Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, revealed weekend, that his wife, Nkechi, was in control of at least four ministries in the state.

The governor made the statement through the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Mr. George Etche, who represented him as the correspondents chapel in the state honoured his wife. He listed the ministries controlled by his wife to include Women Affairs, Works, Health and Office of the SSG.

The Correspondents Chapel had honoured the governor’s wife with the Most Outstanding Governor’s Wife Award in Owerri at the weekend. The SSG also confirmed the statement made by the lawmaker representing Onuimo state constituency, Chinedu Offor, who said the governor’s wife deserved to be honoured with the award of “Nobel peace prize.”

He said: “We should thank God Almighty for giving us Owelle Rochas Okorocha who has offered us free education at all levels. We should also thank God for giving us his wife, Nkechi Okorocha, for putting smiles on the faces of the less privileged in the state.

“It is difficult to see first ladies do this kind of thing. You see that over 200 widows have got houses in Imo state.”

In her remarks, Nkechi Okorocha, while speaking on her pet She Needs a Roof Project (SNARP), said it was a project for building houses for widows and the disadvantaged in the state, adding that she was doing it because of humanity.

“I am pregnant with something. I have a dream that one day, we will move around communities and we will not find people living in bad conditions or in a house without roof,” she said.

She could not hold back tears when she explained that one of the beneficiaries died a few hours after a bungalow was handed over to her at Aro in Okigwe Local Government Area. “Hours before we left, she was pointing at the SNARP project, meaning that she should be taken into the house and that night she was taken into the house, on our way that night, we were told that mama had joined her ancestors,” Nkechi Okorocha said.

While expressing joy over the award, she said: “I am happy that this award is coming from a group that has keyed into my vision. The only way Imo can be better is to have a media that can understand they have a part to play in the development of the state. I discovered that with Imo journalists, there is hope for Imo State.”

•Adapted from a Vanguard report.

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