What informed your decision to join the race for the governorship seat of Imo State?
Chief Chuka Julius Odom: I declared my intention to run for the governorship seat for Imo State because I believe that our people have been contentiously short-changed of the dividends of democracy and good governance. Long-suffering Imolites have patiently endured untold deprivation, insecurity, poor infrastructure, inadequate and poor healthcare facilities, disrespect for the rule of law, military-style democracy and many other
afflictions. We have got to an unprecedented peak in what I call “deceptive Governance”. The time has come to redress your regrets. It is time to put round pegs in round holes. This daily white-wash can no longer hide our acute tooth decay. This is the time for Imo people to come for real change. What I assured Imo people is that if voted into power, my administration shall be a government of Change for Growth and Development (C4GD).
If voted into power, what would be your major focus as the governor of the state?
Odom: My major interest if I become governor is to build a knowledge-driven
economy in Imo State. The present government has made some hasty progress in the area of free education but this has largely been shallow and has not translated into the quality that we need in order to be truly competitive in the new order of things. Therefore, with me as the governor, we will setup strong and structured framework to review and set standards for quality across all levels of our educational institutions. This framework must look at profoundly empowering both the educated (students) and the educators (the teachers) with the required knowledge, tools and environment to drive quality learning.
We shall also critically balance the population of our schools with a commensurate number of well-trained and adequately remunerated teachers. We will enact schemes for continuous training of our teachers in order for them to be at par with their counterparts in institutions abroad. Again we shall provide adequate tools and equipment for research and learning. These we plan to achieve without sole dependence on TET fund from the Federal Government as it is largely the case today.
What are your plans to transform the state industrially?
Odom: It would be the time for Imo people to think out-of-the-box and do things differently. Unfortunately Imo people have watched helplessly as the labour market and industries grew in other states while we grappled with training of labour. This is why the youths of Imo are among the worst hit by unemployment in Nigeria.
I sincerely think that time has come to stop running round in circles and move the state to the next level. The role of government is not to build and run industries but rather to provide the enabling environment to attract private sector investment which should include favourable legislation, qualitative infrastructure and institutional support grants as the case may be.
This is the only sustainable way to grow the economy of our state.
Agriculture as the major occupation of Imo people seems to have not been given necessary attention; what is your blueprint for the sector?
Odom: Food security equals to national security and applies to states and local government alike. So under my administration serious attention would be given to agriculture. Come next year when we shall form government, we intend to adopt art industry strategy to agriculture rather than an approach akin to forestation and land reclamation.
Our strategy for agriculture will look at the entire cycle and ecosystem from the farmers, land, crops, raw materials and infrastructure, tools for mechanization, finance, to the market for produce, food preservation, and spin off products and industries that can be created or supported from it.
Brazil today majors in bio fuels which is an end product of agricultural produce. Other countries also support industries like healthcare, tanning, building and various industries from agriculture.
How would you handle the issue of infrastructural development?
Odom: We need to rebuild an Imo State where indigenes enjoy basic amenities
and above all good health to be able to function. It is very unfortunate that the State-owned healthcare facilities are poorly equipped and in various states of despair. We have watched while healthcare and the lives of our indigenes has been reduced to uncompleted projects with grossly inflated budgets which are mere funnels for diversion of state owned funds. A systemic approach to healthcare must grow from improving the standards of existing facilities first to building new ones. We can make lmo State the healthcare capital of Nigeria but we must start from existing facilities. At present there is a surge at the Federal Medical centre in Owerri because of an outright collapse of the state owned-
facilities. A quick example is the Specialist hospital in Umuguma where staffs are being owed salaries for months. This is a disaster and the time has come to put an end to this. Come 2015 we will give healthcare the attention it deserves in Imo State. A system of welfare will be put in place to subsidize healthcare for categories of people in Imo State, for instance the old, indigent and unemployed. Maternal health care and mortality will also be given priority. We will overhaul the entire system to give lmo indigenes the healthcare systems they deserve.
