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Fact-Check 73 — The Fiction of a Digital Revolution
By Prof. MarkAnthony Nze
The Speech That Switched on Nothing
On a humid September morning in 2024, Governor Hope Uzodinma stood before a sea of cameras and declared triumphantly, “Imo State has built and equipped 27 digital learning centers—one in every local government.” The moment was staged to perfection—neatly pressed uniforms, flashing cameras, a ceremonial button pressed as screens projected the illusion of progress.
The announcement captured headlines across the state. It sounded visionary, modern, irresistible. But behind the applause and digital animations, reality told a quieter story—one of empty classrooms, missing computers, and vanished funds. When The Eastern Updates Investigative Team began tracing the locations of the so-called centers, the discovery was chilling: the infrastructure of deceit was far more advanced than the infrastructure of education.
The Geography of Nothing
Across Imo’s 27 local governments, the digital dream dissolves into dust. In Ohaji-Egbema, the “ICT Centre” stands as a bare structure—no wiring, no computers, no power. Orsu’s supposed hub has become a storehouse for broken desks. Aboh Mbaise’s “Smart Classroom” is a cement skeleton fenced with weeds. Even in Owerri North, where visitors are shown a working facility, teachers admit it functions only when officials arrive. The generator hums for the cameras, then silence returns.
The claim of 27 learning centers was not a policy—it was performance. The state didn’t build classrooms for the future; it built backdrops for governance.
Table 1 – Verification Summary of “27 Digital Centers”
(Prepared by Prof. MarkAnthony Nze | The Eastern Updates Investigative Series – Imo State)
| LGA | Status | Functional Computers | Power | Internet |
| Owerri North | Occasionally active | 7 | Generator | None |
| Owerri West | Locked structure | 0 | None | None |
| Aboh Mbaise | Unfinished | 0 | None | None |
| Ohaji-Egbema | Empty hall | 0 | None | None |
| Orsu | Repurposed | 0 | None | None |
| Ngor Okpala | Foundation stage | 0 | None | None |
Only 6 of 27 LGAs had any visible structure; only 1 briefly functioned.
The Budget of Disappearance
Between 2022 and 2024, ₦5.6 billion was earmarked for “Digital Education Infrastructure.” The government claimed ₦3.9 billion had been spent, but neither procurement records nor inspection reports exist. The Auditor-General’s Report (2024) found that most listed projects lacked performance certificates or identifiable contractors.
When The Eastern Updates requested financial documentation under the Freedom of Information Act, the Ministry of Education’s terse reply read: “Records under review.” The phrase has become a refrain in Imo’s governance—proof that the only thing digitized is denial.
Read also: Falsehood No. 72 — “We Revived All Abandoned Industries”
Table 2 – Budget vs. Reality
(Prepared by Prof. MarkAnthony Nze | The Eastern Updates Investigative Series – Imo State)
| Year | Budget (₦ Billion) | Claimed Spent (₦ Billion) | Verified Projects (%) |
| 2022 | 2.1 | 1.3 | 14 |
| 2023 | 2.0 | 1.6 | 18 |
| 2024 | 1.5 | 1.0 | 7 |
| Total | 5.6 | 3.9 | 13% Verified |
Eighty-seven percent of funds vanished—along with the power, the fiber cables, and the truth.
Lessons Without Electricity
In Ihitte-Uboma, a teacher still sketches a keyboard on a blackboard to “teach” computer science. The children repeat the components of a CPU they have never seen. “We were told laptops were coming last year,” one student said, “but they never arrived.”
The NITDA Subnational ICT Audit (2024) confirms that fewer than 30 percent of Imo’s public schools have access to a single working computer. The UNESCO Nigeria Readiness Report (2024) classifies the state as “digitally unprepared.” Even among the few centers that exist, broadband connectivity is below 25 percent, and power outages make learning impossible.
No nation builds digital citizens on chalk and hope.
The Politics of Optics
Digital governance has become the new theatre of African politics—cleaner, shinier, easier to fake. In Imo, that theatre reached its apex. Drone footage replaced development. Billboards replaced broadband. And press releases replaced power supply.
Civil servants were ordered to submit glowing reports about “centers” that existed only in budget memos. At least four teachers confirmed being asked to pose for publicity photos beside borrowed laptops. The next day, the laptops were gone. The lie, however, remained.
It is the oldest formula in Nigerian governance: public relations first, public service never.
Table 3 – ICT Infrastructure in South-East States (2024)
(Prepared by Prof. MarkAnthony Nze | The Eastern Updates Investigative Series – Imo State)
| State | Schools with ICT Labs (%) | Broadband Access (%) | Functional Centres |
| Anambra | 61 | 49 | 42 |
| Ebonyi | 54 | 43 | 33 |
| Enugu | 57 | 46 | 37 |
| Imo | 29 | 24 | 6 |
The so-called “digital leader of the South-East” ranks last on every measurable index.
The Generation Left Offline
Every fake project hides a stolen opportunity. The ₦5.6 billion that vanished could have connected 100,000 students to digital education, trained 5,000 teachers, or established real innovation hubs in each LGA. Instead, the youth of Imo remain unplugged—learning 21st-century subjects with 19th-century tools.
The tragedy is not technological but moral. Governance built on illusion produces not development, but disillusionment.
Verdict — The Digital Lie
Governor Hope Uzodinma’s claim of building 27 digital learning centers across Imo State is entirely false. Field verification shows fewer than six incomplete structures, none functioning sustainably. The rest exist only in speeches and graphics.
A digital revolution without electricity, without equipment, and without transparency is not progress—it is performance. In the theatre of governance, Imo has perfected the art of virtual leadership: bright on screen, broken on the ground.
Until truth itself becomes a public policy, Imo will remain a state coded for failure—offline in every sense that matters.
Professor MarkAnthony Ujunwa Nze is an internationally acclaimed investigative journalist, public intellectual, and global governance analyst whose work shapes contemporary thinking at the intersection of health and social care management, media, law, and policy. Renowned for his incisive commentary and structural insight, he brings rigorous scholarship to questions of justice, power, and institutional integrity.
Based in New York, he serves as a full tenured professor and Academic Director at the New York Center for Advanced Research (NYCAR), where he leads high-impact research in governance innovation, strategic leadership, and geopolitical risk. He also oversees NYCAR’s free Health & Social Care professional certification programs, accessible worldwide at:
👉 https://www.newyorkresearch.org/professional-certification/
Professor Nze remains a defining voice in advancing ethical leadership and democratic accountability across global systems.
Bibliographies
African Development Bank. (2024). Nigeria Knowledge Economy and Digital Inclusion Index 2024. Abidjan: AfDB Human Capital Division.
BudgIT Foundation. (2025). State of States Report 2025 – ICT Infrastructure and Digital Literacy (Imo Chapter). Lagos: BudgIT Foundation.
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Federal Ministry of Education. (2024). Subnational School Infrastructure and ICT Integration Review 2024. Abuja: Policy & Planning Department.
Imo Broadcasting Corporation (IBC TV). (2024, September 15). Uzodinma Commissions 27 Digital Learning Centres. Owerri: IBC Archives.
Imo State Ministry of Education. (2024). Digital Learning Infrastructure Implementation Report 2024. Owerri: PRS Department.
National Bureau of Statistics. (2024). ICT Access and Usage Report (Education Sector) 2024. Abuja: NBS ICT Division.
National Information Technology Development Agency. (2024). Subnational ICT Infrastructure Audit 2024 – South-East Zone. Abuja: NITDA Policy Unit.
Nigeria Communications Commission. (2024). Broadband Access and School Connectivity Report 2024. Abuja: NCC Research Department.
Premium Times Nigeria. (2024, October 21). Fact Check: Imo’s 27 Digital Learning Centres Exist Only on Paper. Retrieved from https://www.premiumtimesng.com
Punch Newspapers. (2024, October 23). Inside Imo’s “Digital Centres” Without Power or Computers. Retrieved from https://punchng.com
The Guardian Nigeria. (2024, October 24). Imo’s Digital Learning Claim Collapses Under Field Verification. Retrieved from https://guardian.ng
UNESCO. (2024). Nigeria Digital Education Readiness Assessment 2024. Paris: UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education.
