted?

Now the question is;

What are his sins?
What did he do wrong?
Where did he go wrong?
What did he omit?
Why are Imo state citizens crying?
Why are they celebrating the end of his tenure and that of his in-law?

A clear sincere answer to these questions, will help us and the incoming governor His Excellency Rt Hon Emeka Ihedioha to REBUILD IMO STATE, GET IMO STATE WORKING AGAIN and make it’s citizens happy again.

To me the failure of Gov Okorocha administration is centered on these points.

(1) Lack of scale of preference in his adminstration.

(2). Lack of proper knowledge of office adminstration.

(3) lack of proper knowledge of budgeting and management of funds.

But In all that I have listed above, the one I will emphasis more on, is “Lack of scale of preference”
Back then in secondary school, we were taught the importance of scale of preference in Economics.

If I may say, Scale of preference is simply a concept of human wants that drives to satisfy the individual in order of their priority or importance. Here scale of preference is more of a tool than a mere concept. It is the only tool in economics that aids in determining the real demand of goods. Due to scarcity of resources and the never-ending demand of goods, scale of preference in economics benefits both supplier and consumer.

Here the government is the supplier to the needs of the masses while citizens of Imo state, are the consumers.

Again, back then in my year one in higher institution, my dad gave me a golden law for survival. He told me that, among all the things in life and all the necessities of life, as a student and a bachelor, I should never play with my accommodation, my feeding and my health. Let’s not forget that when the stomach is hungry, the brain starts malfunctioning. No wonder they say, a hungry man is an angry man. When you are hungry, your dreams and aspirations will only remain a dream and inspiration without turning into a reality.

Mr Casmir Nguzoro

Let’s not forget that the civil servants and pensioners are the key to the success of our society, and they have a lot of roles to play in the economy of every state or country.

More than 60% of Imo state citizens are civil servants, and pensioners. And 6 out of 10 families in Imo State have either a civil servant or a pensioner as a bread winner of the family. And anything that affects them directly or indirectly affects about 60-70% of the citizens of Imo state and equally affects the economy.

Since the greater population in Imo state are either civil servants or pensioners, there are lots of persons relying on them for survival. When these breadwinners are not being paid, they won’t have anything to go to the market with and definitely, market women won’t sell, the economy will cease, then directly or indirectly everyone have been involved in the hardship.

Have we bothered to ask why cyber crime, (yahoo yahoo), is on a very high increase in the higher institutions in Imo State since the past 5years?
The answer is very simple, non payment of complete salaries to the civil servants and pensioners. Parents are not being paid their salaries and pensions and this led many youths in the higher institutions into internet fraud to look for a way of survival and making ends meet.(though I don’t support such criminal indulgence for survival). But there is no doubt, they needed money to sort out their educational pursuit. There are school fees and text books to buy.

The incoming Governor, as a matter of urgency should try and revive the subtreasury offices in the 27LGA’s in Imo state.

These offices back then in 1990s-2011 were in charge of pensions and there was proper documentation of files for pensioners. They made sure that each pensioners got his/her complete pay duly. Some subtreasuries back then even went as far as visiting most of the aged and sick pensioners at home to pay them their pensions.

Pensioners popularly known as senior citizens of Nigeria, are civil servants who spent 35years of their lives serving this county.

But currently, here in Imo State, civil servants who have retired from government services, their pensions are something they anticipated to sustain themselves and their families, but the reverse is the case, as it is often enmeshed to frustrations.

Pension should not be seen by the government as privilege but as a benefit. It is an entitlement and rights of the pensioners, and the state government should not make it look like a privilege, they should stop making our pensioners look like beggars. Pensioners are meant to be treated well and with enough care and love, they should not be called senior citizens in vain.

Due to the shortcomings of the subtreasury offices in Imo state by the present governor of Imo State, Some pensioners spend close to three days trying to go through pension verification exercise, having done same thing about 2 years ago, some that are too old, are meant to leave their homes and come to their local government head quarters to stand under the sun. This is one of the tricks by the state Government to frustrate them and make sure they get tired of requesting for their pensions or entitlements.

There is a specific criteria for determining the amount a pensioner gets when being paid.
For example, a civil servant who has held office as a civil servant for a period of not less than fifteen years shall be entitled to pension, for life at a rate equivalent to his last annual salary.

But in Imo state, things are done the way the state government wants to do it.
Since the inception of this present administration, no pensioner whose gratuity is above N500, 000 has been paid his/her gratuity.
The Pensioners in Imo State have remained on the same pension rate since 2000 because the Imo State government has refused to harmonize the following pension increases (a) 6% of 2003, (B) 15% of 2007 and (C) 33% of 2010.

The incoming government should know that the civil servants and pensioners are part of the stakeholders of this state. Any action taken on them be it positive or negative actions, will directly or indirectly affect the state, its economy and its citizens in general.