Misinformation From The Information Commissioner: Imo Government In a Nutshell

 

By Lawrence Opara 

As an Imo indigene, I am used to the Uzodimma government insulting my intelligence. When they come out and cut ribbons or do groundbreakings, I know the subsequent project will be substandard at best and abandoned at worst. I am used to Governor Hope lying with a straight face about the security challenges in the state, with no scruples whatsoever. But even for them, the latest outburst I saw on Daily Post from the Commissioner for Information, Declan Emelumba, is a new low. In his attempt to discredit a private citizen's statement about Imo State’s appalling maternal mortality rate, the Commissioner didn’t just miss the point, he insulted our intelligence with a wild rant devoid of any introspection or logical thinking. 

Emelumba was attacking a claim by Dr. Chima Amadi about Imo State having one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world due to lack of adequate healthcare for Ndị Imo. However, in his puerile and honestly infuriating rebuttal, Emelumba stated that Imo State’s maternal mortality ratio is a miraculous 163 deaths per 100,000 live births!

When I saw this claim, I convinced myself (against my better judgment) to give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe the Uzodimma administration has changed and finally gives a hoot about ndị Imo. I checked his source. That was when I lost it. Emelumba got this unimpeachable piece of "fact" from KINGMAKERS.COM.NG. Yes, you read that right. A faceless website with zero credible references, no transparency, no verifiable names behind its publications, and absolutely no verifiable methodology. I could not believe my eyes. Here was the Commissioner for Information, paid on Imo taxpayers' dime, quoting the digital equivalent of gossip at the village square as "statistics." In fact village square gossip is giving it too much credit, because at least in the village square you know who is talking.

For those who don’t know, kingmakers.com.ng is not an official statistics body. It is not even a recognized data aggregator. It is a hoax website stuffed with half-baked figures, never citing a single valid source. At the end of this particular article, it included its sources as: National Bureau of Statistics, The Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) Program and Kingmakers Calculations. All these sources were embedded with links that actually lead nowhere. Why? The figures were made up. There was nowhere to reference. It's just propaganda. The Imo State Government, instead of consulting the National Bureau of Statistics, the World Health Organization, the Nigerian Ministry of Health or the Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey, went to the internet’s equivalent of a beer parlour to cook up numbers. 

Now, here’s the reality the Commissioner so blatantly tried to subvert: according to a Dataphyte 2023 report, the real maternal mortality rate in Imo State is indeed around 1837 deaths per 100,000 live births. This is almost double the Nigerian average of 993 deaths per 100,000 (2023 CIA World Factbook). Let that sink in. We are not “well below” the national average as this government claims, we are dangerously above the national average. Dr. Amadi was right. This government does not care in the slightest about safeguarding the lives of ndị Imo.

Of course we all know why the government would scrape and scramble to find such obviously fabricated numbers. It is easier to pretend everything is rosy than to face the rot in our healthcare system. Admitting to the real figures would mean admitting they have failed to provide adequate maternal healthcare, failed to equip hospitals, and failed to save the lives of Imo women who die needlessly during childbirth.

If the government doesn’t even have or care to have accurate data about its own citizens, how can it possibly make any meaningful policy? Data is the foundation of any functional governance. Without data, you’re not running a government; you’re just guessing, signing contracts, and cutting ribbons for photo ops on a whim. Depending on a fake website for health statistics is heinous, and I am not surprised that the Uzodimma administration would sink that low. 

This shameless reliance on hoax numbers is more than just incompetence. It is chronic negligence and mindless wickedness dressed up as governance. It tells every Imolite that the people in charge are not only incapable of doing something as basic as collecting real data, but also more willing to put out fake statistics than introspect and try to bridge this data gap.. If the state’s health statistics are sourced from fantasy websites, then I don't even want to think about how bad it is in other sectors.

The lives of mothers and babies in Imo State are not a PR prop for the governor's ignorant lapdogs to play stupid politics with. It is an issue too sacrosanct to be twisted for political convenience. Every single death is a human tragedy, because this is someone’s daughter, sister, or wife gone because the system failed them. Until we have a government that confronts reality instead of hiding behind hoax websites, the tragedies will continue.

So yes, Dr. Amadi’s numbers are on-point, and they force us to face the ugly truth that we have to sit up and save the lives of women and children in our state. 

And to those in charge: please stop treating us like fools. This is the digital age. You can't just cook up tales of rainbows and sunshine and expect us to swallow them happily, while the reality burns the skin from our bones. You are barely 2 years into your second tenure but you are more focused on politicking for the next election than on delivering any actual governance. It is our brothers and sisters that suffer and die while you fiddle. Get back to work!

Opara writes from Owerri North LGA