OWELLE, THANK YOU FOR HEEDING MY ADVICE!
The
last time I painstakingly checked, my entire system was deeply pleased over a
recent pronouncement made by the Imo State governor, Chief Owelle Rochas
Okorocha in one of his numerous official outings targeted towards governance.
In that occasion, the number-one citizen disclosed to the gathering that the
ongoing General Hospitals in each of the Local Government Areas in the state
would be handed over to the private sector. Frankly, this is a welcome development.
There are two critical and pertinent
factors that must be treated as priorities while discussing governance. They
are education and health. The former remains the reason a given society is duly
informed and developed, whilst the latter guarantees a fit society. No doubt,
any society that is deformed and unfit is obviously not unlike an individual
seriously ravaged by a medical condition known as kwashiorkor.
The above fact could be the sole reason
Governor Okorocha thought it wise to declare free-education in the state’s
education sector. Till date, Imolites schooling in the state’s various
educational institutions ranging from nursery to tertiary, enjoy learning
without paying a dime. It could equally be the fact given in the above
paragraph that necessitated construction of General Hospitals in each LGA
across the state, alongside the Ochiedike Diagnostic Centre situated in New
Owerri, which is now complemented and functional.
Although the governor’s move to ensure that
every LGA in the state could boast of at least one standard hospital was
genuine and commendable, the moment he commenced the project about four years
ago, having appreciated him for the laudable political will employed therein
towards investing in the health sector, I unequivocally made him understand
that such project was rather inconsequential because it may end up causing more
harm than the intended good.
The project was ‘inconsequential’
because I strongly foresaw that such initiative might end up consuming our
treasury without achieving the desired motive of the initiator; inconsequential
because I knew such project might in the long run be tagged a ‘white-elephant
project’; unnecessary, because I was deeply of the notion that if other
existing hospitals across the state were put in order or revived, there
wouldn’t be any need of constructing new ones; because I knew when completed,
the state cannot manage the activities of the gigantic hospitals.
These, among others, were the reason I
candidly advised the workaholic governor to consider selling the project to
interested buyers in the private sector. When a government is investing in the
health sector, its primary aim is to cater for the well-being of the citizenry,
and not to make profit as it is usually the case in the private sector. Hence,
the government needs to regularly ensure that each of the facilities in the
hospitals are functional and in good shape, contrary to a private investor who
would concentrate mainly on the profit he stands to make in the process. In other
words, such amenities would be so cumbersome for the government to super-head
when in use.
So, being preoccupied with the notion that
Imo can adequately manage the hospitals when completed, in addition to the
already existing ones, is just like lying to ourselves. The state can never
have the muscle, financially and otherwise, to oversee the day-to-day running
of the hospitals under normal circumstance, let alone in an era when workers
are being begged to go home with seventy per cent of their salaries, and
pensioners aren’t sure what the next month entails.
So far, the fund that have been
channeled to the project in question from the state’s coffer is unimaginable,
thus I wouldn’t like the government to continue financing the initiative till
they are duly completed. Rather than doing this, let them be conceded to the
private sector at this stage, and not to wait until their completion is
witnessed. I wouldn’t want this thing to overweigh the governor who has other
more pressing tasks to attend to.
I’m aware when Gov. Okorocha eventually
pronounced that the hospitals would be leased to private investors, he was
actually referring to when they are thoroughly completed. Against this
backdrop, I wish to differ from his idea. I want to further advise the governor
not to wait till they are completed as well as equipped, before handing them
over to the private sector. There are other inevitable needs in the state that
require the urgent attention of the funds being utilized on the said
initiative.
Ensuring that the citizenry could
boast of sound health care is unarguable very crucial in any society, but let’s
concentrate on managing the hospitals we have already, instead of building what
could be addressed as ‘castle in the air’. I’m more concerned about
sustainability, and not establishment of an edifice.
I can imagine how much the ongoing
free-education, alone, is taking from the state’s coffer on an annual basis,
let alone when the burden is juxtaposed with a similar one. He who wears the
shoes knows where it pinches him most; I think I’m one of those clad in the
shoes, so I’m in a good position to acknowledge where the pain is being felt.
I’m a full-fledged citizen and equally a stakeholder in the state, thus I
needn’t any fellow or an outsider to intimate me on how the odyssey had fared
so far.
Ab
initio, one of the prime plights faced by successive governments has been
indulgence in initiation of white-elephant projects. Worse still, anyone who
happens to succeed a governor/president of a state or country, as the case may
be, would rather than ensuring that the projects he met on board are completed,
prefer initiating new ones at the expense of the state/country’s treasury,
forgetting that government is a continuum. It is in view of this ugly tradition
that I wouldn’t want Gov. Okorocha to leave any uncompleted project behind when
exiting from Douglas House come 2019, because such scenario might rubbish all
the good gestures he showcased while in office.
I would
be making a grievous mistake, or deceiving myself, if I fail to concur that the
governor – Owelle as he’s fondly called – is so passionate about education as
well as compassionate towards the sick and frail-looking individuals, but he
ought to note that whatever is worth doing, is definitely worth doing well.
Think about it!
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