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Fela Anikulapo Kuti opted for revolutionary political activism with his music. I remember Fela in one of his songs shouting ‘Original Suffer Head’. In Imo State , Public Primary and Secondary Schools are the original suffer heads. The education sector in the state is completely in rot. There is a crisis in our education sector.
There is a need for urgent radical intervention if we must save our schools from total collapse. In our public primary and secondary schools there is serious infrastructure decay. No meaningful learning has been eroded, with total absence of basic facilities. Our primary and secondary school teachers have been reduced to ‘Kpunkpun Ogele’.
The schools are not funded as dry laboratories; congested classrooms; rotten buildings, poor conditions of learning; are the order of the day. Imo State is fabulously rich enough to fund our public primary and secondary schools without hassles. But the problem is that the governor of the state, Hope Uzodinma subscribed to the neo-liberal capitalist idea that education and other social amenities in the state must remain rotten and in disorder.
Uzodinma’s government toed the path of austerity policies. Schools in Imo today cannot afford to provide ordinary chalks and printed examination questions for its schools.
The government deliberately refused to fund public schools in the state and encouraged private schools to thrive. Public resources that were in the past budgeted for social amenities have now become fair games for treasury looters and corrupt politicians. Businessmen who yearly spend billions on political campaigns are in turn compensated through government policies, while politicians equally compensate themselves with large chunks of annual budget, earmarked for their emolument and looting.
The result of the government policy of under funding of schools in Imo is the tragic conditions on our campuses today. From the bed-bug infested mattresses at the prestigious Imo State University Teaching Hospital Hostels in Orlu and the poor health infrastructure and official negligence, to the decayed hostel facilities and dirty toilets and bathrooms at University of Agriculture Umuagwo, things are so bad for Imo students nowadays. It is unfortunate that the student bodies we have in Imo are not up to the task as they have completely turned into instruments in the hands of the State. Instead they have engaged in one scandal upon another.
Where are the jobs in Imo State? Where are the teaching jobs that governor Uzodinma announced last year during his campaign for second tenure of which thousands applied ? Till date, no teacher has been employed. Vum vam has happened to the teaching jobs.
A governor who cannot create jobs cannot claim good governance .Imo State unemployment rate is high. Thousands of Imolites are willing to work but are not employed. Unemployment is the number one issue in Imo state today. In an SP poll, 89 percent of Imo citizens cited unemployment as the state’s most important problem. Imo people need jobs. That is how they can put food on the table. Every day, thousands of our unemployed brothers and sisters scan the pages of newspapers and websites for job advertisements. Why can’t we create jobs in Imo State ?
Unemployed graduates, unemployed construction workers, unemployed engineers, unemployed teachers, unemployed security guards, unemployed cooks, unemployed waiters and those desperate for a job in Imo can no longer wait. Job is number one priority in Imo State and Uzodinma cannot continue to confuse Imo people with some false claims and abracadabra.The question remains where are the jobs in Imo State? What happened to the much advertised teacher’s job in the State?
Some are saying I should stop talking. I will keep talking so they can hear. The anti-poor policies of governor Uzodinma have made more and more Imolites poorer and the rich minority richer. Corruption among the elite has not only remained, it has become more sophisticated since February 2020. Imo State has become one of the most unequal societies in the nation, with a particular cabal and their thieving baboons getting 90% of the state’s total income while Imolites are left to struggle for just 10%. Currently Imo faces gargantuan problems in all areas of socio-economic and political endeavors. The State has further nosedived under the Uzodinma’s government, lower than any other time since 1999. If you visit our LGA’s the only conclusion you will come to is that the uzodinma’s government has failed the Imo people resoundingly. No LGA election since the governor came into power. According to a Famous Naija opinion poll conducted in April 2023 , 95% of Nigerians assessed Uzodinma’s performance in Imo as very bad; but only 5% assessed his performance as very good and fairly well. In May 2024 another Famous naija opinion poll was conducted and 93% of Nigerians think the present Uzodinma’s government has performed very badly in improving the living standard of the poor while only 7% think he was doing well.
As Imo State continues to bleed under the Onwa Oyoko’s chains of misery wrapped firmly around its neck and the abyss within shouting distance, my prayer remains Save us Oh God.
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