When the ten- gigantic blocks of the Imo State Secretariat was built by the former governor, Chief Achike Udenwa during his administration in 1999, the buildings were model of how state Secretariats should be as they had all the facilities that enhanced good working condition for the civil servants. It was a pride to tell someone that you were a civil servant.
Coming to work, even early was a delight and a thing of joy. The facilities to work with were there. Each building had conference hall, toilet facility, water, 24-hour electricity, cleaned premises and each of the offices was designed and decked with desktops, television sets, tables, chairs and air-conditioners for work convenience.
Other states of the South East borrowed a leaf from Imo State Secretariat in building theirs. The three-storey ten gigantic buildings were tourism of sort to behold. The serenity of the environment increased productivity of the civil servants.
When Udenwa left in 2007 and former governor Ikedi Ohakim came in. Between 2007 and 2011, Chief Ohakim maintained the status-quo in terms of ensuring that the structures of the building were maintained. The civil servants enjoyed the serenity of the Secretariat, some persons visited the Secretariat just to appreciate the aesthetics and architectural, state of the art design of the buildings.
All the structures were intact during the leadership of Ohakim. There was pin-drop silence when one entered the Secretariat because of the concentration of work by the workers; electricity and water were constantly in supply. The one power source was readily available whenever EEDC goes off. The well arranged flowers in the premises were neatly hedged.
Things turned upside-down in the eight years of former governor Owelle Rochas Okorocha (2011-2019).
All the facilities that adorned the Secretariat and made it delight of both residents and visitors were left to decay, to the extent that the one source power generator was carted away, EEDC disconnected all the light for lack of payment by the state government with civil servants struggling with overgrown grasses to enter their offices.
The pathetic state of the Secretariat was that Okorocha’s led administration abandoned the place, so much so that there was no water, electricity to worrisome extent that top civil servants, like permanent secretaries and commissioners were coming to work with their 25-litre jerry can for flushing in the toiletries. It got to a point that each ministry bought their own generator set, so that when one visited the Secretariat, one thought one was at industrial layout. The noisy atmosphere was so nauseating.
This atmosphere reduced the productivity of civil servants and waned the zeal and commitment of civil servants, even interest of going to work was affected. Imo citizens were surprised when the Okorocha led administration wanted to sale the once envied Secretariat. That move was resisted by labour unions and Imolites.
When former governor Emeka Ihedioha came in, he restored the electricity and water. Life came back to the Secretariat as his administration paid the arrears owed EEDC. That effort was short-lived.
News Echo notes with dismay that the sorry situation of the Secretariat when Okorocha was the governor has returned as some commissioners, permanent secretaries and directors come to work with water to use in the toiletries because there is no electricity and no water.
The Secretariat has become industrial layout of sort with different sounds of generator sets emitting the air. We therefore call on Governor Hope Uzodimma to expedite action towards restoring the glory of the Secretariat by providing electricity, water, cleaning up the premises, ensuring that the fittings of the Secretariat are restored for productivity.
This, we believe will bring back the vitiated zeal and productivity of the civil servants as a result of not-too-convenient working condition. As the government provides transport system to ease the stress of civil servants going to work, it can also provide conducive work place needed to produce results. The time to do this is now.
