N60,000 annual IGR is not acceptable for any LG council — Chima

By PETER OKUTU
Barr. Eni Uduma Chima, who representsAfikpo South/West state
constituency at the Ebonyi State House of Assembly, is a second term
member of the House now with the ambition of becoming the next local
government chairman ofAfikpo South LGA in the forthcoming council
elections due in September. In this interview, Chima gives his
blueprint on how to boost the IGR of the council among other issues.
Excerpts:
What are your plans for Afikpo South LGA?
I want to bring about changes in the area of Internally Generated
Revenue of the council. I have been a member of the House Committee on
Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters and I have embarked on
oversight functions where I discovered that council chairmen rely so
much on the allocation from the federation account and that is not
healthy; they ignore other sources or avenues through which they can
generate resources internally.
The modern rice mill established by the governor in Oso Edda is indeed
big.Our plan is to make agriculture attractive, establish a
demonstration farm which would feed the rice mill twice every year
with rice paddy. So, we have to mechanize our rice farming, empower
the youth and makeagriculture generally attractive for them; empower
people through soft loan and form them into cooperative societies to
ensure that rice is produced twice a year in Afikpo South in
commercial quantities and you haveto be rest assured that feeding the
millwill not be a problem as we will generate enough rice paddy for
the mill.
Barr. Chima
Like in my local government where they tell you that they generate
only N60, 000 annually as their IGR. And I know that if the potentials
of the council area are harnessed we can generate a lot of money.
Do you see the governor imposing candidates on the people?
It is obvious that imposition of candidates on the electorate is
counter productive; it cannot bring progress or anything good, because
those who make peaceful changes impossible only make violent changes
inevitable.
It is only when people cannot have their way in a manner prescribed by
law, that make them to start plotting on manners not prescribed by law
and I thank God that the governor has not embarked on the imposition
of candidates, granted that he might givehis opinion on a matter. I
have never within the seven years that I worked under him experienced
him imposing any candidate on the people.
What is your advice to youths towards the forthcoming election?
My advice to the youths is to shun any activity capable of causing
violence; we have always preached non-violence because if you want to
be in any relationship with the government of this state, especially
the government of Chief Martin Elechi you must operate on the platform
of peace but many times, the cause of violence is only existent on the
pages of newspapers.
At times, all those things you hear about Edda are all propaganda by
all those people who cannot win under a free and fair election; what
they do is to try to create a reason why there should be political
interventions in their favour.
How confident are you that you will emerge victorious at the polls?
If there is free and fair election, no matter the number of times it
is done, we will come out victorious because the people of Edda want
me.