Surprisingly, what was initially speculated to be a rumour has finally become obvious, thereby giving credence to Fabian Ihekweme’s assertion that the Imo State House of Assembly has silently approved a questionable budget of #19b for the renovation of Concorde Hotel, Owerri.
The revelation has stirred the hornest’s nest, as a cross section of Imo people who reacted to the development noted that there is no need spending such an amount barely 9 years after former Governor, Rochas Okorocha claimed to have spent over #6 billion in renovating the hotel through Kingsley Onyegbule.
They wondered why all successive administrations in the state have turned the hotel into a conduit pipe through which they siphon huge sums of money in the guise of renovations that make little or no impact.
They also wondered why the purported renovation of the hotel takes precedence over the payment of backlog of arrears that the state government is owing civil servants and pensioners in the state, in addition to the orchestrated promotion of civil servants that is yet to reflect in their monthly salaries several months after it was announced by governbment.
Others who expressed dismay over the development berated the Hope Uzodinma administration for always playing to the gallery. They accused the giovernor of being insensitive to the pitiable plight of traumatized Imolites, especially the civil servants who have not been told anything about the #70,000 minimum wage announced by the federal government when most of their counterparts in other states have started receiving it, while those who are yet to receive it have been told by their Governors how much they will be paid in that regard and harmonizations committees set up to address the issues involved.
