Nigerian governor to commission Akufo-Addo statue
The Governor of Imo state in Nigeria, Rochas Okorocha is set to commission a statue of President Akufo-Addo in Owerri.
Okorocha,
popularly called ‘Rochas”, is a reported billionaire and colorful
character who has governed Imo state in the southeast of Nigeria, since
2011. He is well known for his education philanthropy.
He has already erected similar statues of Liberian President Ellen
Johnson Sirleaf and Jacob Zuma in South Africa amid a backlash from
Nigerian citizens.
President Akufo-Addo's statue |
It is unclear why the Imo State government has erected a statue of the
Ghanaian President but in the case of Zuma’s statue, the governor said
it was in recognition of his contribution towards educating African
children in South Africa.
However, this did not prevent his citizens from raising questions as the Zuma statue was unveiled.
The public focused on the large statue of the South African president rather than the philanthropy attached to the trip.
Many
raised questions about the alleged cost of 520 million naira (over $1.4
million)—given Imo state’s more pressing socio-economic needs.
Others questioned why Nigeria’s own leaders have not been celebrated
in the same way. The political records and accusations of corruption
levelled against both leaders eroded any confidence in the monument.
Undeterred by the criticism, there are reports that the governor plans to unveil six more statues of African leaders.
Governor
Okorocha who sanctioned the building of the Akufo-Addo statue is
expected to commission it at a yet to be announced date.
It will
be recalled that Nana Akufo-Addo, as president-elect, visited Imo State
for the celebration of their Thanksgiving Day as the Special Guest of
Honour.
The Imo State government has responded to the call by a human rights
group, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP,
demanding the probe of Governor Rochas Okorocha over the statues erected
in honour of two African leaders, Jacob Zuma and Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf.
SERAP
had called on the Code of Conduct Bureau, CCB, and Independent Corrupt
Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC to collaborate
with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC for a joint
investigation of ‘incompatibility and/or apparent and conflict of
interest’.
The group had claimed that Governor Rochas “may have spent over ‘N1 billion’ of public funds to build the statues.”
However, in a statement by the chief press secretary to the governor,
Sam Onwuemeodo, on Tuesday, the government said the state agreed with
SERAP’s call for probe.
“First, we want to solemnly subscribe to
SERAP’s call for probe. We welcome the call. Our only concern is that
SERAP contradicted itself by also passing judgements. It would have
stopped at the call for probe to show they meant well. But they went
ahead to pass judgements and thereby jeopardising what should have been
their innocent call for probe,” the statement read.
“SERAP also
said the statues might have cost N1 billion. Then, how would SERAP
address the issue of cost again if at the end of the probes, the amount
is either far higher or far below what they quoted?” he said.
“Again,
what if at the end of the probe, it is discovered that the statues were
not funded from government’s purse, when SERAP had already talked about
‘apparent misuse of public resources’?” he added.
“Our concern
too is that people deliberately tell unfounded lies. A week ago, all the
newspapers had reports on states owing salaries and the chairman of the
Imo State branch of NLC, Comrade Austin Chilakpa said the “State
government is up to date in the payment of workers’ salary” (see Nation
newspaper, Sunday November 5, 2017, pg13). In other words, the state
does not owe workers including teachers. On the issue of pension, the
government cleared all the arrears in December 2016 and has begun to pay
monthly. These pieces of information have been there in public domain”,
the statement said.
Source: Graphic.com.gh
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