Prominent pro-democracy and civil rights advocacy group HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA has reminded the government of Imo state that the promised made by the governor, Distinguished Senator Hope Uzodinma that Imo state residents would from November last year enjoy uninterrupted electricity power supply is a mirage and a phantom promise just as HURIWA has tasked the governor on rural development in the areas of healthcare infrastructures, rural roads networks and security of lives and property of the citizens because most of the burnt police stations in most rural communities have yet to be rebuilt.
In a media statement endorsed by the National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Nnadozie Onwubiko, HURIWA reminded the governor of Imo state that only about fifteen percent of the residents of Imo state are able to power their businesses and homes by connecting to the expensive solar energy electricity power system and the purchases of the extremely exorbitant fuel and diesel to power their generators.
“Last December Christmas celebrations, we observed from different communities in the three senatorial zones of Owerri, Orlu and Okigwe, that millions of indigenous natives came back from all around the globe and we also heard first hand from many people interviewed by the team of researchers from HURIWA that most of those who returned to spend a week or more to commemorates the Christmas feast and to commune with their brothers, sisters and relatives whom they haven’t seen the entire year, each family spent an average of N250, 000 on the purchases of fuel for the duration of their stay.”
“Besides, thousands of families invested an average of N3 million each to connect their homes in their respective hometowns to solar electricity energy generating system. HURIWA observed that the other marginalised and poor residents spent the entire periods of Christmas in total darkness and this poor and irregular/erratic electricity supply situation has forced thousands of small and medium scale businesses out of circulation. It is shocking that the promise made by the Imo state governor to give uninterrupted electricity power supply from November didn’t even happen in Owerri municipal talk more of the other towns, cities and villages whereby millions of returning Christmas celebrants spent at least two weeks during the just ended Yuletide season. Where then is integrity and how can we talk about accountability and transparency in government if the words of the governor carries no weight in reality?”
The Rights group reminded the Imo state governor that operating small businesses like restaurants, barbing salons, coffee bars, provisions stores, are becoming burdensome because the products and services are becoming very expensive and beyond the reach of thousands of residents and the high costs of these goods and services have driven away customers from small businesses in Imo State and especially in Owerri the capital of the state. The poor electricity power supply situation has forced many owners of hospitality industry and hotels to resort to the use of generators which constitute environmental hazards to residents due to pollution. The governor must take steps to correct these anomalies.
HURIWA recalled that the media quoted the governor last year’s October that from November of last year, the residents of Imo State will begin to enjoy uninterrupted 24-hour electricity supply from November, Governor Hope Uzodinma has announced.
According to media report last October, the initiative will begin with a test run in Owerri metropolis and its environs before extending to Orlu, Okigwe, and Mbaise zones in the coming months.
The governor reportedly spoke during a stakeholders and expanded State Executive Council meeting held at the Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu International Conference Centre (EIICC), Owerri, even as he added that the Urashi Power Plant Project, empowered by an enabling law, will drive the new electricity scheme.
The governor also announced that individuals earning below N150,000 monthly would be exempted from paying personal income tax, adding that oil companies operating in the state would shoulder the cost of implementing the policy.
He further disclosed that retirees and students will enjoy free transportation on major routes, including Owerri–Okigwe, Owerri–Orlu, Owerri–Aba,
Owerri–Onitsha, and Owerri–Port Harcourt, using newly procured Compressed Natural Gas (CNG)-powered metro buses.
Uzodinma reiterated his administration’s commitment to tackling insecurity in the state and ensuring peace and stability for development to thrive.
On ongoing infrastructure projects, the governor said 50 percent of payments had already been made to contractors handling various road and development works across the state.
He explained that he was not pressing for refunds from the Federal Government for federal roads executed by his administration, expressing confidence that future governments would pursue such reimbursements. His focus, he said, was to ensure that Imo people benefit from improved road infrastructure.
HURIWA in the media release in which the Rights group expressed consternation over worrying spectre of insecurity especially in the rural areas of the state, challenges the governor to begin the reconstruction of the burnt police stations just as the Rights group described the recently reinvigorated Imo state vigilantes group as a welcome development, however called for thorough and comprehensive oversight by the state house of Assembly through the establishment of an independent human rights monitoring commission made up of experts in human rights to provide oversight to the activities of the vigilantes to check abuses of human rights of the residents of the state.
COMRADE EMMANUEL NNADOZIE ONWUBIKO,
NATIONAL COORDINATOR,
HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA). MONDAY, January 12th 2026.
