Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma’s “One Community, One Project” initiative has commenced in the state.
The Governor announced this through his Chief Press Secretary, Oguike Nwachukwu, on Tuesday, following an emergency executive meeting at the government house in Owerri.
The statement said, “All 655 autonomous communities in Imo State have been mandated to key into the One Kindred, One Business programme of the State government as a model for employment generation in the locality and food security for the people.”
Governor Uzodimma emphasized, “I assured the Imo communities of government’s preparedness to ensure that the OKOBI programme becomes a huge success story in the State. I challenged the autonomous communities in the State to key into the programme as doing so also will make them owners of the businesses of their choice.”
Chief Economic Adviser Prof. Kenneth Amaeshi elaborated, “The Governor and the Executive Council have made it compulsory for every community in Imo State to identify a business they can own that the Government can support them.”
He continued, “The way forward now is to go back to the traditional rulers, the town union President Generals and the stakeholders of different communities and sit together and work out the modalities on what they plan to do and how government will support them.”
Prof. Amaeshi further explained, “The OKOBI programme is meant to encourage communities to own businesses, as a way of democratizing business ownership in Nigeria, as well as a way of encouraging people to work in groups such as cooperative societies.”
He highlighted the program’s benefits, saying, “It will help in the creation of jobs for the people in the rural areas, and government has given it full backing as an agenda.”
Citing a success story, Prof. Amaeshi noted, “The Okpofe Community in Ezinihitte Mbaise Local Government Area has already taken off and excelled in the programme, hence their model can be good for others to emulate.”
He recalled Governor Uzodimma’s commitment to community development, saying, “On assumption of office for a second tenure, Governor Uzodimma emphasised on the need to work with communities to identify their needs in the areas of businesses, and acknowledged that so far, up to 300 businesses have been identified for potential establishment in the communities of Imo State.”
