Journalists hail Udenu Council Chairman over development strides, urge closer ties with media to promote stakeholder buy-in

By Ogbu Nweke

South East journalists under the aegis of Nsukka Journalists Forum (NJF) have commended the Chairman of Udenu Local Government Area, Mr. Aka Eze Aka, a fellow journalist and renowned South East-based  broadcaster, for the development strides he has recorded in the LGA since his election and inauguration in November last year.

In his opening remarks on Monday,  April 7, at an interactive session with Mr. Aka by a delegation of the Forum’s executive committee members, who were on a courtesy visit to the Udenu Council boss at his office at Obollo Afor, Mr. Benson Whyte Ezugwu, Chairman of NJF and a senior editor with the News agency of Nigeria (NAN), congratulated Mr. Aka on his elevation from the State Information Commissioner position to that of Council Chairman, thanking God for position and the State Governor, Barrister Peter Ndubuisi Mbah, for the confidence he reposed in “our brother, friend and colleague by this new charge.”

“We are proud of the fact that the Governor has so much confidence in you, which also means that he recognizes that you have a lot of value to add to his governance template at the grassroots,” Whyte Ezugwu enthused.

Ezugwu explained that he had led his EXCO members to visit the Chairman for three reasons, including to congratulate him on his election, to introduce NJF to him as well as to other council chairmen in Nsukka, as a partner in their development efforts within the cultural zone and “to know what you are doing as the Udenu Council boss.”

In his response, an elated Mr. Aka expressed his gratitude for the visit, stating that, for him as a media professional now local council chairman, the support of the “Fourth Estate of the Realm is very important to me” and that he felt highly honoured to be so enthusiastically supported by members of his professional constituency .

Describing the media as a bridge that connects the people to those in government, Aka pointed out that when the media publishes correct and wholesome information as news about governance processes, even about the entire gamut of society’s socio-political and economic dynamics, “that process makes for a great society”.

“Probably of all the professional groups, journalists are the most resilient, in spite of the level of financial constraints they face,” the Udenu Council boss stated. “I am indebted to NJF, really. You came when I was Commissioner for Information and now you are here again to solidarise with me as Council Chairman. It’s an honour I can never take for granted. So, thank you immensely for the honour of this visit.”

Speaking to his political elevation, Aka noted that his appointment as Commissioner for Information by Governor Mbah was the highest honour he had ever received in his life, saying he found favour in Governor Mbah’s eyes for reasons even he could not explain but thanked God for using the Governor to favour him so greatly.

It came as part of that unearned favour that “when my people asked for me”, he did not hesitate to endorse my candidature for the local government chairmanship election, Aka enthused.

Aka described Mbah as the most performing Governor in Nigeria at the moment, inviting his visitors and all who are conversant with the goings-on in Nigeria in terms of governance processes, to see that “Enugu has been converted to a projects site under His Excellency, Dr. Peter Ndubuisi Mbah.”

A golden-voiced broadcaster and popular compere who hails from Obollo-Eke in the LGA, Aka said he is “passionate about Udenu”, assuring that he and his team are paying the desired attention to “a lot of things we saw yearning for attention when we came.”

“First we tidied the environment and dealt with a number of roads that Udenu people would like to see made better,” the Udenu Council boss disclosed.

“There is a popular road called ‘Ukwu-ukwa road, a 600-metre but very strategic road within Obollo Afor, the local government headquarters, which is soon to be finished and inaugurated.  There is another N19.8km road, which we have started as part of our infrastructure rehabilitation and reconstruction programme, which is gaining a lot of support from the people.”

Indeed, Aka spoke eloquently about his administration’s investments in socioeconomic development programmes for Ude.

These, according to him, include modernization of markets via creation of stalls;  sports development through institution of local football championships and other forms of sporting events;  agriculture through enhanced cocoa, rice and livestock productions, as well as creation of a foodstuff market (to leverage Udenu’s famed all-year-round ‘green-revolution’ agriculture to organise the agric business for both farmers and the Council), establishment of farm estates in all the electoral wards, and other  forms of agricultural production, among others.

“Obollo is famous as a stop-over market for foodstuffs – vegetables, all kinds fruits, tubers, garri, beans, fish, you name it. Right now, the traders sell mostly by the roadsides and this dangerous for both themselves, their customers and other road users. We want to develop a stand-alone foodstuff market, complete with parking space et al, so that passengers from the North and other part of the South East/South South travelling to the North can conveniently and safely stop-over and buy whatever food things they want to buy and move on,” the Council Charman explained to the visiting journalists.

Aka assured that Udenu under his watch is also heavily investing in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to create jobs for the youths; in water and sanitation through provision of boreholes in all the 10 wards of Udenu, aimed at delivering potable water to the people.

Stating that an improved system of regular water supply would impact positively on his administration’s programme of ending open defecation in the LGA by the end of this year, Aka explained the local government has engaged contractors for the construction of public toilets/bathrooms in parts of the LGA, especially at Orba and Obollo Afor markets to start with.

He added that effective healthcare delivery through renovation of existing clinics in vicinities around the LGA, and keying them into the greater Mbah Administration’s Enugu Primary Healthcare delivery programme, among several other hands-on development initiatives, is also part of his administration’s comprehensive socioeconomic development programmes for Udenu.

In answer to a question on water and sanitation, Aka said he is personally interested in improved water the supply in the LGA as part of the global WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene) initiative, a broad, collaborative effort involving governments, international organizations, NGOs, and communities, with the goal of improving access to clean water, sanitation, and hygiene practices around the world, especially in the global South, and often aimed at achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 

“I am particularly interested in the WASH programme as a development paradigm for Udenu, especially because of its inherent pro-sanitation propensities and, as I have said, I am passionate about Udenu as a land and people, but even more importantly, about its cleanliness – we are working to clean up this place,” Aka surmised.

In his vote of thanks, Felix Oguejiofor Abugu of AbeyaNews, who is also the Secretary of NJF, expressed the Forum’s gratitude for the warm reception accorded the NJF delegation by Hon. Aka and his team, which included the Secretary to the LG and some SSAs, and for the frank and dispassionate exchange of ideas during the interactive session.

Commending Aka and his team for the work they have so far done, which subsists mostly in projects already executed and a lot of ongoing ones, he urged them to embrace their task with greater enthusiasm and determination, “to be able to finish strong” at the end of the day.

Mrs. Scholastica Ugwoke of Radio Nigeria (Voice FM, Nsukka), who said the closing prayer, asked God for His mercies, blessings and guidance for all present at the meeting, for Udenu and the Nsukka cultural zone as a whole and, in particular, for His wisdom, strength, protection and guidance for Hon. Aka Eze Aka, the Udenu Council Chairman and his team, so they can bring greater zeal and altruism to bear on their conduct of the affairs of Udenu as its ruling elite.