Lawrence Nwimo, Awka
Transition Committee Chairman of Awka North Local Government Area, Comrade ThankGod Anago has pledged to support the drive for grassroots governance and development in his Council area.
The pledge was made by Anago when he welcomed the Partners in his office at the Council Headquarters, Achalla.
The Development Partner, Justice Development and Peace Caritas, JDPC Nnewi in partnership with Enough is Enough (EiE) Nigeria is supporting community agencies to improve local government level governance system in Nigeria.
Ikengaonline learnt that the advocacy visit was in line with the need to promote the #MyLGA Project in Anambra State, which seeks to strengthen citizens’ engagement and communication in local government areas as a means to boost grassroots participation leveraging the Office of the Citizens initiative.
During his presentation, the advocacy team lead, Onyekachi Ololo, who congratulated the chairman on his recent re-appointment by Governor Chukwuma Soludo emphasised the deep interest that JDPC Nnewi ably led by the Director – Rev. Fr. Ben Okolo, has towards the advancement of democracy and good governance.
According to him, JDPC had supported community groups over the years in building active citizenship by monitoring capital and development projects in their communities to ensure they are well executed according to specifications and followed up with government actors where the need arises to provide feedback on observations made in the field.
Ololo said the #MyLGA Project intervention, advocated through Community Champions and also implemented in Anambra state by JDPC Nnewi with EiE Nigeria is requesting from the Chairman to establish an Office of the Citizens (OOTC) Help Desk with an Officer where citizens from Awka North LGA can readily report issues of insecurity, human rights violation, abandoned or poorly executed local government projects in their communities and other matters.
He said the desk will also serve as an interface to share ideas and ask questions, create an environment where citizens and the local government authorities work for the collective benefit of the community.
The OOTC Champion, Mr Albert Chiwuko from Urum, Awka North, who facilitated the Advocacy to the Chairman recounted how they monitored projects and provided observations on the status of the project to the government that shifted attention to the contractor which led to the effective implementation of the project.
He mentioned that the Office of the citizens help desk will give the people of Awka North the confidence that they are presenting their issues through a mechanism to the local government and would see the LG as one with a listening ear.
In his response, Hon Anago said that he was interested in making an impact in Awka North and will embrace initiatives that would bring immense development to the people of the area in line with the Solution Agenda of the state governor.
He also promised to support the creation of the office of the citizens help desk as well as actively participate in future engagements of the group to enable the people not only see the need but to actively participate in the development of their local government.
