One Year in Office: Igbo-Etiti Chairman Calls for Stronger Local Government Autonomy
By Nkem Ossai
Speaking during the courtesy call by members of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Nsukka Chapel, who paid him a courtesy visit recently in his office at Ogbede, the Chairman, Hon. Dr. Eric Ogbonna Odo, thanked the Union for finding time to visit noting that journalists are the fourth estate of the realm. As such, their services are crucial to the survival of democracy.
Responding to a question on his challenges since the past one year in office, the Chairman said that any success recorded in any local government in Enugu State can only be attributed to the support of the governor of the state, His Excellency, Dr. Peter Ndubuisi Mbah. This is in terms of allowing one to run the LGA as the constitution stipulates. He added that the fact that His Excellency allows the autonomy of the LGA’s has enabled everyone to work hard to succeed. In this way, we can raise our voices and say, “This is what we have done.” He said, “This is not just a project; it is about a legacy project.”
He said, “Since we were sworn in on the 30th of September 2024, we came with a vision to develop our LGA, considered to be an agrarian area.”
He continued: “Infrastructure, Health, Education, Beautification, Security and ICT have occupied the primary position in our administration and most importantly, poverty alleviation is central to our administration.” He added that when they were campaigning, they promised to run an open administration making sure that no matter how small, how big or even how rich, you can always access our Council. Although, he emphasized, we are not making any comparison here, but everyone is allowed here. He emphasized that from wine tappers to those who cannot afford anything but bathroom silpas, not because they like it but because there is no other one, are free here. He continued: “We also see single mothers coming here on daily basis for one thing or other.” He noted that the moment you are able to listen to them, you have ended up solving half of their problems.
“I have made Igbo-Etiti people believe that the office of the council chairman is not at the top but at the very bottom and that they can access it. We’re able to identify their challenges and have been able to tackle some of them”, he added.
Speaking further, he said that Igbo-Etiti people have a lot of indigents and he has been able to listen to them and tackle some of their challenges which is a major breakthrough, noting that it is not going to be easy for anybody coming after him to jettison this communication foundation we are laying in Igbo-Etiti for the vulnerable. He said, this can be seen as an indicator that can be used to measure other developments. He added , “I know we can stand tall anywhere in the country to say that we have administered governance that touched the lives of the people” noting, that, that was the reason we made it mandatory as a matter of policy. He said the ugliest part of poverty is in the direction of widows. “For that, we were able to recruit one thousand widows and widowers. These people are being paid every month.” He emphatically noted that it is the ugliest part of poverty you can see anywhere in the country, that is, if you want to see. He said that, it is the area his administration is going in, in fulfillment of his campaign promises. “We promised that we are going to put the poor people at the driver’s seat and put the rich at the back seat, meaning that the issue of poor and vulnerable will be prioritized.
Highlights of other things the Chairman has achieved:
- A three bedroom house for a widow who lives in a thatched house.
- Another three bedroom for another widow who lives in a single door house without a window. She has eight children one of them a pastor. I appointed him my SSA on Spiritual Affairs.
- At Umuna, a woman who lost her husband ten years ago with only son that later died four years ago: She has been living on borrowed food. Her old house was demolished and a three bedroom apartment was built for her.
On that note we made a plea to Igbo-Etiti people who are rich and advised them to assist people in this direction since we cannot build houses for all the poor people. We’re happy we did this.
“At the end of every month, these indigents flood the LGA for their stipends of ten thousand Naira. This has helped in no small way to reduce poverty”, he added.
Infrastructure Development Excerpts:
On the area of infrastructure development , we started a new road considering the state of the Federal road in our area. We connected the road from Umuokpa to Ugwuogo-Nike road. That road is already at the asphalt level which will begin as soon as rain stops. That will make it easier for people coming from Enugu to Igbo-Etiti and vice versa.
On the LGA headquarters, Beautification is going on and by the time we finished, the place will turn to GRA.
Health and Medical Services:
While we were doing the Ugwuogo-Nike/ Igbo-Etiti road, there was an accident. This triggered a problem which we thought we had not. A trailer load of fertilizer fell and crushed some people and they were taken to hospital. It will interest you to know that in Igbo-Etiti today, there is no secondary health care facility, there is no general hospital. What we have here is primary healthcare for primary care. In this case, no serious issue can be handled here.
You could recall that before I was elected as the Council Chairman, I was the CEO of the Hospital Management Board in-charge of general and cottage hospitals in Enugu. I was there for four months before I was drafted to come and contest this election which I successfully won. In realization that, that was my mandate and Igbo-Etiti had a cottage hospital that has been moribund. We had to clean up the place by way of rehabilitation and fencing. As at today, it has been provided with a Laboratory, a Theatre, a Surgery machine etc. We can now perform surgery under general anesthesia. The nursing and doctors’ quarters have also been rehabilitated. Equipment for Labs and GOP has been provided. As such, Igbo-Etiti people have no reason to travel to Nsukka or Enugu for medical care. Required staff were also employed – doctors and nurses with good pay. I am even ready to pay them as much as one million Naira a month to make sure they are here to treat our people. To that extent, issues of Lab, Diag etc. will soon be a thing of the past. My target is that, by the time we finished, doctors will be coming to Igbo-Etiti to have their housemanship. My plan is to convert this cottage hospital to general. So, by the time we shall be commissioning this hospital, hopefully, I will be asking His Excellency for an upgrade to a general hospital. My hope is that His Excellency will oblige me. Being the only medical personnel among the 17 LGA Chairmen, there is need for a close touch on the issue of health. My hope is to leave this area as a place where nobody can die because he or she cannot access a health care. In that way, I can justify the reason I was posted here as the Council Chairman.
Agriculture:
I appointed a Senior Special Assistant Specializing on Garden Egg, Cocoyam, and Cassava, and people were laughing and saying that they couldn’t understand that kind of appointment. The Social Media went to market with jesty stories. However, when I explained myself and showed what I meant, they were able to understand. In Igbo-Etiti, we have five hectares of land for “Ose Nsukka” (yellow pepper), five hectares of land for Cocoyam and fourteen plots of land for bean seed. Today, we make an average of between two to three million Naira from Garden Egg. By next month, it will be the turn of pepper and Cocoyam. It was just an experiment. By the time we invest the sum of thirty million Naira, what do you expect? We shall not be getting anything less than ten million in a month. We are now proposing to invest over one hundred million Naira. If we succeed in making this investment in these identified crops and get the return on investment, I should be able to pay the salary of civil servants even on 15th of every month. This is what we have done in respect of agriculture. We have also identified youths who are interested in agriculture. We have partnered with youths on a fifty-fifty basis. We may not be able to fund all but now I know that the youths in Igbo-Etiti are interested in agriculture. In this regard, I am going to make a serious investment in Agriculture.
ICT and Innovation:
Igbo-Etiti is the manpower hub of Enugu State, with all sense of humility, though not because we are the only educated people. However, in Igbo-Etiti, the highest number of professors is found. No LGA can compete with Igbo-Etiti in terms of Professors. Professors will continue to set the standard by which we assess educated people. Realizing this fact, we reasoned that we should set up ICT Hub very soon. We are thinking of E. Library, ICT training, and that of Computer Based Test soon. We’re partnering with WAEC, NECO and JAMB so that, sooner or later, people will soon be taking CBT exams here in our LGA. That way, it will help us run away from the issue of running around for these things by our people.
The primary essence of government outside the protection of lives and properties is to continue to cater for the welfare of the people and the welfare of the people cannot in any way be supported if you have not been able to identify everywhere your people will fit in and begin to make sure they are there.
Other Areas the Chairman is Paying Close Attention Include:
- Water Resources: Here, the Chairman has declared a state-of- emergency and is working on overhauling and reticulation of over 5.2 kms of piping (original pipes).
- Igbo-Etiti LGA has already been declared ODF free. It’s the only LGA in Enugu State. An ODF free place is where open defecation is no longer practiced. This will attract development from all over the world.
- There is plan to replicate this in other communities in the LGA.
- In amenities, Igbo-Etiti LGA applies the principle of fair play, justice and equity for peace to reign.
- Security: the safest LGA in Enugu State is Igbo-Etiti.
- Structures to ensure the take off of Civil Defense in all the areas in the LGA.
- Over 15 operational vehicles have been put in place for security.
- Overhauled the abandoned Ambulance. It’s now very operational.
Our desire is to do what is good whenever possible. This includes taking decisions that are for the overall interest of Igbo-Etiti people and making the LGA the most progressive, not just in Enugu State, not in Nigeria but that which Africa will be proud by the time we get there. These were only possible because of the financial autonomy and cooperation of our governor. For that, I commend His Excellency, Governor Peter Mbah.
