Igbo-Etiti Citizens Project Evaluation Tours,’ Igbo-Etiti Pet: Nwodo Receives Commendations

The programme designed to involve ordinary citizens from the twenty wards of the local government, cutting across the four development centres in the council area, kicked off with forty persons from the first four wards of Aku Ward 3, Ekwegbe Ward, Ukehe Ward 4 and Ohodo Ward respectively. The next rounds will also comprise the same number of people and wards until the whole twenty wards in the local government have participated.
The idea of a lean assemblage was to make it more closely interactive as Hon. Ikenna Nwodo, the Executive Chairman of Igbo-Etiti LGA, was determined to have these citizens experience a very close and personal experience with him.

While addressing the people after their arrival at the council headquarters in Ogbede before proceeding to the project sites, Nwodo said, “we are here today because you placed your trust in us, to preside over the affairs of the local government on your behalf. We are on an errand you sent us. It is therefore natural that we give account of our stewardship to you. As you sent us to the market, it is the correct thing to do by showing you how we have fared with your resources. We will also hear from you in the true spirit of democracy so that you would have also had the opportunity to contribute to how you want to be governed.”

He stated further that he would take them to see as many projects as they were ready to see during which they were free to ask questions pertaining to the costs, the necessity of such projects, and of course why it was located where it was sited.
He also told them that after they had returned to his office, they were free to engage him further in any area just as they were free to make their project requests, as his administration in its citizen-based governance model, and having put the people at the centre of policies and projects is determined to take cues from the people.

He said, “I want to make it clear to you that this engagement is for you, the people, the real people in our villages, communities and towns, who most of the time have no access to presenting their views to those in Government. We want a change for good, and this time, we are coming together in a non-partisan and political gathering, just as citizens of Igbo-Etiti, to rub minds together. So, it is not a party thing. It is a people’s affair. Just the ordinary folks who for long have been denied access to those in power with their voices unheard if not suppressed. So, make the most of it today.”
Thereafter the tours commenced. 
Among the sites visited were the Igbo-Etiti ICT centre, the sprawling Ogbede main market, and the ultra-modern building market under construction.
The team was also at Aku to see the extensive erosion, flood control, borehole drilling, and rehabilitation, as well as road rehabilitation works the council was undertaking. On the whole, they visited about fifteen locations where they also saw more water, road projects, and power transformers supplying light to many communities which the Nwodo administration had installed.