The Imo State Electoral Commission (ISIEC) in September announced candidates of the All Progressive Congress (APC) as the winners of the just concluded local government elections.
While analysts have described the election as a charade, it is a huge opportunity for the ruling All Progressive Congress to prove critics wrong and restore the council areas to it’s former glory.
Only recently, Imo state was ranked the fifth highest in unemployment rate at 10.9 percent despite being one of the highest producers of university graduates.
According to Statisense, Imo held the fifth position of states where unemployment of people within 15-65 years, a figure that was unmistakably high.
The local government system which is the closest government presence to the people had regrettably become a shadow of itself even as some like Orsu had remained under lock and key for over 24 months due to insurgency.
Since the arrest of the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, renegades hiding under the mask of agitators had wreaked havoc, destruction, and bloodshed on the state and people.
Already over 10 police divisions had been razed by insurgents while businesses had collapsed in places like Orsu local government area due to violent attacks. An action that has forced the teeming population to migrate from communities to Owerri, the state capital even as the cost of living had skyrocketed.
The emergence of these local government officials however presents the opportunity to restore the vibrancy of the council areas and increase employment opportunities through ingenious ways of job provision.
As members of the APC, Governor Hope Uzodimma in unison with party officials, and council officials, should evolve practical ways to revive the council areas which will give everyone a sense of belonging.
All police, Civil Defence, and DSS divisional headquarters should be reactivated, rebuilt where attacked, while information gathering prioritised to forestall any further breach of security of lives and properties.
The council chairmen should fashion out a way to make farming interesting again to the locals who are now chasing contracts.
Youths should be recruited to help secure their communities, and compliment the efforts of the security agencies.
Special appeal has to be made to security operatives who demonise youths with tattoos and other exuberances to desist forthwith and allow them grow up in their stride.
Council chairmen must revive the schools in their localities and help the young lads learn under a conducive atmosphere with functional restroom, not forgetting roads to aid easy transportation of farm produce to the capital and beyond.
The task to make Imo state the eastern heartland lies in the hands of the All Progressive Congress, governor Uzodimma, and council officials, and their time starts now.
