Enugu Good Governance Team Scores Nkanu West High
Chairman, Nkanu West local government area, Hon. Uche Ejim, has taken clear steps towards aggressive infrastructural development of the area.
This was manifest in project assessment during the Good Governance Tour embarked upon by a team of investigators comprising the Nigeria Union of Journalists,NUJ, Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and a coalition of Civil Society Organisation, CSO, who visited the sites of the various projects undertaken by the council administration.
The council chairman, Hon. Ejim, who was represented by the secretary to the local government, Ikechukwu Ani, disclosed that the Council had ensured the execution of at least, one project in each of the communities in the area, to enthrone a sense of belonging to all, and in the interest of expanded development of the council area.
To this end, every community is lit with solar powered street lights which he observed was part of the security strategy by the Council.
Also on security, the good governance team was taken to the Nkanu West Divisional Police headquarters, Agbani where the Council had installed a Close Circuit Television, CCTV, with a wide radius of coverage,extended to as far as Four Corner Ozalla.This was in addition to a reinforced concrete security/ surveillance tower constructed by the council at the police station.
Of a great developmental posture also, was the 3.7 kilometer asphalting of Ameke-Ogilishi-Obinagu Uwani Akpugo, being constructed with concrete drainage system, and bearing eleven adjoining culverts strategically positioned to care for erosion issues.
According to the chairman, the project which commenced in March this year, is expected to be completed in December as construction activities will resume at the end of the rains.
At Health Centre, Ojiagu Agbani which became a shadow of itself over the years, was renovated by the current administration of the council and returned to normal functionality.
The Officer in Charge of the centre, Ephraim Ede narrated their ordeals before the council’s intervention.
“What we are seeing here today is fantastic and can be described as a miracle when compared to what it was before the intervention of the chairman.
“The dilapidated centre had been disconnected by the electricity distribution company for bill debt of over 300,000 naira which was offset by the chairman and power now restored. This was in addition to solar- powered electricity also installed by the council in the initial intervention”, Ede acknowledged.
Other projects executed by the council are, a 700 capacity civic centre Agbani, Ndiagu-Agwa Umuokwuo bridge at Akegbeugwu, which was described by the council’s Supervisor for works, Ray Nnamani as an instrument re- uniting the people who were hitherto broken by the age-long collapsed bridge.
“This bridge links Akegbe-ugwu, Amaigbo in Nkanu West LGA to Udi local government area.
“Over the years people in Akegbe-ugwu communities have been finding it difficult to cross over to their neighbouring communities in Udi but now they have hope that very soon their pains will be over, ” Nnamani said.
The council also undertook the rehabilitation/ furnishing of Community Primary School 1&2, Agbani, Amuzu electricity project at Obinagu Uwani Akpugo with poles spanning over five kilometers, as well as ancillary works at the council headquarters and other facilities of the council, among others.
In their respective remarks, the good governance team leaders, Comrades Fabian Nwigbo, the NLC chairman, Sam Udekwe, the state NUJ Chairman and Onyebuchi Igboke, the state coordinator of the CSO, described the Nkanu West developmental strides as a good example that should be emulated by his colleagues who may not have toed the line of people – oriented governance.
“We are indeed impressed by what we have seen on the ground and would want to see other chairmen follow the path”, they said.
The Enugu State good governance initiative, a biennial exercise which began in 2019, is a tripartite accountability project by the NUJ, NLC and CSO, designed to watch over the third tier administration and spark up grassroots development.
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Sam Udekwe is a journalist working in the News and Current Affairs department, Enugu State Broadcasting Service (ESBS) Enugu. He is well trained in all genres of journalistic venture.
Mr Sam read Mass Communication, graduating all with Distinction in National Diploma, Higher National Diploma and Postgraduate Diploma at IMT, Enugu and Madonna University, Okija, Anambra state, while he is presently on his M.Sc programme also in Mass Communication, at National Open University of Nigeria.
He is currently the NUJ Chairman, Enugu state.
samowailo@gmail.com
