Uzodimma’s Central Drug Store Mere Propaganda Monument, As Imo Healthcare System Has Collapsed Beyond Media Repair – HURIWA

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The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has dismissed the heavily publicised “Central Drug Store” initiative of the administration of Hope Uzodinma as nothing more than a grand propaganda spectacle designed to create a false impression of progress while the healthcare system and critical infrastructure of Imo State remain in catastrophic collapse.

HURIWA declared that no amount of glossy media campaigns, politically sponsored articles, choreographed public relations narratives, or government propaganda can conceal what it described as the harsh, painful, and undeniable reality confronting millions of suffering residents of Imo State.

According to the rights group, the attempt to portray Imo State as a model healthcare destination and emerging medical tourism hub is “an insult to the intelligence of suffering citizens” who daily battle collapsed hospitals, impassable roads, epileptic electricity supply, insecurity, poverty, and abandoned public infrastructure.

The association stated that the so-called Central Drug Store may only exist impressively in newspaper pages, political speeches, and the imagination of government propagandists because the larger healthcare structure required to make such a project meaningful is allegedly either dead, dysfunctional, abandoned, or non-existent across most rural communities in Imo State.

HURIWA alleged that more than 79 percent of towns and villages across Imo State remain disconnected from the national grid and survive largely through self-help electricity arrangements powered by private generators and individual efforts.

The group further alleged that over 75 percent of communities across the state lack functional public hospitals, while many rural healthcare centres have become empty structures overtaken by decay, neglect, shortage of personnel, obsolete equipment, and complete governmental abandonment.

According to HURIWA, the reality on ground sharply contradicts the glowing image being painted by political propagandists surrounding the Uzodinma administration’s healthcare claims.

“In many communities across Imo State, there are no functional government hospitals, no stable electricity, no drugs, no doctors, no nurses, no emergency response systems, and no accessible healthcare services.

Pregnant women, sick children, and elderly citizens are left at the mercy of private clinics in Owerri, Orlu, and Okigwe because government health institutions in many villages are practically dead,” HURIWA stated.

The association questioned how medicines from the so-called Central Drug Store would even reach rural primary healthcare centres allegedly operating without roads, electricity, refrigeration systems, personnel, or functional structures.

“How do you distribute drugs to healthcare centres that are abandoned, inaccessible, or existing only on government files and propaganda publications? How does a so-called modern pharmaceutical distribution chain operate efficiently in communities where roads have collapsed, electricity is absent, insecurity is rising, and healthcare facilities themselves are virtually non-functional?” the group asked.

HURIWA stated that governance cannot be reduced to media optics and exaggerated political advertising while citizens continue to suffer institutional collapse and worsening living conditions.

The rights organisation further accused the Imo State Government of allegedly prioritising propaganda over governance while rural communities remain trapped in insecurity, poverty, and infrastructural decay.

The association expressed concern that several forests and rural communities across parts of Imo State are allegedly facing security threats from armed Fulani terrorists and violent criminal elements who continue to operate within certain local government areas without being decisively dislodged.

According to HURIWA, many rural residents allegedly feel abandoned because security operations appear heavily concentrated around Owerri city centre and major highways while vulnerable communities remain exposed.

The group also alleged that many citizens complain bitterly that security checkpoints along federal highways have increasingly become centres of extortion rather than effective security protection for ordinary road users.

HURIWA stated that any sincere assessment of governance in Imo State must honestly confront the widespread collapse of roads, public schools, rural healthcare centres, electricity infrastructure, and public confidence in governance.

The rights group recalled that former Governor Rochas Okorocha reportedly announced multi-billion-naira specialist hospital projects across local government areas during his administration.
However, according to HURIWA, many of those projects allegedly remain abandoned, incomplete, unused, and wasted despite the huge public resources reportedly committed to them.

The association questioned why the current administration has allegedly failed to publicly disclose the outcome of investigations into the previous administration’s alleged financial activities and abandoned projects if accountability and transparency genuinely exist within government.

“If there is truly transparency and accountability in Imo State, where is the full report of investigations into the billions allegedly sunk into abandoned specialist hospital projects across the state?

Why has the public not been told who benefited, what happened to the funds, and why many of those structures remain uncompleted years later?” HURIWA asked.

The group insisted that true healthcare transformation requires functioning hospitals, trained personnel, stable electricity, operational ambulances, modern medical equipment, accessible roads, affordable healthcare delivery, and efficient emergency systems — not media festivals celebrating isolated projects disconnected from grassroots realities.

HURIWA warned against what it described as “governance by illusion,” stressing that public relations propaganda cannot substitute for genuine development or erase the suffering of ordinary citizens.

The association maintained that while government officials celebrate media headlines, countless Imo residents continue to endure avoidable hardship, collapsing healthcare services, insecurity, unemployment, and worsening living conditions.

According to HURIWA, the people of Imo State deserve honest governance rooted in transparency, accountability, measurable development, and real improvements in human welfare — not political branding exercises designed to manufacture artificial success stories.

The organisation therefore called on the Imo State Government to urgently redirect attention toward rebuilding collapsed public institutions, rehabilitating rural healthcare centres, restoring electricity infrastructure, fixing roads, completing abandoned hospital projects, improving security across vulnerable communities, and restoring public trust through transparent governance.

HURIWA reaffirmed that democracy must serve the people through visible and measurable improvements in their daily lives, not through endless propaganda campaigns disconnected from reality.