Day Ojiri Foundation parleys with Imo students for a better state

By

Emeka Ibemere

The hall was filled with the capacity crowd of mainly students, lecturers, university workers, politicians and academics at the occasion organized by the National Association of both Imo State Students (NAISS), and their counterparts at the Federal University of Technology Owerri, FUTO, during a parley with Ken Ojiri Foundation.

 It was an occasion for the students to reward Mr. Ken Ojiri, one of the leading contenders for the Imo State Governorship election in 2015, by the students for his numerous contributions to youth empowerment and development through the Ken Ojiri Foundation

The Foundation parleyed with students of state and urged them to key into his vision to improve on the conditions of Imo youths and students.

Ken Ojiri Foundation said the long term benefits of the partnership between his Foundation and the students would be immeasurable, worthwhile and enduring.

Represented by one his aides, Mr. Walter Duru, Ojiri said the Ken Ojiri Foundation has done so
much to boost human development in the State, adding that the giant strides of the Foundation has presently earned it accolades and applause from well meaning
Nigerians from far and near

He added that the foundation has touched the lives
of many and would certainly continue to do more for the poor and the less privileged in the state and beyond. He stressing that the foundation has been ranked with top international Foundations such as; Justice For All Foundation and the Theophilus Danjuma
foundation. The Aspirant appealed to the students to take advantage of the various comprehensive human capacity and development initiatives designed and packaged by the Foundation, urging the students to key into the
project and enjoy its benefits

Reacting to complaints of marginalization expressed
by the students and attempts by highly placed individuals to balkanize NAISS in the State, Mr. Ojiri speaking through his representative urged them to take their destiny into
their hands, saying it is regrettable that old men are taking over positions meant for the youths.

He strongly opposed the balkanization of NAISS,
reminding them that NAISS must return to the drawing board and put its acts together, if it intends to overcome its present challenges and inhibitions.
 In his remarks, the SUG President, FUTO, Mr. Sabinus Nwachukwu, described Mr. Ojiri as a worthy
recipient of the award, describing him as a rising young leader in the State.  
Another speaker at the event, Comrade Emeka Okereke paid glowing tributes to Mr. Ojiri, while appealing to him to reverse the N500 fee collected from Imo State students by the present administration and purported to be their counterpart contribution to bursary allowance.
Most of the speakers at the event lamented on plans and
efforts by the Imo State Government to weaken the body.
One of the speakers, Comrade Okeke Godson, former
Students Union Government President of Federal University of Technology (FUTO), identified money
as a major factor undermining the growth and development of the body, stating that saboteurs have taken over the association.  The award was presented to Mr. Ojiri by Harold
Onuimo Wilson, President of Okigwe Youth Assembly and other executive members of NAISS drawn from the South East.   Other awardee was Chief Richmond Osuji, former Executive Chairman of Ngor Okpala Local Government, who was represented by Mr.Rex Okoro.

The award presentation was also witnessed by students’ representatives from Ahmadu Bello University, ABU, and Zaria. In another development, Ojiri described Governance at the state level as too pedestrian and lacking in creativity. He made the submission in Owerri while hosting Imo Renaissance Business Group (IRBG) who paid him a courtesy call. He said the time has come when state governments should look beyond sentiments and enunciate enduring projects and programmes that would take the states and their people to the next level.

The Imo state born business reengineering expert lamented that despite the rich human resources in his state, Imo state is still not living up to its full potentials. “What are lacking in governance in Imo state are ideas. Constructing roads, building houses and drilling boreholes are not ingenious; they are too common and pedestrian to call it an achievement. I want to see brilliant students sent to Harvard and Oxford medical schools to specialize in areas of medicines that could change medical practice in the states and the country and build a world class hospital with a full complement of the exact equipment they are trained with,” Ojiri said.

According to him, the result was that rather than people going on medical trip abroad, they would be coming to Imo state. He disclosed that the twenty people already trained and on contract with the state government would be training others. “The revenue generation, the lives that would be saved and other ancillary benefits are too numerous to mention”, he queried.

“Who said Imo state cannot build a refinery that would provide employment for the youths of the state, attract subsidiary industries and provide the state with sufficient internally generated revenue?.

“These are what I consider creative ideas in governance. Providing basic needs is a matter of right of the citizens and not a privilege. But the governors beat their chest based on these basic things,” he added.

Ojiri insisted that the country would fare better if the state governors join the president in the building process now to secure the future.

 “What most state governors are doing now is spending all available resources to impress the people while not building for tomorrow. In other words, there is actually no tomorrow for the people once the governors leave office,” said Ojiri.

He was of the view that efforts should be concentrated on developing industrial capacities to accommodate the teeming youths of the states. This, he said is a more enduring legacy than giving out stipends.

Describing President Goodluck Jonathan as one man who is not interested in today but tomorrow, he said.

 “The enduring structures the president is building will take the country into a boom era. The president is very courageous, he eschews sentiments in his decisions, refused to be distracted and not many are seeing the future from the president’s perspective. For instance, if you look at the power generating and distribution in the country which has kept the Nation in perpetual darkness, you will realize that it is as a result of the past governments not doing what the president is doing now.”

According to him, the president was threatened and blackmailed like his predecessors to drop the idea of privatization of NEPA/Power Holding Company of Nigeria. The difference was that while others buckled under the pressure, the president dammed the consequences and went ahead. “Today, he has achieved where others failed. Much as it looks like the situation of power supply is still the same, that singular action of the president will change the economic equation of the country in the next few years”, Ojiri said.

“Again, look at the National Conference which will ultimately fashion an appropriate constitution for the country and set the tone for a more progressive Nigeria. Every other government in the past played to the gallery, but President Goodluck Jonathan took the bull by the horns, not minding what anyone would say. Believe it or not, the country will be the better for it. These are enduring legacies, legacies that can turn the country around. That is what I consider creativity in governance, not conventional things. I expect the state governors to key into the president’s creativity”.

The leader of the IRBG delegation, Mr. Ambrose Njoku, speaking on behalf of other members said Imo state ordinarily ought to be ways ahead of many states of the federation, if the legacies of Chief Sam Mbakwe of the blessed memory were kept alive. He said it was an unfortunately incident that subsequent governments not only discarded the Mbakwe Master plan, but  made a mess of the industries he established.

“Chief Sam Mbakwe began what would have been an industrial revolution in Imo state, what ought to turn Imo state as the industrial Headquarters of Africa. As far back as 1981, he had foreseen that power supply would play vital roles in industrialization and decided to build a power plant at Amaraku, independent of NEPA. He established one industry in each of the 21 local governments of the state which were expected to attract subsidiary industries, provide jobs for the people of the state,” Njoku said.

Njoku lamented the demise of those laudable projects and the turning of Imo state to a civil service and trading state which has robbed the state of sufficient internally generated revenue to grow the state, making it to depend largely on federal allocation. It has become imperative that any incoming government in the state must be ready to inject new ideas in the running of the state so as to take it to Eldorado.