Rochas tells Imo indigenes that they will miss him when he leaves because of his achievements in education

GOVERNOR Rochas Okorocha has warned the people of Imo State that they will miss him sorely when he leaves office next year because he has done so much for them particularly in the area of education.

Like most of Nigeria's 36 states, Imo State will go to the polls in February to elect a new chief executive. Governor Okorocha is no longer eligible to stand having served for two terms, which is the constitutional limit and he has already anointed his so-in-law and chief of staff Uche Nwosu as his successor.

First elected on the platform of the All Progressives Grand Alliance in 2011, Governor Okorocha was returned to office in 2015 have switched to the All Progressives Congress (APC). According to the governor, with the free and qualitative education programme in the state and more than 1,000 verifiable projects of the Rescue Mission Government, Imo people will definitely look back with admiration at his years in office.

He added that he repositioned Imo State for the better after repurchasing all the assets sold by previous administrations in the state. Sam Onwuemeodo, the governor's chief press secretary, added that Governor Okorocha would be particularly remembered for the great strides he made in the education area.

Mr Onwuemeodo added: "The free education programme in the state which some opponents of the government had tried to discredit when it was introduced has yielded obvious remarkable results. Also aside that, school enrolment in the state has snowballed from 381,000 in 2011 to more than 1m in 2017 and Imo State has continued to lead in Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board applications for the seventh time now.

“Imo State has also continued to do very well in West African Examination Council exams. For instance, in the 2018 Senior School Certificate Exam, the state came fifth out of the 36 states in the country and the Federal Capital Territory."

Of late, Governor Okorocha has also come in for a lot of criticism, particularly following his controversial policy of erecting statues in Owerri. According to critics, it is a wasteful exercise that squanders public resources without delivering any noticeable benefits to the citizenry of the state.