Ben Ezechime, Enugu
The Good Governance Initiative, a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), on Thursday commended the Chairman of Nkanu West Local Government Council, Uche Ejim, for his grassroots oriented projects.
The group comprised leadership of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) Enugu State Council, the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Enugu State Council, and Coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CCSO) in Enugu State.
The commendation followed a visitation by the group to some projects initiated by the chairman as part of it’s watchdog role.
During the visit, the team was conducted round some of the projects by the Supervisor for Works, Mr Ray Nnamani.
Some of the projects include, a 3.7 kilometers road project at Ameke-Ogrushi, Obeagu Uwani.
He said that the road, which started in May 2023 through direct labour had reached over 60 per cent completion with 11 drainages.
The team also visited the rehabilitation of Nkanu West Divisional Police Station with fully equipped security monitoring post.
The rehabilitation and equipping of the police station was undertaken by the council chairman to assist the police in tracking criminals in the area.
Another project visited was the Ojiagu Health Center, rehabilitated by the council chairman to cater for the health needs of the people of the area.
According to the Officer-in-Charge (oic) of the health center, Mr Ephraim Ede, prior to the intervention of the chairman, the center was completely dilapidated with leaking roofs.
“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.
“We wrote to the state government, contacted several politicians in Nkanu West including former governor of the state but nothing happened until the chairman came to assist,” Ede said.
Ejim also intervened in the construction of a Bridge linking Umuokwo village with Udi Local Government Area.
“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 team also visited Amuzu village rural electrification project in Obinagu where solar lights are being installed with street light poles spanning over five kilometers already installed.
The chairman amongst others installed solar lights and close circuit monitoring devices at the LG council and constructed one culvert in each of the 14 electoral wards in the local government.
Speaking, the chairman of NLC in the state, Mr Fabian Nwigbo, described Ejim as one of the best performing LG chairmen in the state.
“With what we have seen on ground today, the chairman deserves accolades.
“The only thing left is just that, he is unavoidably absent to tell us how much all these projects cost,” Nwigbo said.
This was also corroborated by the other leaders of the team, Messrs Sam Udekwe, the state NUJ Chairman and Onyebuchi Igboke, the state coordinator of CSO coalition.
