C'River: Otu To Embark On Massive Road Construction, Rural Electrification Projects In 15 LGAs
By Edem ITA, Calabar
As part of deliberate measures to bolster socio-economic activities at the grassroots, the state government has concluded plans to embark on massive road construction in 15 local government areas across the entire state.
The Commissioner, Ministry of Local Government Affairs, Chief Victor Felix Idem who dropped the hints during an interaction with Heads of Local Government Administration, HOLGAs, in Calabar revealed that the road construction represents a vital development component packaged by Governor Bassey Otu to reposition the third tier of government for socio-economic growth.
He disclosed that; "Apart from roads, the government has opted to rehabilitate the Secretariat of Calabar South, Akpabuyo, and Bakassi Local Government councils to provide a conducive working atmosphere for staff. Recall that these Council Secretariat were vandalized by miscreants during the "EndSarr" protests which wreaked havoc, especially in these councils and other government facilities in the state capital".
"That pathetic development had left the staff stranded in terms of office accommodations. We want to change the narratives and breathe life back into affected LGAs. The novel intention of the present administration is to reposition the local government councils to drive the development aspirations of the Otu-led government as encapsulated in the people-first mantra".
He stated that the initiative which includes the construction of 10 kilometers road network, and the extension of the national grid to ensure electricity supply to areas wallowing in darkness across 15 Council areas is meant to transform the benefiting local government areas into semi-urban centers with the view of stimulating economic activities to improve quality of life.
According to him; "The present administration headed by Senator Bassey Otu is poised to ensure the provisions of basic amenities across local government areas. The intention is to improve the quality of life of our people while also enhancing their means of livelihood. Having discovered that most of the state is still groping in darkness due to vandalization of electrical installations or the absence of the national grip, we are fixing damaged electrical installations while also kick-starting rural electrification projects to extend electricity supply to the nooks and crannies of the entire state".
He charged the Heads of Local Government Administration to brace up for the challenges of ensuring peace and security within their jurisdiction as well as driving the rural transformation agenda of the state government to pave the way for the delivery of a democratic dividend.
"Providence has positioned you to ensure that the right things are done in our local councils through the laying a solid foundation for socio-economic development before the conduct of local government elections expected to usher in democratically elected council officials".
On the poor internal revenue generation statistics of councils, Chief Idem sued for collaboration between the Local Government Administrators, House of Assembly Members, and Commissioners in each Council to ensure smooth implementation of the new template designed to curb the diversion of public revenue to private pockets while promoting accountability and remittance of public funds to the coffers of respective local government.
" The era of misconstruing public funds especially at the local government level as pocket money to few political stalwarts is over. Such practice is inimical to our quest to boost IGR indices which forms the basis for statutory federal allocations. We can't afford to continue in that direction".
Also speaking, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Barrister Leo Egede called for concerted efforts to boost the council's internally generated revenue capacity to guarantee higher statutory allocation since IGR is used as a yardstick in determining federal allocation.
Responding to the HOLGA for Odukpani, Mr Ekpenyong Esuabana who spoke on behalf of others pledged the readiness of his colleagues to work in tandem with the state government to ensure the smooth implementation of policies and programmes to develop the local councils
