By Declan Emelumba
Cynicism is an age-long bane of the human race, but it is often the trademark of those described by the holy book as “men of little faith.” In ordinary parlance, it could be the apt definition for “men who are bereft of vision and insight.” Either way, it leads to the same end: such people are often thrown away by the prospect of new ideas, particularly the ones that jolt or beat human imagination.
In my days as a student of political science, one of my lecturers in foreign policy repeatedly urged us to always think of the “unthinkable”. At the time, it sounded weird, but because he kept harping on it during his lectures, it dawned on me and my classmates that the lecturer made a lot of sense. When you think of the unthinkable, nothing will shock you. Thinking of the unthinkable is actually another way of dreaming big, beyond human imagination. It is about the power of positive thinking, which can shatter all barriers to progress. This was what President Barack Obama referred to as ‘The Audacity of Hope”. All those whose ideas and inventions have changed the world belong to this mould. But they are a tiny minority. The majority of us are cynics and men of little faith who are quick to dismiss big dreams as unthinkable and impossible.
One of the reasons why Jesus Christ always had brushes with the Pharisees was their hypocrisy laced with cynicism, unbridled argumentative predilection, and, of course, their unbelief For a people who were so unreasonable to the point of even rejecting the healing miracle because it was to be done on a Sabbath day, the Pharisees always shot themselves on the foot. Of all their encounters with Jesus, the one that amuses me most was when the paralytic man was to be cured. Jesus asked him to go home that his sins were forgiven. The Pharisees took umbrage that Jesus didn’t have such powers. He then asked them, which was easier to say, “the man’s sins had been forgiven” or to ask him to “stand up and walk”? Long story cut short, Jesus instantly healed the man, and he walked home.
Governor Hope Uzodimma is a mere mortal and can never be compared to Jesus. Of course, that would be heresy. But such stories in the Bible offer us the best narratives with which to illustrate the fact that cynicism is as old as the human race. It is not surprising, therefore, that cynics have sprung up so quickly in the army of misguided mischief makers who have descended on the Governor of Imo State since he made a promise to help 4000 youths of Imo origin with digital skills and, thereafter, help them secure jobs in European and Canadian companies. From musicians who can’t manage their homes to failed politicians who are simply envious of the governor’s achievements, the Pharisees and naysayers have concluded that Uzodimma ‘s vision is unthinkable and impossible. What a pity!
For people who are afraid of challenges, for people cocooned in their little world of always avoiding risks, such a projection from the visionary governor is strange and out of the world to achieve.
Unfortunately, they don’t have the history of the man. From 1992 till the date he became the governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodimma can’t recall the exact number of people he has sponsored abroad just as he can’t place the faces of the beneficiaries of his scholarship programmes.
He can not also place the faces of the women and young people who have benefitted from his various empowerment initiatives. If he could do so much as a private citizen, how much more can he do as a governor with the enormous goodwill available to him?
Going by the baying of the young audience in response to the Governor’s promise, it appears that the detractors do not even have a handle on what is at stake. Some even went to the ridiculous extent of criticizing the governor for looking for jobs for his people abroad, instead of here in Imo State. Others imagined he could be trafficking them, while the ignorant claimed it was just a political gimmick to catch votes ahead of the governorship elections in November. Just like the Pharisees, they are neither interested in the details nor the logic. So long as the proposal does not conform to the imaginations of their little minds, there is suspicion in it.
Let us look at the facts: So far, Governor Uzodimma has trained 20,000 Imo youths in different digital skills, and equipped them with start-up kits. No other state in Nigeria has achieved this feat. Many of the Skillup Imo graduates have already secured jobs abroad. Many more are gainfully self – employed in various parts of the country.
Secondly, it is doubtful that the legion of cynics now polluting the social media space and making mockery of the promised 4000 jobs even listened to the rest of the governor’s speech wherein he laid the background and provided the justification for his big vision.
These are excerpts from his speech: “In 2018, digitally transformed enterprises accounted for 13.5 trillion US Dollars of the global nominal GDP. In 2023, they are forecast to account for 53.3 trillion US Dollars – more than half of the overall nominal GDP. This signals that digital supremacy in the global economy is near. For those who may not understand, it is this looming digital supremacy in the global economy that Uzodimma seeks to buy into. This is why his government is targeting to train a total of 300,000 in digital skills. In addition to the 20,000 already trained under the Skillup Imo project cohorts 1 and 2, arrangements have been concluded to commence the training of another 40,000 under Cohort 3 of the project.
Thirdly and even more importantly, what the governor said is that he is entering into an understanding with some European and Canadian companies, who are interested in specific digital skills for their companies at home, to train Imo youths to meet such specifications.
For the records, he never said European and Canadian governments but private companies.
Thereafter, such youths will be employed by these companies. For those who may not know, employment of people with specialized skills is trending in Europe, America, and the rest of the developed world.
There is clear, verifiable evidence of this. I refer this obviously uninformed army of Uzodimma’s critics to a Vanguard Newspaper publication of June 28th this year. That publication quoted Canadian authorities of opening their boarders for youths with digital skills for employment. Reason?. The ageing and declining population of that country has made such policy necessary and even urgent.
The programme plans to employ over 500,000 youths with digital skills across the globe between now and 2025. Nigeria was specifically mentioned in that report ( Google
http://www.vanguardngr.com for details). Governor Hope Uzodimma is only angling to get a very tiny portion of the available 500,000 digital jobs for Imo youths. It is only incurable pessimist and cynics that will see this laudable and doable ambition as mission impossible!
Against this backdrop, such an ambitious project by both a pragmatic and visionary leader ought to be applauded and not derided by those who know next to nothing about governance, entrepreneurship, mentoring, and networking.
The fourth point is that experts in this trending field of digital technology did not waste time in acknowledging that Uzodimma was on the right track. Chief Leo Stan Ekeh, Chairman of Zinox Technologies, averred at the ceremony that he would have been a billionaire long before now if he had received the kind of head start the governor was giving the youths.
Describing the feat by Uzodimma as unprecedented, Chief Ekeh, who is a key player in the industry, predicted that he could see 5,000 billionaires emerging from the youths who graduated that day because their skills were in high demand. Now, Chief Leo Stan Ekeh is not a politician. He is a technocrat. He immediately saw the potential in what Uzodimma is doing. Typically and sadly, those blinded by ignorance and partisanship could not see that.
It was as well that the Federal Government was represented at the occasion by the Minister of Digital Economy, Dr Bosun Tijani, who, like Ekeh, is knowledgeable in the digital economy. He not only lauded the Imo State governor for that initiative but pledged that the Federal Government will partner with the state to start off a similar project for the youths. It is important to emphasize here that Imo is the first state in Nigeria to successfully equip this large number of young citizens with vital digital skills, thus getting them ready for today’s technology-driven world and economy. As an investment by Uzodimma to create a future for the youths to enable them achieve success like Elon Musk and Bill Gates, finding jobs for 4,000 of them across the globe is the least the governor can do, particularly when there is clear evidence of global demand for such skills.
The highly revered President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, only has pity for those cynics who believe that Uzodimma was playing to the gallery and has no intentions of fulfilling his promise of finding jobs for the trainees. He concluded that casting doubts on the Governor’s proclamation was borne out of ignorance and mischief since Uzodimma had in the past achieved groundbreaking feats that will make the job promise look ordinary. Such soothing words will always gladden the heart because Chief Iwuanyanwu has been around and has witnessed firsthand the developmental strides of the governor. He hails from Atta in Ikeduru Local Government Area of Imo State, and he used to spend over two hours to make the 16-kilometre journey from Owerri to his country home. This was because of the deplorable condition of the Owerri – Okigwe road. Following the recent reconstruction of the road by the Uzodimma administration, the journey now takes 15 minutes. When Governor Uzodimma promised to reconstruct and expand the 60 – Kilometre road between Owerri and Okigwe, some cynics doubted him as they are doing now. But today, Uzodimma has turned the road to a delightful one, making it one of the smoothest roads in the South East as confirmed by no less a person than the former power minister, Professor Chinedu Nebo.
Indeed, Uzodimma did the same magic to the Owerri – Orlu road, which has been transformed to a dual carriageway with functioning street lights. One of the country’s respected columnists, Dr Ugorji Egbufo, whose hometown is along that axis, described what Uzodimma did as a sheer miracle because the road had defied solutions for decades. In other words, something that looked impossible to others was made possible by Uzodimma. That is the efficacy of thinking of the unthinkable, the audacity of hope.
Let it be known that Uzodimma is an ardent believer in the dictum that where there is a will, there must be a way. When early in the year, the state government announced plans to sponsor a record 1,000 Christians on a pilgrimage to the holy land, the same opposition urged prospective applicants to stay away, describing the scheme as a scam. Today, the beneficiaries received the full sponsorship as promised. Their Muslim counterparts were also treated equally. In local parlance, “the man na talk na do”. He does what he says. He keeps his promises. His other name is “Ekwueme”.
The workers of Imo State can also rightly testify that Uzodimma does not make empty promises. He promised to rebuild their secretariat to make it comfortable and befitting. He did it. He promised to pay their salaries regularly and on time. He did it and is still doing it. He went beyond that by paying them a 13th month salary every year. This is a case of doing more than he promised. He gave them health insurance. He gave them free transportation with breakfast. These are things that were unthinkable in the past. Things people thought were impossible, Uzodimma has done them rather effortlessly, same way he recovered government properties and revived Adapalm Limited, Ohaji; the same way he returned potable water to Owerri after two decades of dry taps. That is the same way he will accomplish the promise of 4000 jobs to the chagrin of perennial cynics.
The way opposition candidates in the state jumped in to join the bandwagon to question
Uzodimma’s sincerity confirms that they are looking for ways to demean the progress made by the government in the empowerment of the youths of Imo State. It is all part of their plan to diminish the achievements of a hardworking governor who knows the needs of his people. They know that any family that is fortunate to have their family employed in Europe or employed by a Canadian company will owe tons of gratitude to the benefactor. They also know that empowering Imo youths means depleting the market from where they source manpower for the furtherance of insecurity in the state. This is why they are not applauding the governor for a programme obviously aimed at reducing poverty in the land. Fortunately for the youths, the man who made the promise is more than determined and capable of fulfilling it irrespective of the ranting of the interlopers, alarmists, and incurable pessimists Soon enough, this too will come to pass like the other unthinkable feats that Uzodimma has accomplished. Time will again vindicate the governor.
Emelumba is the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Imo state
