Okorocha’s Free Education Is Only A Slogan – Capt Emma Ihenacho

Captain Emmanuel Ihenacho, the immediate past minister of Interior and a successful business man, who hails from Emekuku in Owerri North Local Council of Imo State is the state’s governorship candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) for the February polls. In this interview he, among others unfolds his plans for Imo, if voted into power.

Why are you vying for this position?
Our people for a long time have been denied the benefit of good governance. If we had good governance in place Imo would have developed more than it is now.

Some of the social problems like unemployment, endemic poverty and infrastructural decay would not have been as bad as it is today. So it is better that we take our destiny into our hands and not be on the sidelines all the time. We have to intervene by participating fully in the political process and by doing so I will be able to turn around the fortunes of our people through good governance. Continue after the cut...

How do you plan to handle unemployment and poverty?
Unemployment is simple to handle. There are no jobs. The economy is situated on false premises. The real economy is situated on the premise where you have manufacturing capacity, that manufacturing capacity will be responsible for producing the bulk of the consumer goods and items that are consumed within the economy. Their processing also creates job opportunities; people can work and earn good wages. This will afford them all the good things of life. Unfortunately we have had administrations which have concentrated on sharing money from the sale of crude oil from the federal government. 

Dubious projects

The state government through dubious projects and contracts waste the money without regard for establishing companies with capacity for producing goods that will improve the living standards of the masses. Our people are suffering the consequences of that short sightedness.

How will you do things different from the past government?I am in the position to do unbiased evaluation of the past governments because I was not part of it. When I review the achievements of previous administration in Imo state and compare those achievement with what I would have achieved had I been the person in charge of the state, I realise that I have more experience, I am more travelled and by implication more exposed. I also noticed that in a lot of cases I am more educated so the chances are that I would have performed better.

So my entrance into politics and the contest for governorship positions is based on my firm belief that we should descend from our comfort zone and enter the creeks to wrestle with the alligators that are holding our people hostage. Our people should not be left to endure this inhumanity any more.
Somebody has to be out there speaking out for the common man and the destitute. It is not sufficient to buy keke (tricycles) and give Imolites and think they are being improved.

They are not being improved at all instead poverty is being legitimised and institutionalised. What should be done is to empower Imo citizens through employment in various manufacturing industries that will produce goods and services that can be consumed as well as exported.
It is only when this is done that we can secure our future because at this point in time, our future is essentially dependent on the availability of crude oil that is sold and the money is shared.

You can infer from the news reports that crude oil price has been falling drastically that there is no money to share any more. It appears that the fall in oil price might even worsen.

This is at variance with the past when Nigerians could beat their chest boldly and say they were very lucky because they had crude oil which they sold to countries like America and earn hard currency. With the advent of technology America is now self sufficient in the crude oil they need to power their economy, so Nigeria has lost that market.

Also, most of the countries in Africa are now self sufficient in crude oil production. They can even export, so oil has become a resource that is shrinking all the time. It is envisaged that in the near future, there will be no money accruing from crude oil to be shared by the state governments in Nigeria.

So this is the time to bring on board Imolites who have experience and expertise that can be harnessed in establishing the manufacturing sector that will employ Imolites. Some of this products will be exported and by so doing improve the living standard of the people of Imo state.

What is your view on comments that Ada palms, Concord hotel and some other establishments have been run aground by the present government?

I am not in the race to discuss such matters but I know there are other goldmine industries we can establish in the state to add real value to the lives of the people residing in the state. We can manufacture other goods for export, we can sharpen toothpick, we can bake biscuits, we can produce meat from piggery.

There are so many things we can do, part of which can be geared to the satisfaction of the local market and the extras for export, the slogan should be export or die”

When Chief Sam Mbakwe was the governor of the state, being a visionary leader, he established about 35 industries in four years. He even established the first independent power plant in the state in Amaraku. Unfortunately, immediately he left his successor who had no clue as to what Mbakwe’s vision was, sold the industry as scrap. This was very sad and today many years after, we have to revert to this issue.

Creation of linkages

We have to stand on the platform of the industrialisation effort of late Sam Mbakwe and perform better by diversifying the different products we can produce, creating linkages between industrialisation, the skill requirements and the curricula that students study in the different higher institutions. There must be an integrated economic blue print that must be developed and religiously followed not simply running an economy of opening roads and commissioning boreholes.

Do you have any plan for rural areas?I have plans for the rural areas; we cannot make strategic plans that concentrate on the urban areas and leave the rural areas. The other day I went to a church function in Ezi Obodo, we nearly had to swim to get to Ezi Obodo and the place is not a river rine area. Their needs are so bad and there are gullies everywhere. I have to deal with roads in the rural areas because you cannot sustain economy without having cottage industries in the rural areas, and there must be a means of evaluating what they produce and bringing them to the urban areas.

Some people are saying that the free education in Imo state is in shambles what will you do about that?The free education in Imo state is only a slogan, it is a shame. We do not want that. People complain that it is not really free. People point out that there are some payments made under the table. The central thing is not what you pay but the quality of the education. Those that are graduating from the so called free education schools are they able to find jobs?

Culled Vanguard Newspaper.