Imo guber: Ihedioha and politics of abandoned Nsu tiles

It is now clear that the outcome of February 2015 gubernatorial elec­tion in various states of the federa­tion will be based on the evaluation of delivery of promises by the incum­bents and assessment of the veracity of claims by the other contestants as well as assessment of the abilities of each contestant to deliver on promises made.

A major campaign issue for guberna­torial hopefuls in Imo State is the Nsu Ceramics and Tiles Industry, which was established by the the Dr. Sam Mbakwe administration 32 years ago and aban­doned by subsequent administrations. It was, therefore, understandable why at a recent meeting between leading guberna­torial candidate, Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Lagos-based Professionals of Imo- State origin held at Southern Sun Hotel, Ikoyi, Lagos, Chief Paschal Egerue asked Ihedioha point blank what he intends to do with the abandoned Nsu Ceramics and Tiles Industry after his hopeful victory at the polls on February 28. This crucial question was against the back drop of the widely reported massive looting and evacuation of the equipment at the site at the behest of the incumbent government to unknown destination.
Hon. Ihedioha, to the applause of all present, promised to build and complete the Nsu Ceramics and Tiles Industry in its location within his first tenure. He also promised to look into the long abandoned General hospital project located at Umu­ezeala Nsu, insisting that his promises on these projects should not be taken as mere political promise but promises born out of his strong desire to correct the errors and transgressions of the Rochas Okorocha administration.
Ihedioha restated his opinion that the Rochas administration was dissipating energy on unplanned and unbudgeted projects just to deceive the electorate and through this grand design to wreck the economy of Imo State. He also stated that the governor had in this reckless endeav­our, rendered the Imo State House of As­sembly prostrate and now operates without the required checks and balances.
It will be recalled that Nsu Ceramics and Tiles Industry was established 32 years ago by Sam Mbakwe administration and located in Agbaghara Nsu. It was a mega billion naira project designed to utilise the huge deposit of clay in the locality to create employment for the teaming popula­tion of youths in the state. Despite huge equipment imported and kept at the site, the project came to an abrupt stop when Mbakwe’s administration was sacked by the Buhari’s coup in 1983. In 2011, the Rochas Okorocha’s administration claimed it had entered into partnership with an Italian firm to resuscitate the industry under a Public Private Participation (PPP) arrangement. The projection was that on completion and full capacity, the industry would be producing 25,000 square metres of tiles daily. Towards this objective, the Rochas administration also claimed that N1 billion was allocated for the last phase of construction of the tiles industry.
However, evidently, against these lofty claims, the Nsu Ceramics and Tiles Industry seems abandoned again. The Nsu community thus feels highly cheated, shortchanged, used and abandoned. This is because the governor’s various visits to the site, his promises and sermons all ended up in a curious evacuation of the equipment and machineries at the site to an unknown destination. All manner of work at the site has now stopped and with the government making little or no comment about the future of the industry.
The confusion over the company and its equipment worsened by allegation of the lawmaker, representing Ehime Mbano in the state House of Assembly, Hon. King­sley Dimaku that Governor Okorocha de­clared publicly that the late Mbakwe made a mistake by siting the company in a place without electricity. However, he punctured Okorocha’s argument by revealing that he had introduced an Italian company, which was not only ready to build power generat­ing plant to power the company but also supply light to nearby communities, add­ing that the governor frustrated his efforts in the name of politics. Dimaku vowed that Okorocha must account for the equip­ment that were carted away in due time and tell the people where the equipment were taken to and for what purpose.
It is incomprehensible why a viable and all-important project as the tiles company could be so brazenly tossed overboard when the area has abundant clay deposit buried in the womb of the host com­munity, which is the major raw material required by the industry to thrive.
Chief Egerue’s audacious question to Chief Emeka Ihedioha,which elicited promise to revamp the industry, has, obvi­ously gladdened the hearts of not only Nsu indigenes, but also the entire Okigwe Zone, particularly Ehime Mbano and Isiala Mbano local council areas and endeared Ihedioha’s candidature to the populace. They eagerly anticipate a day when the company will come on stream, with its consequent job creation as well as contri­bution to the state economy.
It is inevitable that as we go into the 2015 election, the expectation is that poli­ticians should stop toying with the indus­trial future of the state and make concrete achievable promises. The entire Imo State looks up to Hon. Emeka Ihedioha to fulfill his promise of building and completing Nsu Ceramics and Tiles Industry, if he is elected. Same burden will also fall on anyone else, who becomes the governor of Imo State after the February 2015 election, to ensure that the state is aggressively industrialised and freed from dull eco­nomic and commercial activities that had reduced the state to the unenviable status of a ‘civil service state’, with a motley of hotels scattered across its entire landscape, particularly Owerri, the state capital.