Okoro: Imo’s Potential Remains Unharnessed
Chidi Okoro, a businessman turned politician, says he has what it takes to unlock the inherent potential in Imo State. He spoke with Shola Oyeyipo who presents the excerpts:
Why do you want to be governor of Imo State? Politics is very important. And I have made it clear, in the private sector, you can look at my background to see how I have done. I have worked across several industries; telecoms, food and beverages. I have become the Managing Director of a major PLC in Nigeria and I have also dealt in pharmaceutical as well. I have been the Managing Director of a major food company in Nigeria; a joint venture between Nigerians and South Africans.
I have also been on the board of a state security trust fund. If you look at the way our state and Nigeria is going, I think that question can be refrained to why shouldn’t I be part of the process when it opens up?
In 2013, I wrote a book: ‘Another Perspective’ and since I wrote that book I started work with a group of people; Imo Arise Network. We built that group. Over time we did major researches on Imo State. We checked on different sectors. We looked at the opportunities and challenges and we have been working together.
This group is made up of over 300 members directly and another 5000 people indirectly. Over time, we have built an alternative reality for Imo State. And as the political space is opening up, members of the group think it is time for us to get directly involved and some of them have approached me to get involved so that we can play out that alternative reality that will lift Imo State up.
I think the Imo people want to see competence and character. They want to see their lives get better.
Imo presents fantastic opportunities. At the moment we are not harnessing the opportunities. We are thinking of how we can unlock the opportunities to make life better for our people.
How do you intend to navigate the political terrain where some people have established solid structure? I think the Imo people want to see better life. I am a member of APGA party. Its a party that thinks about equity, justice and fairness. I think they will be looking for superior candidate that can lead them to victory.
And also, the structure I have now are the people. When we share our blueprint at the right time, they will buy into it. And I think the Imo people are the best structure.
The outgoing governor has vowed to return his son-in-law as the next governor and he is solidly on ground, do you think you have the arsenals to challenge him? Like I said, the power comes from the people who want a new perspective. They want a track record, they want competence, they want someone who can come and move their lives forward.When the time comes we will see if we have the right arsenals but we have superior blueprint.
The challenge is about convincing the people, how do you go about that? For Imo State, the literacy level is about 89 percent. Its about the highest in Nigeria. They know exactly what they are looking for. If they hear what they want, they will shift. Imo people are ready for a turn around now and that is what we are bringing to the table.
What are you really bringing on the table? It depends on the sector. First of all, we want to bring sustainable, inclusive and diversified development. We are going to look at different sectors. We are going to apply community healthcare strategy. Its cheaper and more accessible to the people. So, there are 27 local government areas. Can we make sure everyone would be within maximum of a kilometre to medicare facility?
Imo has thousands of doctors outside Nigeria, can we launch something like a medical village so that the guys in diaspora can deliver medicare facilities without having to come in and put in tons of cash.
The other one we can do through mass media. There are six elements that kill people in Imo State, which if you hear you will be shocked; malaria, lower respiratory track infection, hypertension, diarrhoea, that we can manage.
What are your blueprints for poverty reduction and youth unemployment? Imo is in a very low place. Unemployment and underemployment is 34 percent. Youth unemployment is 58.8 percent. Every year we have 50, 000 people that are ready to work, probably 15, 000 pick up jobs. So, we have 35, 000 over hands. Meaning that in another 10 years we would probably have 500, 000 people out of job. At the moment we have about 300, 000 people seeking jobs.
These are facts that we have. So, we are going to have six industrial clusters for light manufacturing. We want to make Imo State a light manufacturing hub.
Another chance Imo State has which no one talks about is that it ranks 6 - 7 in consumption of packaged goods in Nigeria. If we can consume it means if we can produce, we can sell. So the six light industrial hubs, what that does for us is that jobs spring up.
Imo is known as hotel city. There are about 1200 hotel rooms. They are medium and low level hotel rooms. What if we transform from hotel city to conferencing city, hospitality and entertainment city? Add value and create thousands of jobs.
We can invite private people to set up more educational institutions to create more jobs. And in agriculture, our strategy is farm to shelve. You produce stuff, package and put it in the store.
We are also planning technical entrepreneurship; plumber, carpenter, electricians and all of these skill sets. The Imo Arise Group is planning that we will set up an institution that will spring up about 2000 minimum technical entrepreneurs and in that way we will have jobs. That if you do this that is the outcome. Yes we can!
And like I said, Imo State is due for a turn around. Things are not right.
Sometimes you will be disappointed that the people you are banking on simply collect money and vote for the highest bidders. Have you thought about that? When the time comes, we will be able to convince them. We will try to advance superior argument. We had a research done in 2015/2016 on Imo state, so we have absolute understanding not the language, of the issue and the opportunities that are available. I think if we speak your language and we show you how we move from point A to point B, I think the people are stronger than a few rich people.
Is it true that there is no zoning in Imo state? Some parties have that but it is very important that we recognise what is called equity. I have nothing against party saying it is important that we give everybody a chance, which is not bad in itself. There is nothing bad in giving everybody a fair chance.
Being from Okigwe zone which has only six councils against Orlu zone which has 12 and Owerri which has 9, isn’t the odd against you? The man from Orlu is not wealthier than the man from Okigwe and Owerri zones. They are all looking for good life, good education for their children, good medicare; they are all going through the same pain. They all want better life.
I think the man from Orlu will see from our superior blueprint that it is going to be much better with us at the helm of affairs because we have his interest at heart.
What is your assessment of the present governor? We are talking about Imo State which is bigger than the current governor or myself. So the first interest is Imo State.
They want good leadership. It is not to rate anyone and we must give everyone his due because leading a state for seven years, it has taken enough strength and our party is about respect. It is not about attacking. We are not here to criticise anyone, we are here to look for opportunities to building a better state.