Chairman of Oron Local Government in Akwa Ibom State, Effiong Bassey Ubokulo, is under severe criticism for inviting dignitaries to the commencement of work on the construction of the council’s perimeter fence and a gatehouse.
Ubokulo took to his Facebook page to extend the invitation to the dignitaries who included Senator Akon Eyakenyi who represents Akwa Ibom South senatorial district in the Senate, a lawmaker representing Oron/Udung Uko state constituency as well as commissioner for culture and tourism, Orman
Esin and the paramount ruler of the area, Offong Odiong Akan among others as well the state chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) described the gate project as a ‘state-of-art gate project.’
Ubokulo who said the dignitaries invited were critical stakeholders in the local government area was among the council chairmen elected in October last year and were sworn into office in December last year. A good number of them recently marked the first 100 days in office with the inauguration of many projects.
Criticizing the local government chairman, a Facebook user said he should have been advised that the amount of money already wasted and still to be wasted in the jamboree “will probably afford a gate for the said gatehouse.’’
Another Facebook user who found the invitation of dignitaries to be absurd wondered whether “all these dignitaries were invited just for the ‘flag off of gate construction not even commissioning saying when it is time for commissioning, they will invite who?”
However, another user has blamed the poor allocation to local government councils for the dismal performances of the chairmen saying that some of them get as low as N2 million monthly which he said covers workers’ salaries and other items.
Much criticism has trailed local government administration for the alleged poor performance over the years which many blame on the lack of autonomy which would have allowed them to enjoy direct allocations to the councils without having to through any joint account with the state government.
