OLU IBEKWE

OKOROCHA VERSUS IHENACHO: REVELATIONS FROM A STATE UNDER SEIGE By Mike Onuoha In the last couple of weeks, Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo state have been responding to criticisms of his administrative style in such a vehement manner that observers wonder whether it is the some fellow who once gave the impression that it didn’t matter to him what people said. But the worry actually is that his change of style is costing the state much. In a strange and bizarre style, Governor Okorocha seems to have amassed a war chest to fight his critics. This is how we knew: A few months ago, his predecessor, Chief Ikedi Ohakim, handed to him a five-page letter in which the latter urged his successor to review some of the policies of his administration that are compounding the economic and social problems currently faced by the people, he, Okorocha, is supposed to be governing. That letter got leaked to the press and some newspapers published it verbatim, some in two pages, most i...

More African countries are looking East for inspiration on how to grow and manage their economies. According to a survey by Afrobarometer, China is the second-most popular international presence on the continent, only slightly behind the United States. “China rivals the United States in influence and popularity as a development model,” the report, released today (pdf), concluded. About 30% of 56,000 people surveyed in 36 African countries ranked the US as the most popular model for national development, compared to 24% who ranked China first. However, in several regions—Southern Africa, North Africa, and Central Africa—the popularity of China’s example of state-led economic growth matched or outpaced that of the US. Several aspects of China’s rise from one of the world’s poorest countries to its second-largest economy in the span of three decades likely resonate in African countries. Agriculture is the largest employer (pdf, p. 20) in sub-Saharan Africa, but Africa...

How Poor Leadership Is Failing Africa IN his book ‘How Europe Underdeveloped Africa’ Walter Rodney contends that Western capitalist nations developed through a process that underdeveloped African nations. It is true that the relationship between the colonies and their colonizers was nothing but parasitic. Economic wealth was transferred from the colonies to the colonizers. Thus I can safely argue that Western imperial powers set the stage for Africa’s underdevelopment. But being an African, to continue blaming Western powers for under developing Africa decades after most countries have gained independence, is simply failure to take responsibility. This is not to discount the continued negative effects of imperialism and neo-colonialism, but a sheer understanding that for us to turn things around we must take responsibility for own actions. We must ask ourselves tough questions, and provide brutally honest answers. We cannot keep blaming these imperial powers ...

With the advent of independence in 1966, Botswana did not have an attractive future by any standard. With a per capita income of $70, 12 km of paved road and a GDP dependent largely on agricultural exports, the country was on a socio-economic death row. However, with changes following the discovery of diamonds in the sub-Saharan country, it rose to become the antithesis of most countries in Africa. This has led to its marked development and stability over a period of over 4 decades. According to an article by Michael Lewin, Botswana had 7,000 kilometers of paved roads, and per capita income had risen to about $6,100 ($12,000 at purchasing power parity) by 2007, making the Southern African powerhouse an upper middle- income country comparable to Chile or Argentina. Its success is also evident in other measures of human development. At independence, life expectancy at birth was just 37 years. By 1990 it was an impressive 60, 10 years above the African average. ...

This is clearly a commendable lesson in grace that African leaders, Nigerian politicians in particular, can emulate.

The Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Owerri was established by the Federal Medical Government as a tertiary health institution to serve the good people of Imo State. Its structure and organization is clearly spelt out in the law establishing the institution as a Parastatal under the Federal Ministry of Health. A management board, approved by the President on the recommendation of the Minister of Health, oversees the operations of the institution. For the past two years, FMC Owerri has unfortunately been in the news for the wrong reasons, principally because the institution’s labour union has constituted itself into an authority that decides who gets appointed or removed as the medical director. The labour union has held the institution to ransom by insisting on the removal of Dr. (Mrs.) Angela Uwakwem as the medical director on grounds of mismanagement and embezzlement. The institution remained closed for several months by the labour Union which mounted a campaign of calumny again...