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From Ogbonnaya Ndukwe, Aba
Former Chairman of Ukwa West Local Government, Chief Sylvanus Nwaji has alleged that several roads, health and educational projects being handled in the oil producing areas of Ukwa East and Ukwa West Councils of Abia State by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), and the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, are in sorry situations, while the people they were meant to serve continue to suffer.
He blamed many of their political leaders, who after being appointed into federal and state public offices, abandon their duties to their primary constituencies.
The Action People’s Party (APP) House of Representatives candidate for Ukwa East/Ukwa West Federal Constituency in the February 25, National Assembly Election, called on the Governor, Alex Otti to probe the Abia State Oil Producing Area Development Commission (ASOPADEC).
Can you say your people are happy with the government’s developmental programmes in Asa and Ndoki oil producing communities?
Let me be frank with you, I’ll not blame the immediate past administration, solely on the plights of my people. I say so, because our sons were appointed into strategic positions, especially in the Abia State Oil Producing Area Development Commission (ASOPADEC). This is why I’m not on the same page with politicians from Ukwa West. What they’re interested in is self and stomach infrastructure. I’m not blaming the government; I blame my people. The government knows their weak points and where to press them. Those in authority know that all our politicians desire is to be appointed into offices and they use such offers to shut them up from actually demanding for the rights of the communities. Our people must learn to survive without government patronage. Let them invest and survive on their own. They must learn to stop licking the boot of persons privileged to be in government. How can someone be appointed into a commission meant to develop his area and he’ll not do it?
If he wants to develop his area and the government is frustrating him, he should shout and resign. I had done it before and I’ll never be afraid to say the truth to any government or governor, because I don’t depend on them for survival. When there was high level of kidnapping in Abia State some years ago, I talked to the then governor directly, and accused him of promoting kidnapping in my area for his own selfish gain. I remember also, when I was appointed Local Government Transition Committee Chairman in Ukwa West Council, some years back, I looked at things and saw they weren’t going well, I had to resign. Our people should learn to say, no, I can’t continue. They must learn to say, no, I can’t continue. Everything mustn’t be about self. So, I don’t blame any governor. They’ve discovered the way some of our local leaders reason; that’s why whenever they want to appoint people from our locality, they go for the low-minded people. Go to Ukwa West today, any project you see done by the Local Government, was done when I was the Chairman. That was why when I was campaigning as a candidate for the House of Representatives, some months ago, I asked them to show me what those who became Local Government Chairmen after me did. So, I don’t blame any government about our suffering.
Since you have acknowledged that mistakes have been made, what’s your advice to the new governor on how to turn around the high level of underdevelopment in Ukwa West?
What I’ll advise the government to do, is to look well before embarking on any positive development in Ukwa. All that glitters is not gold. Almost all the people who condemned him and said Alex Otti was a nobody, have all left the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and ran into the Labour Party (LP), shouting labour this, labour that. They are doing so because they cannot survive without government patronage. Again, some of the so-called Labour Party leaders in Ukwa West have no pedigree? How can a governor appoint advisers that cannot look at him and advise him properly? That’s mediocrity. We don’t have good roads in Ukwa West. We need at least one higher institution to help our people grow. I’m an advocate for development and I’m pleading with the current administration to look into the issue of the location of our Local Government headquarters. The location of that secretariat is preventing development in Ukwa West. The town is called Okeikpe, and it is in the boundary between us and Ukwa East Local Government Area. We want it corrected in the Constitution and shifted to Obehie. If the current governor wants our people to know what government is all about, he should try to relocate the Local Government Headquarters of Ukwa West to Obehie, which is the major township setting in Ukwa West. He can then use the current location of the local government secretariat, to build a higher institution for the state.
I also want to plead with him to end the era of sycophancy in governance. If he really means well for Abia, let him forget about unnecessary issues and go for men and women with pedigree notwithstanding their political affiliations. He should put the state first, before anything. I’ve not seen any strong character even in that Labour Party; sycophants are everywhere. Otti must be careful and avoid those who’ll keep singing his praises until they sing him into problems. Sycophants do not help any leader. Abia is a blessed state, it’s wrong to have sycophants all over the place. The underdevelopment in Ukwa West is painful.
What do you think the new governor should do to reposition and make ASOPADEC proactive?
I call on Governor Alex Otti to probe the activities of the commission. All the money given to that commission for the development of Ukwa West is not seen anywhere, except in the hands of individuals. Vehicles were shared amongst them, while our people are suffering. Even if the governor will not want to probe any other organization, I beg him to please, save Ukwa land by probing ASOPADEC. Let there be painstaking auditing of their accounts and let them show the governor, the projects they executed with all the money that have been coming into that Commission. We cannot continue like this. They’re using money meant for the development of our communities to be dominating everybody and nobody cares to ask questions. Official vehicles of ASOPADEC were shared among family members of the appointees. He must ask them including the commissioners, to produce reports of their performance. ASOPADEC is a commission used to share loots, outside its original duties of utilizing special allocation of the 13 percent revenue derived from oil sales to develop communities from whose land the mineral resources were being drilled. In Ukwa West and Ukwa East, one cannot point at any project done by ASOPADEC, which is managed by our own people. All they’re interested in, is going from one hotel to the other squandering money. This issue should be looked into, so that ordinary Ukwa men, women and youths, will benefit from the gift God gave to their land. Dr Alex Otti should probe and redirect the activities of ASOPADEC. Our people will be happy, if that is done.
