The Abia State Government has said it would only conduct local government elections after revamping the LG system. The Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Uzor Nwachukwu, said this on Monday in Umuahia. He spoke at a press briefing on the outcome of the State Executive Council meeting at the Government House, Umuahia.....Read The Full Story Here ▶
Nwachukwu said that this became necessary because by the time the present administration took over, the local governments were in a decadent situation.
“If you visit any local government headquarters, you will see bushes and collapsing buildings,” he added.
He said that the government injected local government funds into the development of the 17 LGAS to achieve even socio-economic growth.
Nwachukwu said that as part of efforts to revamp the LG areas, the government appointed Transition Committee Chairmen with track records of efficiently handling human and material resources.
He said that the chairmen were given a directive to immediately revive the dying LG system and bring the headquarters back to life.
He said: “So, upon the appointment of the Transition Committee Chairmen in December, the governor (Dr. Alex Otti) gave the TC Chairmen a marching order to retrofit the LG headquarters.
“We believe that is a starting point to revamping the local government system.
“This is because the headquarters is where the local government workers perform their duties and that is where the policies are made for the development of the local government.
“This is not what you do and you say you want to conduct elections.
“The governor needed to get people, who had the capacity to manage men and resources, to be able to get back to life the Local Government system and stabilise the system.”
According to Nwachukwu, stabilising the LG system remains an important determining factor for the conduct of local government elections.
He added: “When you conduct an election, anybody can win elections, but he needs to get the best hands to bring the local government areas back to life before conducting elections.
“We agree that it is important to conduct local government elections, but it is not the most important thing.
“Now, if you conduct elections without building this foundation for the system, where will the elected locals start from?
“So the money for conducting elections can be used to revamp the local government system.”
Nwachukwu said that Governor Otti had promised to conduct elections and would keep his promise to the people.
He said that the government was not afraid of conducting local government elections, but was determined to deliver good governance to the people.
He added: “The maximum time for the TC Chairmen in office is one year and once the government is satisfied with the level of work done in the local government, then for the first time, Abia people would see a transparent local government election.
“We are not afraid to conduct local government elections.
“We are not here to play politics.
“We are here to deliver on governance.”