OPINION: Open letter to Governor Okorocha – Re: construction of 290 secondary schools.

30th May 2018
The Governor of Imo state,
Owelle Rochas Anayo Okorocha

His Excellency,

RE: BUILDING OF 290 NEW SECONDARY SCHOOLS BEFORE SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER.
; I decided to write you this letter on hearing your plans to build 290 new Secondary Schools before October 2019. Please His Excellency, rehabilitate, remodel and rebuild the existing secondary schools. What’s the point in building new secondary schools when the existing ones are dilapidated and under-enrolled?

You set out to build 27 General hospitals early, some of us advised that you shelve the idea and do the following instead:-

• Revamp and equip the primary healthcare centers
• Establish 9 super general hospitals fully equipped with ultramodern diagnostic equipments.
• Rehabilitate, remodel and re-equip the existing general hospitals.
• Develop 3 super equipped tertiary hospitals to compliment IMSUTH.
• Upgrade , remodel and re-equip IMSUTH

You ignored the advice and went ahead to build 27 buildings in the name of General Hospitals, those buildings have remained what they are, building, just buildings; most of them have even been over grown with weed.

You set out, His Excellency to build 305 primary schools as a way to retire the over 2 billion naira, Roche Group was supposed to pay to Imo state for purchase of Adapalm. We again advised that you:

• Overhaul , remodel and re-equip the entire primary schools in the state phase by phase something close to or even better than what Chibuike Amaechi did with River State Primary Schools.

But you went ahead and built the 305 precast primary school buildings. His Excellency, visit any of the primary schools built by Amaechi in River state and come back to your own state and compare.

Today, you are talking about 290 new secondary schools, His Excellency what happened to the Young Scientist College you built at old IBC, how is it fairing.

His Excellency, visit Governor Dickson of Bayelsa state, borrow a leaf from what he is doing with Model schools in his state.

Yes most of the secondary schools have been handed back to missions, can’t government step in and fully remodel these schools in partnership with the missions, can’t we remodel, rehabilitate and re-equip the community secondary schools to give our state secondary education the long overdue facelift. Why build new schools His Excellency?

I commend the rehabilitation and facelift given to Emmanuel College and Akwakuma girls Secondary school, please let us extend that to other schools instead of building new ones.

Yours Sincerely,

O.C Speedwell