Calling on Gov Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi for good governance in Enugu State

We the members of youth alliance for good governance Enugu State chapter, wish to start by congratulating His Excellency, the executive governor of Enugu State, Right Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, over his victory in the just-concluded election and peaceful sworn in programme for the second term in office. So far in steering the ship of leadership to a peaceful and promising Enugu, you have succeeded in bringing about peace, unity and togetherness among the political parties in Enugu State irrespective of political vision, ideology and reasoning.  This is achieved through your strong, generous and committed desire to continue as governor of Enugu State.

Sir, the journey of your administration so far has been very slow despite all expectations. we most sincerely commend your giant strides towards running an all Enugu docile governance that gives all and sundry a sense of understanding even in the midst of nothing happening four years. The numerous appointments you gave out to Ndi Enugu was highly unacceptable as that has made all Enugu indigents beginning to believe that the only way one could see the light of the day is by singing praises to a system that has nothing to show. There is no capital project that is aimed at creating employment in the past four years. You totally and shamelessly abandoned all previous administrations, uncompleted projects like the secretariat, to us you are indeed a clog in the wheel of Enugu State development and our votes was wasted.

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While we truly feel encouraged, we urge you, Sir, to redeem your personality with this second half and not relent in bringing in vibrant youths that will help you write your name with gold in this second half of your administration and thereby ensuring a better Enugu State.

sir, we feel it’s our right to use this medium to communicate with you at this time you are about to set up the next cabinets, we should ask for more because for that, we would not be asking too much from a governor who has shown much interest in piloting the affairs of the populace regardless of his low vision and leadership skills or political ideologies. we wish to draw your attention and call for your quick intervention into some key areas of development that require your urgent attention in Enugu state. To be precise, they are as follows:

Poor Condition of Public Schools:

Sir, despite all your efforts in ensuring good and effective educational system in the Enugu State, the state of our public schools, particularly in the rural areas, is still deplorable with dilapidated structures, lack of facilities and laboratory equipment for practical and most of the classrooms are virtually empty with no tables or chairs for the pupils/students to sit on. The chalkboards are worn out and the science laboratories are skeletal with no equipment needed for teaching practical aspects of science. Most of the schools lack libraries where the pupils/students can read and explore. In this age of Information Communication Technology (ICT), pupils/students in public schools are left with only the option of learning the theoretical aspect of computer education as the schools are not equipped with computers for the practicals. The use of teaching aids to facilitate learning cannot be overemphasized, yet public schools lack these vital tools, and even where available, they are not close to being adequate. Remember Sir, “knowledge is power” and every wise government should invest in the education of its youths so as to guarantee a better future for all.

Inadequate Facilities In Public Health Centres:

Sir, one aspect your administration needs to do more is the provision of health care services.  Most public health facilities in Enugu state are ill-equipped and are mere consultation centres without adequate facilities or drugs for patients. For instance, the Enugu state teaching hospital is usually lacking a bed to admit new patients. This has led to the up crop of mushroom private health centres which are more or less “slaughterhouses” that do more harm than good because they cannot afford the services of qualified health workers. Situations abound where auxiliary nurses always stand in for doctors and patients treated haphazardly without any diagnosis or investigation of the medical history of patients.

Denial of Indigene Rights

Your Excellency Sir, it will interest you to know that most of our young persons who have turned political activist in the bid to seeing how they can call you and some other stakeholders who are at the hem of affairs out of your shells are constantly being arrested and denied the right of speech despite all government knowledge on right of speech. to bring about unity and togetherness in Enugu state there must be criticism and people who call out those who use public offices as their private businesses. This led to a situation where our young persons are continuously denied the right to speak. Even those who “maliciously” manage to get themselves into government offices, are now looking for a way to eliminate and deny some young, intelligent, vibrant youths who recently wants to join the league of activists in Enugu from doing so because, according to them “it is death sentence to talk about the affairs of the government in power.

Need to Boost Economic Activities.

Your Excellency Sir, you are quite aware that economic activities have always been an integral part of every human existence. The people of Enugu are mainly civil servants and petty traders and economic activities play a vital role in providing revenue for the government and a source of livelihood to millions of your citizens. You are aware Sir that the only market that serves as an economic turning point for the citizens in the Enugu are Ogbete main market, Abakpa timber market, Kenyatta market Uwani, timber market Maryland and few other markets were people do petty businesses. Your excellency sir the citizens are finding it very difficult to do business and compete with their mates in Lagos and Anambra states. We felt a great relief when it was published that the previous administration of His excellency Sullivan Chimes was bringing in investors in Enugu state, the likes of Lafarge cement industry and Enugu state industrial parks which was to bring in modern market in Enugu state and that would have taken off a lot of youths out of unemployment, your excellency sir recall that when Sullivan Chime launched his book titled “The book he said and we quote he handed over all the document and materials necessary to assist you to carry on the project but to our greatest dismay you turned back to such project that would have developed Enugu state.

Sir, I most respectfully urge you to redouble your efforts in carrying out this all-important project as we are sure it will go a very long way in resuscitating the economic fortunes of our dear state.

Deplorable state of our Roads Projects:

Sir, I must confess that you have written your name in gold by awarding a contract for the repairs and reconstruction the road from Opi Nsukka junction to University of Nigeria Nsuka gate. This is a giant stride which all your predecessors neglected and failed to do. We were so elated when you mobilized contractors to site and flagged off the construction activities in all seventeen (17) Local government of the state. But soon after the start, Ndi Enugu realized it was Kangaroo projects. We say this because all the roads you constructed failed after six months of its completion.

Most unfortunately and to our greatest dismay Sir, we came to realise that most of the asphalting on the surface of the earth called road construction by your administration was just for political reasons and not with genuine interest to give Ndi Enugu the best like your predecessor did. Your excellency Sir this statement is propelled by what we have seen in Enugu state, that most the roads constructed under your watch never lasted beyond one year and six months

I, therefore, wish to appeal to you Sir, to change the contractors and to resume back to the site and speedily complete the construction works so as to forestall any health hazard posed by the continuous and unbearable dust emanating from the abandoned sites.

Security Challenges

Sir, your effort towards ensuring peace and security of lives and property is overwhelming but we ask that you apply the mechanized system of securing lives and properties that will be sustainable by the next administration. We most sincerely urge you, Sir, to redouble your efforts in that regard as without peace, the security of lives and property, no meaningful development can ever be achieved.

 

Laxity of the local government chairmen

The local government in Enugu state is now functioning like desk officers that have nothing to do but report to their paymasters without any responsibility of executing a project. We just want to remind all the local government chairmen in Enugu state from May 2015 till date that a day of reckoning is drawing closer, and we will not leave any stone unturned in making sure they account for all the monies they have received from federal allocation and internally generated revenue. The time has come and the youths are now ready to pursue the wealth of our fatherland. We can no longer fold our hands and watch hoodlums cat away the wealth of the people thereby making life very difficult for the less connected individuals or the less-privileged.

NOTE: If you have been a local government chairman between 2015 till date it will be to your best interest to return any stolen fund to local government or face the music of the youths of Enugu state, under the platform of youth alliance for good governance. The youths are ready and will not go back until success is achieved. We have full details of all the funds received from FAC month by month and will do everything to recover all as local government chairmen no longer execute any meaningful project.

Finally

In conclusion Sir, I wish to state that throughout my political life, I have never seen the people of Enugu State become so docile as they are in this administration your excellency sir please don’t believe that an average Enugu man is happy with your administration, they are only hypnotized and fear of hunger is the reason they clap for you. Your excellency sir we are looking forward to partner with your good office to ensure accountability in all process of discharging duties in this second term. Sir, we trust you are out to make a change and will give us every necessary security to ensure success in this accountability project. I believe the people voted for you with so much hope that you are a leader they can believe in and trust. Sir, it is based on these that I decided to write to remind and draw your attention on the above important issues which I believe will go a long way in re-inventing love, trust and confidence of the people in you. While I wish you success in your strides, I hope you will look into this letter objectively and address the issues raised. Long live gburus, Long live Enugu, Long Live Nigeria.

• Kingsley Ochinanwata, founder Youth Alliance for Good Governance, writes in from Enugu State