The Chairman of Enugu East Local Government Area, Chief Alex Ugwu, has said that all council chairmen in the State are duty bound to serve the people in their various LGs better since they were fully in charge of their council’s finances and allocations.
Ugwu made known during when a coalition of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and the State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) visited the council on a Good Governance Tour.
According to him, the council under his watch has judiciously used the over N1.9 billion of Federal Allocation from December 2017 as clear in the many projects executed by his administration.
Ugwu who said that he had always wanted to serve his people, revealed that the council had so far, graded about eight rural link roads and remains the only council to asphalt a 1.5km road in the last two years.
He said his administration has completed the council’s administrative block, which according to him, was abandoned for 9 years, adding that the successes recorded by his administration were because of the prudent management of the council’s available resources.
The council boss also said that ever since he came on board, he made workers welfare a top priority of his administration by clearing the three months workers’ salary arrears inherited by his administration.
“The council has one of the highest workforce in the state with a total of 1,119 and we are making sure that salaries are paid as at and when due because they cannot work if they are not paid” he said.
Speaking at the end of the tour, the Chairman of NUJ in the State, Rex Arum, commended the council boss for what he described as a job well done, looking at the infrastructural developments on ground.
He however urged him to make efforts to venture into agriculture, considering the various moves by the Federal Government to diversify the country’s economy and more so, giving the fact that the area was rich in agriculture.
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“Agriculture would certainly open up more opportunities for the teeming youths and also ensure food security in the state, reducing many crime,” he said.
Leader of the coalition of CSOs, Onyebuchi Igboke, said they intended the tour to primarily access the performance of the various Chairmen in the state and not to witch-hunt anyone as is identified in some quarters.
According to him, it was necessary for such organization as the NUJ, CSOs and other labour unions to visit they various local governments in the state to find out of these chairmen are really working for their people or are only enriching themselves.
He alleged that some chairmen that had nothing to show were already making efforts to come back for a second tenure, as the tenure of the present local government administration in the state will end on December 4.
“We need to go down to these LGs and see those who have been elected to serve and make them understand that they have a responsibility to the people. There is no need for autonomy if they chairman are not working for their people” he said.
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