By Zik Gbemre

THE CHAIRMAN AND COUNCILORS OF UGHELLI SOUTH LGA ON ITS 2020 BUDGET

In a post by Mr. Wilson Rovwughor, he noted on the need to start demanding from the third tier of Government to be accountable to the public, and he started by asking the Ughelli South Local Government Council Authorities in Delta State, for such public accountability of its 2020 budget.

In his said post, he pointed to the fact that: “we can lash on the Federal Government and the States on their lack of probity in governance, but if you are from Ughelli South LGA of Delta State, it is time to begin to ask our Chairman and the Councilors, where is our 2020 budget? We never get to hear about council budgets. It is time to make Council budgets accessible in public domain. Let the people know what they have planned to deliver with our 2020 allocations.”

There is nothing that is further than the truth, from what was noted in the above post. Is it not funny how we readily and easily blame the Federal and State Governments for everything wrong with our societies in their management and accountability of our collective wealth, but without actually asking ourselves, why we fail to ask and demand same from our Local Government Councils as the Third tier of Government, especially in the area of accountability. What has been happening to our Local Government Councils in the management and usage of public funds allocated to them? Is it just to pay salaries, which are often owed for months unending? How come we hardly see or hear anything being done and executed by our Local Council Governments to better the lives of people? How come the Local Government Councils in Delta State, and indeed in Nigeria, reputed to be the closest to the people and the grassroots organs of the Federal and State Governments, have degenerated into one of the most permissive ‘conduit pipes’ for pilfering the nation’s and State’s treasury respectively?

In my early years of growing up, I still remember how I used to see the popular “road makers” daily clearing the sides of our earth roads then, and also patching bad spot to enable lorries to convey goods from one place to another. I remember how I used to see Local Government Health Workers then, spraying the bushes surrounding our local communities with insecticides, which was intended to ensure public health safety and keep diseases away. Back then, we saw Local council workers making wood bridges and being proactive in ensuring that life, as we knew it then, was daily made easier for our local communities. If you were opportuned to have gone to the Council Offices then, you did not see them idle, or sitting at the corners of the Offices’ blocks playing draft, reading newspapers, or listening to radio, like we amongst our Council workers of today, who only wait for salaries at the end of the month without adding any input/development or making any positive impact to the local communities.

Back then, we saw Local Government Councils effectively running community dispensaries with well-trained Community Health workers, attending to the locals and gave them free treatment, without demanding for bribes. All of that is not seen in today’s Local Council Governments. In fact, as of today, the Council workers are practically redundant, and people shying away from talking about this issue, which has become a real problem in our society.

Every now and then, we read of hundreds of millions of Naira that are channeled for Local Government administrations, and this is separate for the usual internal revenue they get. Yet, all around the grassroots levels in Delta State are sights and sounds of abject poverty, deteriorating environment that lack basic amenities and sub-human living conditions of pain and misery. There is no single development stride that justifies the huge public funds often said to have been spent by the local Government Council Chairmen and their Councilors in the State. But should we continue to sit down and pretend that all is well with our Local Government Councils’ administration in the management of funds allocated to them yearly?

It is on the basis of these observations, that I am joining my voice with Mr. Wilson Ruvwoghor to demand for the accountability of Ughelli South LGA allocations and budgets being implemented by the Ughelli South Council Authorities, starting with the budget for 2020. We demand from Ughelli South Council Authorities for the accountability of their 2020 budget, stating the projects executed already, and the ongoing projects in the entire Ughelli South LGA. They should tell the public what was the budget of the Ughelli South Council budget for 2020, and what did they do with their monthly allocations for year 2020 so far? What are the projects that were executed or ongoing with the public money in the Ughelli South LGA?

The said demanded information should be made accessible to the public and people of Ughelli South LGA.

Zik Gbemre.

We Mobilize Others to Fight for Individual Causes As If Those Were Our Causes