…as Okorocha, sister-commissioner continue to receive knocks
Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State has failed to disclose the actual amount allocated to the newly created Ministry of Happiness and Purpose Fulfilment, headed by his younger sister, Mrs. Ogechi Ololo.
This discovery has now sparked off widespread criticisms among his political ‘enemies’.
The Point’s investigations, however, revealed that the state government’s decision not to mention the amount allocated to the new ministry was a deliberate attempt to protect the government from facing another round of criticisms; the type the creation of the ministry attracted.
The creation of the ministry had been met with vitriolic comments, as Nigerians, particularly Imo citizens, weighed in on what the role of the new commissioner appointed to oversee the ministry would be, apart from the proprietary of the governor appointing his own sister to head the ministry.
Our correspondent gathered that civil servants in the state were still battling, since the announcement of the new portfolio, to work out what the new commissioner’s role would be.
But according to a source close to the Government House, the new ministry will “guide other ministries and departments on what they must do to guarantee the citizens’ happiness and contribute better to the society.”
A source close to the state’s Ministry of Finance confirmed that the budget for the Ministry of Happiness was buried inside the budgeted sum of N190, 921,464,290 presented to the state House of Assembly for the 2018 fiscal Year, “to shield it from the public glare.”
To worsen things, he has hidden the budgetry allocation due to the ministry and everybody is aware of this. So, how will the people be happy? As you can see, the ministry has failed before take-off
However, allocations for some of the major ministries were earmarked in the budget christened “Budget of Consolidation and Continuity.” For instance, in the breakdown of the budget, Works and Transport has the bulk allocation, with N39, 811,300,000; followed by Education, with N13, 500,000,000. Agriculture and Environment had N7, 622,990,049, while the least allocation went to the Ministry of Culture, with N440, 244,096.
Reacting, a human rights activist and President, Ohaneze Disability Forum, Comrade Ihekwoaba Paul, described the failure of the governor to make public the budgetry allocation for the Happiness Ministry as a clear indication that his party, the APC, had failed in the state.
He said, “Imo has been unlucky when it comes to governance. What the governor has done is self-indicting. He knew that people were not happy and therefore, created a ministry of happiness as a confirmation of failure. It is a failure of APC governance.
“To worsen things, he has hidden the budgetry allocation due to the ministry and everybody is aware of this. So, how will the people be happy? As you can see, the ministry has failed before take-off.”
‘OLOLO IS GRAMMATICALLY DEFICIENT’
Meanwhile, controversies have also raged on the suitability of Ololo, the governor’s sister, as commissioner.
Ololo was initially named “Commissioner of Happiness and Couples Fulfillment” to the dismay of the Imo indigenes who wondered exactly what the function of the new commissioner
would be.
A day later, the governor’s office issued a correction to say that the correct title would be “Supervisory Commissioner for Happiness and Purpose Fulfillment”.
According to the government, her portfolio was erroneously published as “Commissioner of Happiness and Couples Fulfillment’ in the various media as a result of mischief.”
But Paul, the ODF president, wondered how the governor could appoint such “a lady who is found to be unworthy in…learning, as a commissioner.
“I just read what she (Ololo) posted on her twitter; her grammar was provocative and annoying,” Paul lamented.
According to him, Governor Okorocha created the ministry to siphon money. “It is a conduit pipe; the ministry has no focus and direction,” he
said.
He noted that in the past, Owerri, the state’s capital used to be the cleanest city in the federation, but that today, the whole city is covered with filth and dilapidated structures.
“I was driving through a tunnel constructed by the governor, and I was praying that the thing should not collapse on my head.”
The ODF president advised Imo people to vote out the governor’s candidate in 2019, saying, “Otherwise, if we make another mistake, the state is doomed forever.”
‘IT’S HAPPINESS MINISTRY FOR UNHAPPY PEOPLE’
Reacting to the controversy too, a social analyst, Nze Amadi Iwu, said the appointment of a happiness commissioner signified that the governor had accepted that he had created a lot of unhappiness since he took over the saddle as executive governor of the state in 2011.
He said, “Ever since then, we have had one misfortune or the other in the state; houses were destroyed, roads disorganised, traders displaced as their markets were relocated.
“Recently, the governor unveiled a series of statues, honouring world leaders, including Africa’s first female President, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, and South Africa President Jacob Zuma. The statues were criticised as a waste of money in a state plagued with economic difficulties.”
Investigations showed that Imo State owed external sources $60.2 million in 2016, while reports have it that the state owes thousands of pensioners and civil servants in the state.
Three weeks ago, Okorocha proposed a botched budget of N131 billion (equivalent of $360 million) for Imo State, with more than 77 percent of it sourced from federal allocations. Imo’s internally generated revenue in 2016 was 5,871,026,976, abysmally low, compared with figures recorded in other Southeastern states. The other states’ IGR for 2016 are as follows: Enugu, 14,235,512,227; Abia, 12,694,839,539; Ebonyi, 2,342,092,225; and Anambra, 14,791,175,253.
APPOINTMENT IN ORDER-GOVT
But the governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Sam Onwuemeodo, defended the new appointment in a statement, saying, “The choice of Mrs. Ogechi Ololo, a Master’s Degree holder in Computer Science, USA, who has been the Deputy Chief of Staff to the Governor on Domestic Matters and Food Security, can be described as a round peg in a round hole.”
