19/05/2023
GOVERNMENT OF IMO STATE, NIGERIA.
OWERRI CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY (OCDA)
PRESS RELEASE
IMOLITES NEVER CALLED FOR THE REMOVAL OF OCDA GM, STARPOST REPORT TOTALLY UNFOUNDED, UNSUBSTANTIATED, BASELESS AND BEREFT OF SUBSTANCE.
Our attention has been drawn to a malicious fabrication published by Starpost Newspaper of Friday 19th May, 2023 with the bold headline: "Imolites to Uzodimma, remove OCDA General Manager, as another staff protest looms in OCDA."
Ordinarily, we wouldn't have bothered responding to the attention seeking faceless writer as well as the publisher of the unsubstantiated and baseless report which not only has no byline but also adopted fictitious representations on how the content of the story was generated. However, for the sake of the esteemed public who might become gullible to believe the content of the disjointed report, it becomes expedient for us to react in order to solely place the records straight.
The truth of the matter is that no part of the report has any fact whatsoever as all were mere fabrications that were elicited from the faceless writer's warped imagination.
In the report, the writer claimed that the revenue generating profile of Owerri Capital Development Authority (OCDA) has been all time low under the present Engr. Francis Chukwu leadership but it is a chronic falsehood from the pit of hell as it is on record that Owerri Capital Development Authority (OCDA) made its highest revenue of over a hundred million naira ever since it was established, just within the first two months of the appointment of Engr. Francis Chukwu as the Special Adviser to the Governor and General Manager of the Agency. The Agency equally went ahead to maintain impressive revenue records untill the most recent inevitable challenge of cash crunch hit the nation of which the Agency was seriously affected as the crowding at various Commercial banks coupled with the inability of prospective developers to have access to cash as well as the challenges of network during online transactions all led to low revenue for the Agency. However, it is worthwhile to note that as the issues of cash crunch have gradually eased off, the revenue generating profile of OCDA is gradually returning to what it used to be as Engr. Chukwu is not leaving any stone untouched in his determination to consolidate on the standards he set ab-initio. To this end, Engr. Chukwu rejigged the both the Revenue Collection and Debt Recovery Agents of the Agency having tracked their respective activities, those who did well were retained and encouraged while those who didn't do well shown the way out. He also made it a norm for all statutory payments to be made into the Imo State Government Treasury Single Account (TSA).
Similarly, the uncoordinated report made another claim that the OCDA GM has failed in actualizing the mandate of sanitization and restoration of public confidence given to him by the Governor upon appointment. This claim is also very ludicrous and totally bereft of substance as the writer failed to validate the claims thereby showing that he or she has no touch of what is actually taking place at Owerri Capital Development Authority (OCDA). Available records clearly revealed that before the appointment of Engr. Francis Chukwu as the OCDA helmsman, the Agency was viewed by the public as one that is associated with rascallity, bringandage, touting, unprofessionalalism and so on by the Taskforce Agents saddled with the responsibility of carrying out field works of the Agency. Nevertheless, upon the appointment of Engr. Francis Chukwu as the General Manager of the Agency, he immediately swung into action and changed the Agency to the home office of all developers within Owerri Capital Territory. Apart from carrying out statutory changes in the overall activities of Management, Staff, Revenue and Debt Agents as well as Special Taskforces of the Agency, Engr. Francis Chukwu also initiated and organized training for all the categories of workers of the Agency wherein he invited erudite scholars from the prestigious Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO) who equipped the respective workers with the rudiments of the jobs they were assigned to do while at the same time lecturing them on the impreratives of civility, professionalism, accountability and transparency in the discharge of their duties at all times. Indeed, the innovations of Engr. Chukwu yielded results as the orientation of all the workers changed which brought a clear departure from the old order.
Furthermore, in the figment of the author's imagination, the faceless writer also fabricated that a staff of the Engineering department of the Agency who pleaded anonymity told journalists that the workers of Owerri Capital Development Authority (OCDA) will soon embark on strike or go for road protest, this is quite laughable and unimaginable! It will rather beat the imagination of any rational mind to believe that workers will protest against Engr. Francis Chukwu who is the only General Manager that has bagged an award of excellence from the State Executive Council of the Almagamated Union of Public Corporations, Civil Service Technichal and Recreational Services Employees (AUPTRE) which is the umbrella body of the staff of Owerri Capital Development (OCDA). The award presented to the GM was in recognition of his performances at the Agency especially as regards the entrenchment of industrial harmony at the Agency.
Interestingly, one will also wonder the possiblity of OCDA workers embarking on protest agsinst the Engr. Francis Chukwu leadership of the Agency knowing fully well how he worked so hard to address the perennial issue of non-payment of pensions to OCDA retirees, a feat that his predecessors couldn't achieve untill he came on board. It is on record that Engr. Francis Chukwu made every effort humanly possible to ensure the integration of OCDA pensioners into the Imo State pension scheme and payment of the entitlements of the senior citizens accordingly. This achievement rekindled hope of living and added years to the lives of the pensioners as many of them confessed during a meeting with the General Manager when they started receiving their pensions after many years. An uncommon feat achieved by Engr. Francis Chukwu.
On the allegation that the OCDA GM is using junior staff loyal to him as DAF which they claimed is at variance with the Civil Service rules, we challenge the author to provide documented evidence of the spurious claims. The fact of matter remains that Engr. Francis Chukwu has continued to abide by the rules of engagement and has always followed Government laid down rules in piloting the affairs of Owerri Capital Development Authority (OCDA) knowing too well that the Agency is one of the most sensitive Agencies of Imo State Government saddled with the responsibility of among other things, enforcement of the master plan of the twin city of Owerri in addition to generating the revenue for the State. His cordial working relationship with the Management and Staff of the Agency was also what earned him an award from the the State Executive Council of AUPCTRE which is a clear pointer to the fact that the author of the malicious publication does not know what is actually going on at Owerri Capital Development Authority (OCDA) but rather choose make claims that cannot be substantiated.
Notably, we wish to make it categorically clear that the author of the concorted and disjointed publication never at any point in time made efforts to reach the General Manager as he claimed. The claim that every effort made to reach the General Manager and PRO proved abortive is to say the least a fallacy as there was no time such calls were made as the author knowing the script he was acting decided to add the part in order to put across a make believe publication. We wish to state emphatically the very fact that the Engr. Francis Chukwu OCDA leadership has maintained an open door policy since he came on board. The General Manager apart from having a number of personal phone lines made available to the public as a public office holder also introduced OCDA HOTLINES that are available on all the authentic branded OCDA vehicles used for field works by the Agents and Special Taskforces working with the Agency. Thus, there is no how anyone who is sincere will ever say that he tried to reach the General Manager or those working with him without having a means to do that. Aside these, Engr. Francis Chukwu is well known to be in his office steady where he spends enough time which atimes run into late midnights in order to clear his table of the numerous files and other sundry reports that he attends to on daily basis while at the same time receiving the visitors that troop into the Agency every day for one issue or the other. This clearly indicates that if at all the author truly called the GM without reaching him, nothing whatsoever stopped him from accessing the GM in his office at the Agency but he never did and never intended to, since the plan was to peddle such an unfounded publication in order to mislead the public.
Summarily, while we call on the esteemed and good spirited Imolites to disregard the publication in its entirety, we advise the faceless writer to desist from junk journalism as that is totally a far cry of what the noble pen profession should be. Instead of going about dissipating energy and time on unfounded, malicious, spurious and unsubstantiated publications, let him channel his energy and time to more productive ventures as that will add value to his activities. Without mincing words, Engr. Francis Chukwu as a youthful administrator remains ever dedicated, committed and focused on consolidating the mandate of sanitization and restoration of public confidence in the activities of Owerri Capital Development Authority (OCDA) which is the mandate given to him upon appointment. He is equally unwavering in helping the ever performing and youth freindly Executive Governor of Imo State His Excellency Distinguished Senator Hope Uzodimma to further actualize the developmental agenda of the Shared Prosperity Administration anchored on the 3R mantra of Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Recovery.
Comrade Eberechukwu Okechukwu
SA Media to the GM, OCDA.
