Opinion I Owelle, Thank You For Heeding My Advice

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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