I didn't earmark N850million for Xmas Tree - Okorocha

Imo State Governor,  Rochas Okorocha, Monday denied allegations that his administration earmarked N850m for Christmas decoration in certain parts of the state. 

Governor  Rochas Okorocha

This follows warning by a group known as G-42 Imo Liberation Forum, which advised the government against the idea.

It was alleged in Imo State that the government had budgeted N850m for the erection of a special Christmas tree and other decorations ahead of the Yuletide celebration.

But a statement signed by the Director of Communication of the G-42, Dr. Walter Duru, in Owerri on Monday, described the alleged plan as “a misplaced priority.”

The statement said the spending would be meaningless “in the midst of scarce resources and at a time when the workers’ salaries and pensioners’ pensions were not being paid in full.”

It read: “This coming at a time civil servants and pensioners in the state are being owed several months of salary arrears and other entitlements, while poverty is at its highest level in the history of the state.

“The situation is made worse by the dust raised over the alleged N500m spent in the erection of a statue of the South African President (Jacob Zuma).”

The statement further described such spending as “the highest level of insensitivity, misplaced priority and sheer waste of people’s resources,” reiterating its condemnation of the exercise.

The Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr. Sam Onwuemeodo, also dismissed “The allegation as baseless and aimed at destroying the already built positive image of the Rescue Mission Government in the state.”