Chime’s Car Madness!

Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua government may need to call Barrister Sullivan Chime, Enugu state governor, to order over his seeming irresponsible mass procurement of vehicles of all sorts into the Coal-City state. Just last week, Chime’s government procured 400 taxi cabs (and over 20 commuter buses) to ease transportation difficulties across the state. Not a few saw this particular transport scheme as a worthwhile venture, especially, being people-oriented.

It will be remembered that Chime had, prior to this transport scheme, imposed over 260 Chevrolet Aveo cars on councilors of the state. Before then, Governor Chime had purchased high-powered Toyota cars for all council chairmen and their deputies (24 of them), all the development area chairmen (57 of them), all the members of the state House of Assembly (24 of them), all the permanent secretaries, judges, magistrates, commissioners, special advisers and assistants among others.

Chime’s latest car largesse currently goes to traditional rulers. As we write, Chime plans to purchase (or impose?) Chevrolet as official cars to over 300 traditional rulers in the state! These cars, it was gathered, cost N2.5 million each. And reports have it that Governor Chime has mapped out a whopping N2 billion to procure the cars for the monarchs. N2 billion! Each of the benefiting monarchs and, indeed, all other beneficiaries before them must pay up the cost of procuring the vehicles for them.

KlinReports learnt that the governor had, just last Christmas, bought N15 million worth of SUV jeeps for each of former governors of the state, including Dr. okwesilieze Nwodo, Chiefs Jim Nwobodo and Christian Onoh, excluding Senator Chimaroke Nnamani, his political godfather.

In KlinReports, we think that this vehicle influx into Enugu state by Governor Chime is, in all its ramifications, as anomalous as it is suspect. It is, without prevarications, a misplacement of priorities. It is luxury by a government which lean financial resources cannot even lift its citizenry beyond the shackles of hunger and deprivations.

Governor Chime has kept on foisting cars on a section of people of Enugu state who don’t even have need for such cars. Most of the traditional rulers own more than one car, of what value will these less fashioned American Chevrolet cars be to them then? Same applies to the former governors.

Chief Press Secretary to Governor Chime, Dan Nomeh, battled to explain out one or two issues concerning his boss’ indiscriminate car purchase for the monarchs, but this explanation amounts to playing on words. The bottom line is that Chime’s government plans to bring in another consignment of vehicles into the state, this time around, for the Igwes.

If only the state has reached its optimum in providing basic needs for its poverty stricken citizens, maybe, this car madness of Governor Chime can be excused. But the reverse is the case.

As we write, Governor Chime has refused to implement the harmonized Teachers Salary Scale (TSS) in the state because, according to him, the state has no money. Some other neighboring states have implemented theirs, to improve the living conditions of their impoverished teachers.

As we write, workers of the state’s parastatals are being owed several months’ arrears of salaries and other entitlements.

In particular, Enugu State Broadcasting Service (ESBS), the state’s owned media outfit, which labors to publicize Governor Chime’s programs and policies, is a ghost of its old self. While the workers have, for the past 18 months, remained on half salaries, scores of pensioners of this hitherto ‘Star Station’ have died from frustration, hunger and starvation. At the last count, ESBS pensioners were owed over 70 months pension arrears and other retirement benefits.

The situation is not different with the state owned newspaper outfit, Daily Star, whose workers have worse stories to tell than those of ESBS.

Even the disengaged workers of the state who, for political reasons, Chime reinstated when he assumed office in 2007, are full of sad tales. Governor Chime has reportedly refused to pay them arrears of their entitlements all through the eight years they were illegally disengaged from work. This is in addition to Governor Chime still having an axe to grind with both the organized labor in the state, as well as medical doctors working in the state’s employ.

The foregoing is to illustrate that, by governor Chime’s on-going vehicle onslaught on Enugu, he is simply recklessly spending the scarce resources of the people. It must be stated herein that apart from relatively enjoying good roads, most residents of Enugu metropolis, and, of course, in the entire state, neither have access to portable water, shelter nor electricity supply. It is an old story that a gallon of water costs a fortune in Chime’s state, yet his government ravels in squandering `the funds of the state in luxurious ventures.

It is an incontrovertible fact that the best government in the world cares most about the welfare of the less privileged class of its citizenry than the privileged. Even Gover Chime’s housing policy so far is only for the privileged class. Could it mean that the governor has disdain for the poor, who, in most cases, could not be held responsible for their misfortunes in life?

KlinReports thinks that Governor Chime needs a rethink of his government’s vehicle expenditure profile. Whatever is the attraction for the endless mass procurement of vehicles into Enugu state, be it satisfaction of business or political interests of either him or his associates, must be brought to a halt. Otherwise, the situation has reached embarrassing proportions.

we, at this point, call the attention of corruption agencies, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Crimes Commission (ICPC), as well as the Code of Conduct Bureau, to, without waste of time, inquire into Governor Chime’s indiscriminate importation of vehicles into Enugu state. This trend, if not if allowed to continue, will, soon, bring the state and its over two million people, to pulverization. The time to act is now!