In a bid to boost the economy of the state, Enugu state Government has put measures in place to take economic development to the grassroots, disclosing that it will in no distant time unveil it’s economic programs for Local Governments.
This was made known by the Deputy Governor of Enugu state, Ifeanyi Ossai, when he received in audience, the Cordinating leaders of the 17 Local Government legislative Council who paid him courtesy visit in his office on Monday,July 10.
Ossai assured the councillors of patnership with the state government, promising that they will strengthen it and sustain it.
Pix-Deputy Gov,Ossai
He disclosed that the state government will develop the rural areas and will want the support of the Councillors. “So you have your job. The state government will want to work with the Councillors to create opportunity for everybody in the state and make life more meaningful”, he said.
The Deputy Governor informed them that Governor Mbah has inuagurated the State Economic Council, and has reconstituted Joint Allocation Commission (JAC ) to develope Economic programmss of the state and would want the support of the councillors in the areas of information gathering on agriculture ( arid areas) market hubs among others, saying that what they were going to do will be radical.
“We are talking about agricultural revolution. We will develop three special processing zones, one in each of the three senatorial zones.
“We are talking about lifting people out of poverty. We are not going to take our people in rural areas for granted . We are going to create investments that will touch the lives of people. They are the drivers to our economy.
” Pix- Odoh standing
“What we are going to do will be radical. It may not be okay for some people but at the end of the day, people will like it. We want to do things differently, working with you to create opportunity for everybody in Enugu and make life more meaningful. A lot of energy is going on in the actual governance,” he said.
He added that the state government was developing an economic strategy, a strategy that will provide access water to the people, adding that they were trying to work with rural electrification agency to ensure communities without light, will be given light.”We expect you to get that information for us and pass it to your Chairmen and it will get to us”, Ossai said.
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On constituency project, the Deputy Governor told the Councillors that they were elected to serve the people and should do their works well.” It does not matter who you are . As long as you do your job well, Dr Peter Mbah will recognize you.
“We have been elected to serve our people . It is not for our own self actualization . It’s about humility in providing service.
“For development and leadership. It’s organic. It starts from the ward. It is organic. If all of you fail, we all failed. We want support from the Councillors,” Ossai said.
He called for peace at the local government areas and urged the Councillors to work with the local government chairmen, the traditional rulers and support people to realise their potentials. ” We want you to work with your town unions, the women group, the traditional rurlers. We need your surport. Begin to look at the potentials in your areas. Our purpose is to make life easier for our people”, the Deputy Governor said..
He thanked the Councillors for their support and urged them to continue supporting the state and the local governments. He promised that the state government’s patnership with the Councillors will be strengthened and sustained.
“The same way we want you to work for us. We need information to integrate into our economic plans. The arid areas, market hubs should be known to us “, Ossai said.
Earlier, the Cordinating leader of the 17 Local Government legislatures and Coordinator,Udenu legislative Council, Nnamdi Odoh, informed the Deputy Governor that they came to congratulate him and the state governor,Dr Peter Mbah for their successful election and to appeal to the Governor, to include them in their administrative plans.
On his part, the Cordinating leader ,Enugu East zone, Hon. Caleb Ani , said that the Councillors were eager to partner with the state government to ensure that robust policies come to actualization , because he knew that the government has robust packages for local government.
“As Councillors,we are the contact point. We will ensure that those programs succeed. Within our powers, we will do that ,so that people will know that there is a difference in the way of doing things.
“We are working harmoniously ,at least the issue of security is very paramount to us. There should be Constituency projects for us to execute for our people, so that they will know that we are doing something,” the Cordinating Councillor Said.
He added that the Councillors were in support of Governor Mbah’s cancellation of the illegal Mondays sit-at-home, adding that they were talking to their people to start coming out for businesses so that the economy of the state will grow.
Author: Maureen Ikpeama