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From Felix Ikem, Nsukka
Chairman of Igbo-Eze South Local Government Area of Enugu State and Deputy Chairman of the Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON), Ugo Ferdinand Ukwueze has dismissed insinuations that the Enugu State Government interferes with the Federal Government’s allocations for the third-tier of governments in the state.
He made the clarification yesterday in an interactive session with the members of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Nsukka chapter, at the local government secretariat, Ibagwa Aka.
Ukwueze said Enugu was rather fortunate to have a government that is led by a governor who is willing and ready to work in synergy with the 17 local government areas in the state for effective service delivery, not only at the state level but also at the grassroots levels.
“Frankly speaking, the state government is not and does not have a hand in the federal allocations to the local governments. I’m not just speaking as a lawyer, but as a chairman and deputy chairman of ALGON in Enugu State.
“In Enugu State, we are fortunate; I mean this set of local governments’ chairmen. We are fortunate because we have a state government that is manned by a governor, who is not just giving us a hand of fellowship or partnership but a hand of leadership and a hand of fatherhood in governance,” he said.
The chairman observed that it would have been difficult for his local government alone to engage in the massive development projects being executed in the area if the state government was meddling with their finances.
“Today, Igbo-Eze South has 16 electoral wards and now it has 16 Type Two Primary Health Centres, I mean new ones, apart from the old ones. Igbo-Eze South now has 16 Smart Green Schools, out of which 10 of them have been roofed, and out of the 10, three of them are ready to take off on September 22. I have the hope that before the end of October, an additional six will be ready for takeoff.
“Ordinarily, there is no way a local government, no matter how buoyant, would have been able to attract this kind of development in her environment and especially when each of the Smart Green School costs nothing less than #1. 2 billion with modern facilities.
“So, what we do in Enugu State is a synergy with the state government. The government is building these structures; we are complementing it in other ways.
