Ahead of the December 7 terminal point of the three years tenure of the current local governments administration in Akwa Ibom State and with assurances by Governor Umo Eno of tenure extension for some performing chairmen, LEADERSHIP checks revealed last minutes rush to showcase projects by some outgoing LGA bosses in order to clinch the caretaker carrot dangled by the governor for another one year.
The Chairman of the Akwa Ibom State Independent National Electoral Commission (AKISIEC), Elder Aniedi Ikoiwak, in an interview in Uyo, the state capital, has ruled out the conduct of regular council polls at the expiration of the current administration elected into office in 2020, citing funding constraints and the fact that Governor Eno is new in office.
The governor had, in his inaugural meeting with journalists in the state after being sworn – in, made it clear that some chairmen would return under interim caretaker arrangement during the transition regime while some others, our correspondent gathered, could be assigned other responsibilities as a reward for ensuring the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) retained the state in the last general elections.
“Therefore, except for some LGAs including Etim Ekpo led by Hon. Ime Afia and Mkpat Enin, chaired by Prince Aniekpon Ekpo, and few others where the people are protesting lack of tangible achievements in their scorecards; couple of others such as Ukanafun, Ini, Essien Udim, Ika, Uyo, Abak, Okobo and others, have been showcasing people-oriented projects as their achievements in the last three years,” noted Ekaette Akpan, a grassroots development advocate in Uyo
“We have conducted peer review across the 31 LGAs but with no visible signs of grassroots developments, except in Ukanafun, where the Council Chairman, Dr. Godwin Inyieng, has commissioned a police station, which is unprecedented and other projects including water, roads, electricity, social empowerment programmes and scholarships for Indigent students across the 13 Wards,” he stressed.
She also identified Ini LGA under Mr. Israel Idaisin, who have also doled out scholarships to 1,000 students, human empowerment programmes, water and other projects, as well Okobo, Abak and other LGs, and made a case for “equity and justice to prevail in the selection of likely Chairmen expected to be part of the transition committees based on track – record of performance.”
“The governor has stated clearly about the focus of his administration in his blueprint, ‘Arise Agenda’ that rural development remains one of the key drivers of his vision for the people. And that’s the major reason he has appointed hundreds of aides to oversee grassroots developments in the 31 LGAs, working closely with Council Chairmen, who had been directed by the Governor to relocate to their Council headquarters from Uyo, for ease of governance at the third tier.
“So, it’s time to revive the local government system to work and engender positive impacts and influence of governance at the third tier level because it’s the closest to the people” she stressed.
