Meet No 1 council chairman in Enugu, No 3 in Nigeria
From CHIDI NNADI and PETRUS OBI, Enugu

Wednesday, November 25, 2009
… Yet, Uche Anioke, Awgu council boss hopes to set new records


[img]http://odili.net/news/source/2009/nov/25/sun/Anioke-25[1].gif[/img]
Anioke



http://odili.net/news/source/2009/nov/25/501.html

When last Friday Governor Sullivan Chime of Enugu State flagged off the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chairmanship election campaign in the state ahead of the December 5 polls, the party knew it has little or no work to do in the Awgu Local Government Area as the people of the council have already adopted the incumbent chairman, Uche Anioke, as their man.

Anioke has won the heart of his people in the last one year and seven months he has served them as chairman by delivering to them democracy dividends, a proof that he knew what he wanted to do from the beginning.

Indeed, when in 2007, Anioke offered himself to serve his people at the local level; panic immediately took over his opponents who said that he was over-qualified.

Thus his opponents pleaded that he moved to higher positions as he had held several positions in the immediate past administration of the state as commissioner, managing director of parastatals, special adviser and coordinating council chairman, but Anioke’s desire to transform Awgu into a modern urban area was uppermost in his mind.

So, he did not bulge to the request of the opposition, and upon assumption of office in 2008, he told his people to take the photograph of Awgu council area and judge him after two years when his first term will expire.

Indeed, under one year and seven months, the Awgu council boss has lived up to his promise, a feat that caught the fancy of the House of Representatives who adjudged him to be the best local government chairman in Enugu State and the third in the country.

And the Awgu council boss in this interview with Daily Sun says he is not done yet with his people as he hopes to set new records when he returns for his second term, promising that after the coming two years he would surely top the record of the House of Representatives.

After accomplishing this, Anioke hopes to move to the national level, saying then he must have paid his dues in Enugu State. Excerpt:

The House of Representatives honour

Actually, recently at the Sheraton Hotels and Towers, the House of Representatives Committee on State and Local Government Affairs invited almost the entire country to a ceremony in which, according to them, they wanted to recognize chairmen across the country that have contributed positively to the development of their areas. Prior to that, a couple of months ago, I got a notice that I had been nominated as one of the three that are doing well in Enugu State. At first I was skeptical, though last year I had won a similar award by the same committee as the best in my senatorial zone, we were three, myself, Ogbonna Idike of Igbo-Etiti and Sam Ngene of Enugu South; we went and were honoured, but that was at the senatorial zone.

So, this time around it was a different one and I asked what has happened to the other one, they said there was a change of guard; it took me a lot of time to consider it, but when I discovered that I was recommended by the Ministry of Local Government of Enugu State, I felt encouraged because I didn’t know how they came by my name; they said they sent a letter to the Ministry and the Ministry nominated me.

I felt that if Professor Frank Asogwa, commissioner for Local Government Affairs has so nominated me then something good will come out of it. The panel came to Enugu and spent some quality time; the first time they came they spent like one week, they came the second time, they came more than four times at various stages, asking various questions, and at the end I was nominated as the best in the state. Eventually, I got a letter, elected for the South-East zone and two days to the event I got nominated as the third best in Nigeria.

What the award means to me

The award has come and gone and I want to say that I feel challenged by the award; challenge is the word because I said to myself, if the man from Akankpa could come second and the man from Kano could come first and I when looked at their portfolio I was convinced they did better than myself; so I am challenged to ensure that next time I want to beat them to the game; and the game for next year, for me starts today.

I want to put an infrastructure, which each time it is presented nobody will be in doubt that these people have done well. I want to commend the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the committee for putting in place this competitive spirit among the local government chairmen in the country because this will spur people up; you won’t be docile anymore, you won’t be relaxed, you know there are rewards at the end of the day. So, I feel honoured and as I said a couple of days ago, I have dedicated this award to one man; first to God, but on earth to Governor Sullivan Chime. If you will recall he was my colleague at the state executive council in the past regime, and now he is my governor.

He has given us an enabling environment here in Enugu State for every chairman to perform optimally; if you fail as a local government chairman in Enugu State it is because you have refused to work not because the environment as it were has not been conducive. So, I want to give this award to my governor, I want to dedicate it to him and I want to tell him not to change from the manner he is piloting the affairs of Enugu State and in particular his attitude towards local government chairmen. As far as he is concerned local government chairmen are mini-governors of their local governments and he has never for one day tried to interfere with the way we run our local governments; rather he has introduced a collaborative effort that has made us proud; I will give you an example.

There is an old road; old Port Harcourt road that runs from Akpacha in Enugu South, through Ozalla, through Awgu, Aninri to Lokpanta in Abia State; for more than 30 years that road has been in total state of disrepair. I was in government for eight years in the past regime and that road never attracted any attention. At the beginning of last year I begged the governor; if you go through that road now, it is being asphalted; it is a 52.6 km road and it is in partnership with Awgu Local Government. The project will cost over N4 billion; Awgu is contributing about N900 million; and this road happens to be one of the projects for which I was judged as to be doing well. It is a rare thing that we are doing it; so in all I want to tell you very honestly that I am happy and I am challenged and with this award I am poised to do more.

Why I decided to serve my people

You will recall that as a participant of the politics of Enugu State from 1999 to 2007 so to speak, I served in various capacities in the state; first as a foundation Publicity Secretary of the PDP in the state; then as the Managing Director of Enugu State Housing Development Corporation which saw the emergence of Ebeano Housing Estate and then the Golf Estate, which I mid-wifed; then I moved on to the Star Printing Publishing Company as managing director, later I became the Commissioner for Youths and Sports, became Special Adviser to the Governor on Special Duties; later Commissioner for Poverty Reduction, and commissioner, governor’s office; and towards the end of Governor Chimaroke’s regime I became the coordinating chairman of Awgu Local Government; it was this small journey into local government administration that opened my eyes to what I can do as a chairman of a local government; what I can do to change the lives of my people.

So, this brief assignment made me feel I could do much more as a chairman than as a commissioner, and that was why I offered myself for election in 2007, to be able to change the landscape of Awgu which has been dilapidated for several years. And I won in that election, so I was propelled by this challenge to see how I can leave my people better than they have been; that was the simple motive.

My achievement in two years

This is one question I have always tried to avoid; one because it is definitely not in my habit to blow my own trumpet. If you recall in 2008, the NUJ in Enugu State gave me an award as the best performing chairman, then tongues started wagging; ‘no, it was sold, no, it was bought,’ but I believe any person who is conversant with my person knows; if you talk about the finest politicians in Enugu State, even as a chairman, it will be wrong to count me out.

I don’t blow my trumpet, but we mid-wifed Chimaroke; Jim Nwobodo was there, Egugbe was there, Chidi Okoro was there, Anthony Eze was there, as young as I was I was in the first team that mid-wifed the last regime in Enugu State; anybody in Enugu can bear witness to that. I humbled myself and did all I did. So, when I became chairman I had an idea of what was wanted, not what I wanted because I campaigned in all the communities; we have 20 old communities and 38 autonomous communities.

I campaigned in all of them and asked them to list their priority projects which are today in various stages of completion, there are three ongoing projects in each of these communities; the projects are at different levels, but there is no community you will go to and not find at least three ongoing projects. Last year I chose between doing a tarred road to my village, which most people are branding as an achievement, doing access roads to all the 20 old communities in Awgu local government.

The last time the NUJ were there, the result they had was that I won the best in integrated rural roads because you can move from one community to the other. There may not be a sense in tarring a road in which only 10 vehicles will pass in 10 years, it’s a waste of people’s money; rather you give them an earth road because the traffic on that road is small. You do not go and invest N400 million on a road in which only 10 vehicles will pass in a day.

I give you an example of what development is like in Awgu local government; there is a place we call Nkwe and Ezere, the topography is something else; it’s quite hilly and rough; when the father of a former Commissioner for Health died, the governor was supposed to be there, but a lot of people felt the road was impassable and that he could only get there by an helicopter.

You need to go through that road now to find out the enormity of work we did there; to translate an otherwise hilly, stony environment into a road that the governor’s sleek car can really go through. Now, I want to tell you, you can verify this; when the chairman Bottom of Fof the PDP in the state came to that function the first thing he said was Uche Anioke we are very proud of you; when NUJ came I had to take them through that road, to see the rough terrain; in fact, it’s like the devil’s elbow in Obudu Cattle Ranch. So, what we have tried to do is to see that our people get exactly what they wanted.

Beyond these, there is another area I feel I have done something significant and that is the area of inter-governmental relations. I was the first chairman in the state to procure vehicles and equipment for security operatives in the state; it was after I had done that that the governor encouraged others to do so; they may have surpassed me, but the idea was mine. Also I went into e-Governance in legislative endeavours in Awgu; what I mean is not just that I bought computers, I also built an ICT centre.

I ensured that those who work with me are computer literate. Especially my legislative council, I bought personal laptops, that’s what we call e-Legislation; each time after sitting the Clark of the House goes home and whatever are the proceedings of the day he sends them direct to the councilors so that in the twinkle of an eye, you don’t need to bring a hard copy, at the comfort of your home you receive the proceedings of the day.

For the NYSC, we are a selling point; almost every three months in a year, corps members are posted to the state. And when they are posted, they know two towns, Enugu and Awgu; and it is Awgu they will go to first.

If you are coming from Port Harcourt you have no business going to Enugu, if you are coming from Abia you have no business with Enugu, you go to Awgu; therefore, Awgu is the mirror of Enugu State. What they meet on ground will tell them the picture of Enugu State; it may be wrong or right, but that is from where they will begin to build the picture of Enugu State; and for me, if you come to Awgu and there is no electricity, that means there is no electricity in Enugu State; if you come to Awgu and you don’t have access to water there is no water in Enugu State.

And it should be recalled that until I became chairman of Awgu, the NYSC state orientation camp had been without electricity and I had to immediately link the camp to the national grid. I beat my chest for it because my brother if you do not say here I am nobody will say there you are. Some people would say why are you blowing your own trumpet, but if such an institution has been without electricity for the past 20 years and I came and like the biblical Jesus, I said let there be light and there was light; why would I shy away from it?

An American General, Douglas, once said that ‘to be modest when a man has achieved so much is hypocritical;’ when a man has achieved so much and you want to be modest about his achievements, you are not being fair; if he has achieved much, tell him he has achieved much, if he has failed, tell him. So, I feel that the one year and ten months we have been in Awgu Local Government we have been able to bring peace to our people. When we came in a town like Mgbaku was factionalized, they are no longer factionalized; a town like Mgbowo had been factionalized, there was these arson in Mgbowo, we’ve been able to bring peace; we’ve buried the dead of those days.