Ogbonna Casmir
The Transition Committee Chairman of Enugu North Local Government Area of Enugu State, Mr. Isaac Igwe has lamented the poor state of the secretariat when he took over about five months ago, saying that nothing was actually working.
Speaking in an interview with newsmen weekend in Enugu, the Chairman said a situation in which almost every sector of the council was in a total mess was so discouraging, although he summoned courage to do the job of clearing the mess left by the previous administration.
“When I came here, I met the council in almost a mess; nothing in the council was working – no records; every other equipment in the council – the earth-moving equipments, tractors, the tippers, the vehicles, all of them are grounded; but by God’s special grace, we have organized the council, and we are fixing some of these equipments,” Igwe said.
He said the essence of being chosen or elected to occupy a public office should, and ought to be rendering selfless service to the people, but regretted that some people, for reasons best known to them, sometimes, decide to run aground public institutions where they were supposed to build and sustain.
Igwe could not comment on the huge poultry farm project which the previous administration embarked upon, though it was regarded in some quarters as a mere hoax – something that never existed. “I’m still to see the document in respect of the poultry,” he said.
On how he intends to turn around the critical situation in the council, he explained that his administration had already started doing minor projects based on the little resources available to the council, adding “I’m believing God, may be, in the next few months from now, we will stablise the system.”
Igwe also spoke on the council’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) and its plan to diversify its economy. “From the record, I’m sure that the internally generated revenue (IGR) has improved tremendously since I took over office. I’m increasing the IGR. From the records, our IGR has increased by over 70 percent. And we are working towards diversifying our economy towards agriculture,” he said.
