I don’t not need more than 200 workers in Imo state civil service – Rochas Okorocha

The Imo State governor said this in an exclusive interview with Independent. His words: “I don’t need more than 200 workers at the civil service of Imo State but I need more than 100,000 in the agricultural sector of the state. It’s like if this nation makes $1 trillion every day and ends up paying salaries with it, there still will be no progress.

Unless we address those basic issues and get people to work in the productive sector of the economy, we cannot make any headway. The state spends 70% of its total IGR and federal allocation on workers and pensions, while 30% goes for development.

If I have 70% of money that comes to the state for capital expenditure, Imo State would look like London in the next 5 years. No civil service workforce requires more than a 1000 at most 2000 persons to run its affairs under the present technology driven world.

In most cases 12, 000 persons are in the civil service, with 80% of them doing nothing. Public service is not welfarism, unless we are having a welfare state, where people can sit down and expect money. We have what is called governance by investment and not people sitting down and collecting money because that money they collect does not aid production.

I found the health sector of Imo State not doing well and I found out that I have spent over N16bn within 4 years in paying health workers, yet no hospital was working. Meanwhile, doctors have their private clinics working very well and nurses have their shops working but none of the government’s hospitals were working and people are dying.

So, that’s the problem we have. And those people are not being productive. We are not saying that people should not work. When they are qualified, they can work in the productive sector of the economy rather than the cashiering and consuming sector of the economy in the name of welfarism or workers’ welfare.