Journalists’ forum visits Igbo-Etiti LGA, Enugu, commends Chairman, team on ‘aggressive’ development efforts, achievements

By Ndujihe Ugwu

After a working visit to Igbo-Etiti Local Government Area on Monday, April 14, members of the Executive Community of the Nsukka Journalists Forum (NJF), led by the group’s Chairman, Chief Benson Whyte Ezugwu, came out with a verdict: the Igbo-Etiti Council Chairman, Eric Odoh, a medical doctor, and his team have taken an irreversible path towards the rapid development of the LGA, to wide acclaim.

In his remarks during the visit, at an interactive session with the Council Chairman, along with the Secretary to the Local Government (SLG), Arch James Akadu, in the Chairman’s office at Ogbede, Igbo-Etiti Council headquarters, NJF’s Chairman, Chief Ezugwu explained that he and his team were in Igbo-Etiti as part of the Forum’s programme of constructive engagement with local councils in the Enugu North Senatorial Zone, aka Nsukka Cultural Zone, aimed at promoting development in the cultural zone through the instrumentality of development journalism as a driver of good governance.

Congratulating Dr. Odoh for his election as Igbo-Etiti Council boss, Chief Ezugwu, while commending the Chairman for the development strides he has recorded since his inauguration in September last year, said the visit was also designed to afford the NJF team the opportunity to interact with the council boss on, and, if time permitted, see a number of the completed and ongoing projects in the LGA, a lot of which he had read about in the press.

“We commend your doggedness and appeal to you not to leave any stone unturned in your administration’s determination to do things that would lift the people of Igbo-Etiti and, by extension, the people of the Nsukka Cultural Zone as a whole, out of poverty,” Chief Ezugwu, a senior editor with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) said.

In his response, the Igbo-Etiti Council boss, Dr. Odoh, expressed his gratitude for the visit, noting that he and his team had always looked forward to “this kind of engagement that is certain to strengthen our efforts at, and usher in for us proper community engagement through the media.”

Speaking on his administration’s development efforts in Igbo-Etiti LGA, reputed as Enugu State’s most literate LGA, Dr. Odoh disclosed that his administration has developed a number of initiatives aimed at transforming the socio-economic landscape of the council, thereby improving the quality of life of residents.

“We are embarking on aggressive wealth creation to alleviate the plights of the people in our area,” Dr. Odoh assured the visiting journalists.

“One of the flagship programmess is the Public-Private Partnership (P4) initiative, which seeks to empower youths by providing them with land for cultivation. Under this scheme, government will sponsor the cultivation and planting processea and the youths will oversee the projects with profits shared between the two parties.”

Flaunting the scale of his administration’s infrastructure development plans, Odoh declared: “We want to mobilize resources to build the largest building material complex of 1,000 shops, build 3 estates and about 50-60 kilometers of roads to be flagged off.”

The projects are all expected to attract investments, create jobs and stimulate economic activity in Igbo-Etiti, Dr. Odoh stressed, assuring that his administration’s commitment to social welfare, particularly in supporting vulnerable groups, is also impressive and irreversible.

According to him, “We are recruiting 1,000 widows to be placed in salary,” in addition to the homes the Council has built for indigent widows in various communities. “Apartments have been provided for the aged widows in various communities to make life better for them.”

In the area of health, he said: “…We plan to provide free universal healthcare coverage to the residents with a special focus on the elderly from 70 years and above. Vans and ambulances provided by this administration are ready for patrol, ward by ward, to check the health status of the aged in different wards and treat them for free.”

Part of the health policy objective of the LGA is to increase the life expectancy of residents to 70 years and above through the aforesaid initiatives, Dr. Odoh further told the visiting journalists, pointing out that, in line with Governor the Peter Mbah Administration’s commitment to raising the GDP of Enugu State from $4bn to $30bn, Igbo-Etiti Council under his watch has keyed into the vision by initiating people-oriented projects aimed at driving economic growth and improving the quality of life of the people.

Declaring that his vision is to see Igbo-Etiti Local Government Area become the best local government in Nigeria and beyond, the Ukehe-born medical doctor-turned politician emphasized his administration’s “aggressive” wealth creation initiative as aimed at alleviating the “plights of our people.”

“By the time we finish what we are doing, we will be the best not only in Enugu State, but the best in Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa,” Odoh declared.

On the challenge of insecurity, the Igbo-Etiti Council Chairman assured that his team has restructured the security architecture in the local government through effective deployment of the State’s Forest Guards and the vigilantes throughout the LGAs but especially in the most vulnerable parts, explaining that the restructuring was done in order to make the security personnel more efficient and alert in responding to emergencies anywhere in the LGA.

According to him, providing efficient security cover of the LGA is in line with the Governor Mbah’s resolve to maintain peace and security in every part of Enugu State.

In a vote of thanks, NJF Vice Chairman, Mrs. Amaka Uchennadiukwu expressed gratitude to Dr. Odoh for the warm reception accorded the visiting journalists, explaining that the “insightful briefing” provided by the Chairman and his team was most enlightening.

“We appreciate your transparency and willingness to share your vision with us; we are confident that your initiatives will bring positive change to Igbo Etiti Local Government Area,” Uchennadiukwu, a manager with Radio Nigeria, Enugu, surmised.