“The honour is in recognition of your decades of meritorious, selfless and outstanding services that have positively impacted the lives of the good people of Imo State, the nation and humanity generally.”
That was an excerpt from a letter from the Vice Chancellor, Federal University of Technology, Owerri, (FUTO), Prof Mrs Nnenna Otti, to the Governor of Imo State, His Excellency, Senator Hope Uzodimma, CON, conveying the decision of the university to award him an Honorary Doctorate Degree in Management (DMT) at its 36th convocation ceremony holding on Saturday, December 7, 2024. The Vice Chancellor attracted national attention last year as an incorruptible scholar when, as the Returning Officer for the Abia State Governorship election, she courageously upheld the will of the people, in spite of extraneous pressure. Second, FUTO, though located in Owerri, the capital of Imo State, is outside the influence of Uzodimma. If any of the three state-owned universities had conferred this honour on the governor, perhaps, it would have been viewed with suspicion. Finally, since the inception of FUTO, almost 40 years ago, it is not on record that it has awarded any Doctorate Degree to a serving governor of Imo State.
Why then was this prophet recognised at home from a no-nonsense Vice Chancellor from a federal institution outside his influence and in a record-setting manner? The aforementioned letter says it all, but the truth is that “you can not put on a light and hide it under the bushel”. Uzodimma through his superlative performance as governor in the last five years and his inspirational leadership has demonstrated incredible responsibility, making him the shining light from the East.
When FUTO declared that Uzodimma had positively impacted lives for decades, it was no embellishment. As a private citizen, the governor was known as a great philanthropist who financed the education of many young men and women and set up businesses for thousands of others. As a Senator, between 2011 and 2019, Uzodimma served the nation meritoriously, saving billions of Naira for the country through his cost saving services as the Chairman, Senate Committee on Customs and Excise.
When he was sworn in as Governor of Imo State, Senator Hope Uzodimma met a state in coma, with deficit infrastructure, rampant corruption in high places and disoriented civil servants and the public who had lost hope in governance as a result of failed promises by past administrations. Instead of bemoaning the rot, he rolled up his sleeves and set to work.
It didn’t take long before Uzodimma made the difference. Although payment of salaries should ordinarily not be counted as an achievement by the government, but in a state where civil servants were being owed for months and pensioners were dying due to unpaid pensions, the administration of Senator Hope Uzodimma received applause from the workers for reversing their misery. Today, salaries and pensions are not only paid regularly and promptly, pensioners have started receiving their gratuities, an entitlement denied them for 20 years. This Christmas, like the past four years, the workers will receive a 13th month salary in the spirit of Uzodimma’s Shared Prosperity.
But what really attracted the attention of Nigerians who live or pass through the roads in the state was the rapid rehabilitation and construction of roads long abandoned by the previous governments. By the time he faced another election last year, Uzodimma had built a record 120 quality roads spread across the three senatorial zones of the State. Notable amongst these roads are the dualized Owerri-Orlu Road and of course the Owerri-Okigwe Road which had been intractable for decades. All the roads connecting Imo to neighbouring states of Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi and Enugu also received attention while each of the 27 local government areas had five kilometres of roads constructed for them to ease movement of goods and services to the urban centres. These are verifiable achievements that those who use these roads can readily testify to.
It is remarkable that as Uzodimma was attending to the infrastructures, he tackled the education sector, a subject of interest to the FUTO authorities who also benefited from the governor’s roads revolution with the construction of the first phase of the Naze-Ihiagwa-Nekede Road. Hope Uzodimma on assumption of office, established two more universities in the state to ensure that thousands of Imo youths seeking admission to tertiary institutions get placements. Currently, he is funding three universities, one polytechnic and one college of education in addition to three schools of nursing and midwifery. He was also instrumental to the final takeover and conversion to a university, the former Alvan Ikoku College of Education, Owerri. He also spearheaded the takeover and conversion to Federal University Teaching Hospital, Owerri, the former Federal Medical Centre, Owerri. Today, his intervention in the education sector has seen the rehabilitation of primary and secondary schools and the provision of laboratory equipment. The results have been breathtaking. Imo continues to lead in public examinations like WAEC, JAMB, and Nigerian Law School.
This intervention has been replicated in the health sector with the resuscitation of Imo State University Teaching Hospital, Orlu, which for years couldn’t produce medical doctors, but is now delivering its core mandate. All the schools of nursing and midwifery, whose accreditation had been withdrawn, have bounced back. Imo Specialist Hospital Umuguma is now functional, while three brand new general hospitals have been built and existing ones rehabilitated and equipped.
To the glory of God, Governor Hope Uzodimma has returned hope to millions of disillusioned Imo youths. At his signal, the government made space for our young innovators and developers to excel. Through ambitious youth empowerment programmes, thousands of youths have been taken off the unemployment market. Through the Skillup Imo project, no fewer than 40,000 youth have received training in digital technology and economy and have been empowered. Some are working abroad, hundreds more are working remotely for international organizations from Imo, while others have their own businesses. The results are impressive yet there are only the first fruits of Uzodimma’s transformational leadership. By the time we will feel the fiscal and social impact of these young stars, we would have come full circle in migrating from an analogue to a digital economy.
Indeed, with his monumental achievements in infrastructure, human capital development and urban renewal, Uzodimma has turned his attention to the industrialization of the state to move it away from the civil service oriented economy which it has been reeling under for decades since 1976. Currently, the administration is committed to dredging the Orashi River to the Atlantic Ocean to open up economic activities not only for Imo State but the South East. In the next few weeks, the state will start enjoying an uninterrupted power supply as a result of its huge investment in the power sector. An automated civil service which has perfected the ease of doing business, has received applause from the World Bank. The state recently won the World Bank’s trophy under the States Action on Business Enabling reforms (SABER), and was rewarded with Four million United States dollars!
Right now, Imo is primed to be the industrial hub of the Southeast. The rehabilitation of Concorde Hotel, the building of the Assumpta Roundabout Flyover and other ongoing activities point to a way of industrialization never seen in the state before.
Therefore, when FUTO confers the Honorary Doctorate Degree in Management to Senator Hope Uzodimma, on Saturday, it will be justified in its assertion that the Imo governor deserves it for his decades of outstanding and meritorious services not only to Imo State people, but Nigerians and humanity.
Congratulations, Your Excellency.
Emelumba is the Commissioner for Information, Public Orientation and Strategy of Imo State