Ike Ekweremadu was the best LG chairman in Nigeria – Nwanjoku
Sen. Ike Ekweremadu, before coming to national limelight, was the first executive chairman of Aninri local government area, Enugu State in 1997. Since then, other chairmen served.
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In our interview with the new chairman of the council area, Prince Ugo Nwanjoku, he bore his mind on several issues affecting the zone, specifically on poor visions of previous administrations, except that of first chairman, Ike Ekweremadu.
Excerpts:
On our way to your office there are a lot of changes we saw which were not there weeks ago when we visited. Some buildings are demolished, and two others are possibly awaiting demolition. Could you tell Ndi Aninri and, of course, nearly 100,000 unique readers of The Mail what the changes are all about?
Let me give you this quick rundown about our Local Government. Perhaps, that alone will make your question self-explanatory.
In 1997 when Aninri local government area was carved out from old Awgu, Sen. Ike Ekweremadu was the first elected chairman. Then, there was no place we have as the headquarters so the chairman had to conduct the business of the local government at the home of late Achi Kanu.
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With time, Ekweremadu, alongside other stakeholders at the time, agreed that Ndeabor should serve as the Secretariat. So people donated their pieces of land. Ikeoha [Ike Ekweremadu] built about three structures and relocated from private buildings to official Aninri Secretariat here at Ndeabor.
By the time his tenure elapsed, Ekweremadu had transformed the new council, become the best local government chairman in Nigeria, as history has it.
After him other chairmen came and did their parts. However, we assumed office to meet these 27-year-old administrative buildings. Apart from this one [chairman’s office] almost all the structures we have here were built in 1997 and 2002.
So we called in experts to advise us on how best to go about renovating these structures because they were deathtraps. Days later they came with frightening report: if we go ahead to renovate the buildings it’ll amount to waste of money because they have foundation faults which cause the uncontrollable cracks on them.’
As anyone can guess, it is far less expensive to renovate than to elect new buildings. But we did not have a choice.
Another thing we discovered was that our headquarters is not surveyed. What this means is that we cannot determine the boundaries of our own land. It also means there is no architectural plan for every single structure you see here. In my opinion, as the executive chairman, this is wrong.
We have to starting by fending of people encroaching our land, then fenced the headquarters. We are now done with the fence round the entire Secretariat.
Very soon the surveyor we engaged would come out with the plan that would match the 21st century administrative halls of power.
We witnessed the inauguration of the 11th Aninri Assembly last week, and again the inauguration of key officials in your cabinet hours ago. In your choice of these men, did you follow the path most past Aninri chairmen followed… (cut in)
What path is that?
They made appointments basically for political patronage – not on merits – and on nepotism.
No, no, no. The Mail, such things do not have a place in this administration. Now, look at it. In Aninri we understand that we have three political zones. And there is a tacit agreement for zoning which we have been respecting all these years.
I, as the executive chairman, am from Oduma. Nenwe’s son, Hon. Magnus Edeh, is in the State Assembly while Hon. Lloyd Ekweremadu from Umunne-Ato is the Commissioner for Youths and Sports. This is it on the macro arrangement.
If you bring it down to Aninri, the House Leader of Aninri Legislative Chamber is from Umunne-Ato and his deputy comes from Nenwe zone.
If you want to look at it critically, you would see that Oduma, as a zone, is not being properly represented because, while other zones have more than one key positions, it is only me who is from Oduma.
Even at that, I cannot let emotion rule my reasoning. Our people (Oduma) could be consoled that they have the chairman. In all the things we do here, we make sure every part has a fair share.
Everything we do here is deliberate. Instead of scuttling the noble arrangements that have kept us together from day one, my administration would make them even stronger.
Go and check it. All the people we inaugurated today are not just men who fit into their respective portfolios, but they are also people carefully selected to gracefully reflect the three zones we have. Go and check it.
As we were entering your office we got a copy of one the Bye-Law. We have already read the piece and it is indeed some wonderful legislation. It was passed by the councillors and assented by former chairman, Bennett Ajah, sometimes on October 2023. But this law has never been applied any day at any place. What is your take on that?
Well, I do not want to comment on the specifics of past administrations. But what I can assure you is that, under my watch, every single Bye-Law would be implemented to the later. Any of them we find to be impractical or anti-people we will have it repealed immediately.
Laws are made to be enforced. I am the chief law enforcer of the council. And I can assure you we will get the job done.
Do you have plans outside the confines of the headquarters? I mean, are you restricting your developmental projects here where they benefit only the civil servants and the political appointees?
Take a look at this (raised a booklet). We have identified nearly 200 rural roads across Aninri. We will have those roads paved. Remember, we are here at the rural areas, as Governor Peter Mbah’s foot soldiers, to act as the catalysts of his great ideas for the state.
So, the first set of roads we will start must be those which lead to farms, markets and other crucial for Aninri economy. The overall plan is to come first among our equal in the race to carry out the governor’s agenda in making Enugu State the agricultural hub of the nation.
Our focus is primarily to enrich Ndi Aninri, the ordinary men and women in our inner communities who have been forgotten for so long.
We will revive education. And our primary healthcare system will begin to function well to serve our people. But then, we need to construct a conducive environment for head of these government departments here at the headquarters.
For example, an officer in charge of health in Aninri, cannot do very much if he operates from his house in faraway Enugu urban. We have to give the officials all the tools they need to work. This is why we start in the Secretariat.
