Hon. Ugo-Ferdinand Ukwueze Reflects on One Year of Transformative Leadership in Igbo-Eze South LGA: Takes Bold Steps in Giving the LGA a Befitting Secretariat
By Nkem Ossai
The Chairman of Igbo-Eze South Local Government Area, Hon. Barr. Ugo-Ferdinand Ukwueze, granted journalists a marathon interview, baring his mind on his stewardship after one year in office.
Answering questions from members of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Nsukka Chapel, who paid him a courtesy visit in his office to mark his one year in office.
, Barr. Ferdinand thanked the governor of the state, His Excellency. Dr. Ndubuisi Mbah who, on coming into office two years ago, quickly set the ball of development rolling.
He said that the governor came into office with an ambitious manifesto which he is now executing. He noted that part of the manifesto was to give access to young minds that are development-oriented. He emphasized, “For the kind of character the governor has, someone like me wouldn’t have been in office — a chairman serving in the local government…”This is not because I am not qualified but because I have not played that rugged politics enough to warrant my coming to serve my people.” He noted that he has been a private individual before now though, he has been privileged to serve the Nigerian Bar Association, Nsukka Branch and, at the same time, been the coordinating Chairman of ‘Bar Chairmen Forum’ in Enugu State and National Executive Member of NBA.”
Speaking further, he said that when they assumed office, he met people who were desperate for progress and development. He said, “I came in with a manifesto titled ‘Press Agenda,’ noting that one of the challenges I met on ground was that Igbo-Eze South faced serious administrative deficits in terms of structures, as can be seen. There was no office for the Chairman, nor for the Vice Chairman, nor for the civil servants who were ready and willing to work. I felt that they were not serious, and I served them with queries to find out why they would not be in the offices by at least 9.00 am. The response was that there are no offices for them to stay.” He continued, “so, humanly speaking, I saw why they cannot be performing at their best capacities. I realized that my predecessor had marked the Secretariat for total and overall renovation. So, we had no choice but to start clearing debris there,” he added. He noted that the place was so dilapidated that two pythons were killed there, adding that by the special grace of God, even the blind, and the naysayers can see that the place is now wearing a new look. He added, “I cannot wait to complete the project”, noting that it is a multimillion-naira project.
“One of the challenges we were confronted with was whether to leave that structure and initiate a new one, which would have been faster and possibly a beautiful design, and would better align with modernity. I reasoned that if the state government could give ‘Smart Schools’ only six months for its completion, given the availability of funds, a similar thing can also be done within one year”, he said.
He similarly noted that there is more to the structure than its outlook, explaining that it goes with a legacy name, adding, “if you bring it down, you bring Dr. Emeka Enejere’s name down.” He reasoned, “Enejere’s Building stands to immortalize somebody who laid foundation for the creation of Igbo-Eze South LGA. We needed to take that into consideration. That was why we favoured a more tedious job of breaking down, remodeling and bringing it up to this standard.” He added that, that is why all hands are on deck to bring the project to its conclusion.
“We are also working on the access road which was one of the challenges we faced. The access road was unbecoming of the status of a local government Secretariat which was originally poorly designed. This makes it two narrow to house such edifice. With due respect, the blame will be shared by the past administrations”, he pointed out.
He said that they had to go into acquisition of land which took negotiations and exchange of spaces in order to balance and achieve the expansion desired for the access road. He said, “away from the challenges posed by the Secretariat, is the long years of non-maintenance and non-grading of rural roads. Added to that, is some other natural disasters that have occurred to make those environments impassable. This erosion-prone-areas around Igbo-Eze South were cut off from one another. This affected farmers transportation of their farm produce from one community to another let alone somebody coming from outside Igbo-Eze South to access our farm produce.” This, he emphasized, was telling on the economy of these communities. He went on, this led his government to go into massive road grading and creation to stabilize and open up the environment. Today, he added, if you are conversant with our environment, it will only take you ten minutes to get to Alor-Agu from Ibagwa-Aka. This, he noted, was a place that takes over two hours before now.
On security Barr. Ferdinand said, “we have been able to achieve a lot. Before now, marauders have been lurking in the bushes and forests around and laying ambush. There has been pockets of attacks and kidnapping on easy targets. Cases abound where farmers were attacked or kidnapped in their farms as a result of safe heavens provided by the environment.” All that, he noted, are now in the past as they can now be chased to any level by the security operatives of the LGA. He said that the security challenges were so much that in the past, going to Unadu, Alor-Agu and Agu-Ibeje was a risk which only the strong can take.
Other Challenges and Experiences about security as narrated by the Chairman.
Sometimes in the nearest past, a traditional ruler of Unadu was stripped naked by the criminal elements in broad daylight with no one to help. That was how critical security situation was in Igbo-Eze South. The kidnap of the Rev. Sisters was one the critical instances that we faced. The kidnappers would just come from the Kogi forests and pick somebody and disappear into the tick forest. At Nkalagu Obukpa, families were attacked time without number. This led to loss of lives and the kidnapping of ten persons before the arrival of security operatives. Many of these attacks were coming from Kogi State.
Nevertheless, these challenges are now a thing of the past as a result of the security measures put in place including sufficient synergy enjoyed from the state government. This is just to mention but a few of the things we faced and have been able to achieve within one year in office.
Other Terrible Crimes include:
- The killing of three children of the same parents in Ibagwa-Aka which was more of an organized crime was a devastating and terrifying experience
- To curtail crime in this environment, last year, we made effort to purchase JAMB Forms for every child in Igbo-Eze South LGA who is interested in writing JAMB. Although, out of over six hundred of them, we could not access up to fifty boys. Because of this discouraging number, we created a platform where we interact. This was to enable us monitor their trajectory from gaining admission to their studies, until the point of graduation. This is to make sure that they are all engaged – a kind of mentorship. The conversation with them is still ongoing.
- We also engaged one hundred sons and daughters of Igbo-Eze South LGA currently studying at Mario Institute Ihunowere. This is an extensive skill acquisition in its best in various fields. They will be graduating shortly. Not only shall we provide funds for their take off but will also provide mentorship.
- Next month, the next batch will go in. We sponsor them, pay for their fees and give them startups.
- On these tertiary institutions, we have a scheme and a committee on Youths Development, Bursary and Scholarship. We are hoping that before the end of this year, we will be able to have five hundred of them.
- Social Support: We met our traditional rulers half way via Christmas Uniforms and Support for Annual Yam Festivals with the sum of #500,000 thousand Naira. This is a way of bringing them closer to their people.
- On Electricity: There are some communities that have not been able to access electricity. These include Alor Agu, Ovoko-Agu, and Ulunya Ovoko. These communities, (among whom, may not have had electricity before), have now had electricity restored.
- On Markets: We have Orie Igbo-Eze, Nkwo Ibagwa and Afor Unadu. It was discovered that the activities of touts was killing the economy of these markets. As a result, market committees were set up. We made a policy to stop any form of levy in the markets from 1st of January. We did this not because the government do not need these levies but we needed to restore the trust of the traders, especially those operating from outside our LGA, knowing how competitive these markets are.
Other Dividends of Democracy:
a. Financial Institution: A bank in Orie Igbo-Eze and a plan to remodel the market.
b. Plan for rural water supply.
c. Rural roads.
d. Welfare of the staff.
e. Dealing with illegal task forces that are harassing the people, etc.
