It is a sad story but the truth remains that most Local Government Councils in Enugu are not ‘functional.’
Some remain shut from week to week with gates locked. The message is clear, NO WORK.
It remains shut until the Council Chairman would visit.
As the closest level of government to the grassroots, the Council Areas function to address issues and provide needed leadership for majority of the populace.
But most council’s only function on pay days; or during special visits by the governor or other important guests.
Otherwise, the workers are free to abscond as long as the chairman himself stays away.
The story of Local Governments sadly starts and ends with the sharing of allocations. (Story for another day)
A team of journalists who have been monitoring government activities at all the 17 LGAs in the state for over two months went round some council secretariats and discovered more cases of crass impunity, negligence and dereliction of duty by these elected council executives.
These sectariates can best be described as ghost zones. Most chairmen were not on seat. It was learnt that some have literally relocated to Enugu, the capital city ignoring Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi’s order banning them from residing outside their Local Governments.
In some cases, the Chairmen only come to work at their convenience, maybe once or twice a week. It is pertinent to note that these are men who are saddled with huge constitutional roles with heavy financial implication on the Federal Government.
There were only two staff in some local governments while some didn’t record any attendance at all.
Keep a date for details of the comprehensive report on these local governments with pictorial evidence. Expect a shocker!
