Governor Okorocha Dissolves SDC
By Austin Echefu
Governor Rochas Okorocha has dissolved his State Development Council (SDC) and rendered it inactive, same way he did to his much publicized Community Government Council (CGC) also know as the Fourth Tier Government.
Governor Okorocha had claimed that the CGC would bring development and government closer to the people, but no development has since got to the grassroots. More so as the Ikuala Nkwu programme said to have been channeled through the CGC has since failed.
A former leader of the CGC in Orlu LGA told 247ureports that the policy failed because of funding challenges, even as he said that the members of the CGC were mistreated by the Governor as they were not paid a dime for the whole period they were in office.
“Most people don’t know why the ‘Ikuala Nkwu’ programme failed, that it was because of funding challenges. Those of us who were members were utterly ignored. We got no salary from government but we were expected to hold meetings in our communities and also run around for the government”, he said.
“Do you know that whenever the Governor called us for a meeting we would fund ourselves. We would stay in Owerri for hours without food, and when you are hungry you would be forced to buy food for yourself and at the end of the meeting the Governor would just leave and we would also leave like that” he added.
But speaking with this medium also in Owerri on Saturday, a former member of the SDC from Nkwere Local Government Area of the State said that the Governor dissolved the Council last week during a meeting he had with members.
According to him, the Governor directed that the highest ranking government official should oversee the SDC in each area.
He further described the dissolution of the SDC as a relief, saying that they were just tied down with the SDC, adding that “it was not a meaningful Council as it really had nothing to do, except by nomenclature”.
Hon Uche Onyeagucha, former aide of the Governor, had said while resigning from the SDC few months ago that it was a mere political creation by the Governor with nothing to do in the communities and LGAs, adding that it was a political machine set up to actualise the governorship ambition of his son-in-law and Chief of Staff, Uche Nwosu, in 2019.
