Following a unanimous strong desire and commitment to put Imo on the centre of positive reference for good governance and sustainable economic progress, a group of young professionals of Imo State origin under the umbrella of Imo Young Professionals Assembly-IYPA has vowed to follow every single kobo that accrues to the government of Imo State with a view to making demand for transparency and accountability from the incoming governor of Imo, Rt. Hon Emeka Ihedioha, starting from his inauguration on May 29,2019.
In a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja, Nigeria, the leader/founder of the group, Chrys Anyanwu, who is also the Executive Director, Global Advocacy for African Affairs with international office in London, United Kingdom, an indigene of the state, maintained that the group took a decision to queue behind the candidature of Hon. Ihedioha during the last gubernatorial election, rallying support from Imo Young Professionals in diaspora after perusing the manifestos of the four most popular candidates in the last governorship election.
According to Mr. Anyanwu, “Ihedioha’s manifesto ranks very high amongst the others, standing in touch with contemporary realities”. He stressed that a projection captured around four thematic areas namely; Good Governance, Human Capital Development, Job and Wealth Creation as well as Integrated Infrastructure Development, shows deep understanding of what the issues are with unbridled capacity to addressing it. He however, decried the despicable attitudes of some politicians who are in the habit of abandoning beautiful manifestos upon which they rode to power for “frivolities and egotistical ambitions”.
“We will activate our Imo Transparency Metrics otherwise known as i-Trametrics from May 29, 2019. Our network would be spread across the allocation that accrues to Imo State Government from federation account, Imo Internally Generated Revenues as well as other inflows. The Assembly will be consistent on releasing a quarterly report in the first four years on financial transparency, policy trajectory and the four other key areas as captured in the manifesto. We must work hard enough to ensure we do not disappoint those who listened to us during the last election in Imo Sate.”Anyanwu stated.
On his own, another member of the IYPA, Barr. Nomso Japhet, observed that the reason while Imo State has remained a laughing stock in the past couple of years was largely due to the apathetic attitudes of citizens especially the young professionals among us. He recalled what happened recently in France, United Kingdom and even most recently how young Algerians and Sudanese took their own destinies in their hands. According to him, he simply does not belief the statuesque in Nigeria should continue. “Most of us, he said, are far better than the people we have as leaders in the country today, it is therefore sacrilegious to continue watching things go the way they’re going presenting, while we remain helpless” According to him, at worst, let our strength of innovation and technology talk for us where our mouth cannot.
Recall that the IMO YOUNG PROFESSIONALS ASSEMBLY were one of the strongest supporters of Hon. Emeka Ihedioha during the last governorship election in Imo State and the claimed the did so for the love of the state.