A support group of the Ebonyi State Governor, Francis Nwifuru, Francis Ogbonnaya Nwifuru Youth Movement have called on the State Coordinator of the Group, Hon Chinedu Emerike to decentralize the monthly meetings and payment of stipends to them to reduce the expenditure they incur coming to Abakaliki from the 13 local government area.
The members of the support group comprising the Local and Ward Executives in an interview with journalists maintained that each month, they are compelled to come to Abakaliki from their different location just to attend the meeting and also receive their monthly stipends.
Some of them who spoke on grounds of anonymity noted that they are also faced with the challenge of possible road accident and other risks associated to having to leave Abakaliki late in the evening to their different locations and called on the leadership to listen to the outcry.
They noted that they have before now taken their plea to the State Coordinator adding that they were asked to submit their account details to enable them pay the money into their different account but regretted that the action was not taken.
“We want to use this medium to appeal to the State Governor to intervene in our plight. Most of us who are coming from far distance most times spend the whole stipend on transportation and feeding and it has made some persons to prefer staying back instead spending N7000 coming to Abakaliki and thereafter go home with just N2000.
“The stipend in question is if no benefit to us because we don’t make judicious use of the 10k being given to us by the State Governor. Many of us who comes from far distance are calling on the State Governor to prevail on the Coordinator to decentralize the payment.
Some of us spend close to N7000 to N8000 to transport ourselves from our local government to Abakaliki on transport and feeding and we will go back with only N2000 while our counterparts from nearby local government goes home with an average of N9000 because of the close distance.
We also encounter the challenge of road accident coming to Abakaliki and going back. Some of us use our motorcycle to come to Abakaliki. We often leave our houses from 8am and stay here in Abakaliki till 6pm because of the number of persons that come to receive the money. So by the time you reach your house, it will be around 9 and 10pm.
It has become pertinent for the leaders of the are organization to decentralize the payment preferably, let the payment be at the different local government, to reduce the risk burden and high expenditure we incur coming to Abakaliki every other month.
When contacted, the State Coordinator of the Organization, Hon Chinedu Emerike said that the essence of the gathering was not just to share money but for the organization to always meet and to strategies on how best to continue to support the administration of the State Governor Francis Nwifuru.
Hon Emerike maintained that there are plans to decentralize the meeting adding that the stipend given to the youths is meant to serve as their transport and other logistics for attending the meeting.
Yes we have plans to decentralize. It is not just about the stipends we give to them, we usually have our monthly meeting and during the meeting we strategies and access our support for the State Government.
After this months meeting, we will look at how far we have gone and maybe soonest, we will introduce zonal meetings were we move to the different zones of the State and hold our meetings. By so doing, it will give the people a sense of belonging and assured them of our commitment towards making sure that we accommodate everyone.
He noted that all the youths in Ebonyi State are solidly behind the State Governor adding that the support the State Governor is receiving from the youths is massive. Ends.
