THE farmers are having a great time. When you buy one fertilizer, you get two free. People are being empowered. Youths are being encouraged to go to Songhai to study agriculture, and when they come back, each man gets N4m to set up his own farm and become an employer of labour. He has done very well.”
That was how Chief John Williams Nwode, chairman of the Platform of Peace Organisation, a group based in Ebonyi State, described the administration of Governor Martin Elechi.
The impact of the administration is said to be felt in diverse areas of the state, as it should be. Infratructure is renewed, roads are built, communities without electricity are lit up, hospitals are being revived and restocked, among other things.
The secretary of the organisation, Chief Nkama Nkama Ude, also had similar words to describe the Elechi administration.
The group was responding to a news magazine report that the administration was not doing anything.
“A particular news magazine ran a story portraying our governor, Chief Martin Elechi, as a non-performer. We wish to tell members of the public that there is no truth in that mischievous publication.”
Ude, who is also the secretary of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) in the state, said the report was not balanced.
“In one breath, [the writer] says the governor has not done anything since he came to power. In another breath, he says Governor Elechi is doing all the projects in the rural areas. Then he reels out some of the projects the governor is doing in Abakaliki, but claims the projects have no impact on the lives of the people. It makes little sense.”
But, Ude asked, “is it not obvious that rural roads are very important in a state like Ebonyi where the bulk of the people are farmers living in the rural areas? So how do they get their produce to Abakaliki and other towns if the roads in the rural areas are bad? Does it make sense?”
The state ALGON chief also spoke on projects carried out in Abakiliki, the state capital. He said some of these projects have bee completed while others are still ongoing. He said the magnificent Staff Development Centre was done by the present governor, amidst other projects.
“The Ochudo city that is being built is aimed at transforming the state capital. And the international market is going to provide jobs for the people. This man is building over 34 bridges across the state, and 32 of them have been completed. Ebonyi receives the least allocation in the country, but Governor Elechi has just awarded the sum of N2.6 billion contract for the construction, rehabilitation and equipping of 13 general hospitals across the state to improve healthcare delivery at the grassroots. The governor has worked very hard in the area of healthcare delivery. This state has remained polio free since 2009.”
Apart from electricity provided in sundry communities, teh administration has also introduced the boarding system in schools.
“Right now, there are 26 standard, functional boarding schools that are being subsidised by the government. The local governments are doing very well. The Nigerian Union of Journalists even held an award for outstanding council bosses recently. The cement industry that was sold off before he became governor, [Elechi] struggled to retrieve. The hatchery that is no longer working was a drainpipe. People were just using it to milk the state and were making private money from it, and needed to be stopped.”
Ude said the government is building two water projects in the state, among which is the Oferekpe mega-scheme.
“When completed, these water schemes can supply water to the whole state. The Ebonyi State Ultra-modern International Market which occupies 48 hectares of land has 5,300 stalls, fire service, police station and banks, is 55 per cent completed. The government is also dualising the Enugu-Abakaliki Road starting from the NNPC Mega Station to Ogoja Road.”
He named some finished projects, among which are roads, bridges at Edda, Idembia Ezza and Ebyia. There is also the Ebonyi Pilot Schools project involving the building and rehabilitation of 30 secondary schools in the state. There is a Cancer Screening Centre in Abakaliki, the ultra-modern Staff Development Centre, aamong others, built by the Elechi administration.
