Hon Emmanuel Orie: Building Roads, Touching Lives
So far, the record has been impressive. Give or take a few
shortcomings, the successes have far outweighed the omissions. Emmanuel
Chigozirim Orie, honourable member representing Ohaji/Egbema at the Imo State
House of Assembly, has pushed through a popular raft of reforms in double-quick
time. He has masterminded a sweeping positive change in the infrastructural, socio-political,
and economic life of the Ohaji-Egbema polity. And he has done all this while
looking cool and stylish.
He began his new career on a difficult terrain, with his
party losing both at the state and federal levels. His party’s internal democracy
too was in turmoil. To crown it all, Emma’s hard-earned victory at the polls
was vigorously challenged in court. But in the face of all these, he providentially
made it home and dry. Today he appears to be operating a poll-tested and
crowd-pleasing agenda. New roads, Women and Youth empowerment, sports
development, scholarships, community health care, and other laudable
constituency projects. At the party level, the orchestra is now playing a new
tune with the party cock-a-hoop to retake the centre.
The tarring, total rehabilitation, and delivery of the
Umuokanne-Ohoba road earlier this year appears to be Emma’s most outstanding
achievement so far as the formerly 5 km earth road linking the two densely
populated and economically important communities now wears a new look with
bitumen surface, drainages, and other furnishings.
The Emma Agaala-agaa Leadership and Empowerment (EAGLE) Foundation
is the outfit through which the young Legislator is reaching out to his constituency
with stomach infrastructure, free medical care and youth empowerment
programmes. For the month of August alone, free medical services were
administered to men, women, and children in Mmahu, Umuokanne and Umuapu.
The EAGLE Foundation in partnership with SEED Foundation has
since 2016 embarked on an empowerment programme that is projected to empower
100 constituent members before 2019. Eagle Foudation in partnership with MSME
Business School and SEED Foundation had in December 2016 rolled out the first
set of graduates from the Ohaji/Egbema State Constituency Skill Acquisition
Programme. The youth programme is first of its kind in the Local Government Area
and is still on-going.
Award and prize-giving at Central School Umuokanne
It is on record that since 2016, Hon Orie has been assisting students
from Ohaji/Egbema to gain admissions into Imo State University Owerri, Federal
University of Technology Owerri, Federal Polytechnic Nekede, Alvan Ikoku
College of Education Owerri, and Imo State Polytechnic Umuagwo. This is in line
with the vibrant University of Abuja-trained Political Scientist’s vision for
mass literacy.
Recently, Hon Orie completed and delivered a Staff Lounge and
ICT Centre to the staff of Ohaji Egbema Local Government Area Council headquarters.
The construction phase of the project was completed last year while the supply
of ICT equipment was done within the first quarter of 2017.
Hon Orie’s numerous contributions to the development and transformation
of Ohaji/Egbema has not gone unnoticed. Last November, the young Minority Chief
Whip and Chairman House Committee on Imo State Oil Mineral Producing Area
Development Commission (ISOPADEC) and Niger Delta Development Commision (NDDC) bagged
the prestigious Legislator of the Year Award. An award of excellence presented
to him by the organisers of the 5th edition of Miss ISOPADEC Beauty Pageant
in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the development of Imo House
of Assembly and Oil Producing Areas.
Aside from his constituency projects, Hon Orie has attracted
federal projects too to Ohaji/Egbema. Some of these are Christiana Hospital
road in Abacheke, Egbema by NDDC and the rehabilitation of Umuapu-Umuokanne-Obinze
road by Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA).
In the field of sports, Ohaji/Egbema is not left out as Hon
Orie inches toward becoming the pillar of sports in the LGA by his philanthropy.
Last December, he organized a peaceful intervillage football competition in
Umuokanne, his home town. Winners of the tournament went home with a trophy and
cash donation.
Now Hon Orie will have to deal with much thornier issues,
such as security and stronger political structure: issues that require tough
choices rather than generous gestures. If he succeeds in shopping for the right
caliber of supporters, he would end up with some domestic victories that could
help forestall and fortify his chances for 2019. One of the clearest messages
from the 2015 election was that the voters want a representative who would
solve pressing problems rather than engage in partisan point-scoring.
Published by CityTraffic
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