The progress rating of a state is the summation of developments from all units of the state, and capped by what the state government is able to deliver in its more privileged position. Beautified in outlook and aesthetics as its capital/urban cities may be, a state cannot be concluded as a developed or genuinely developing one if the subunits, call them local government areas if you may, are not progressing, at least, relatively in development.

Whatever words permutations may please our individual ways of conceptualising the local government administration, none will stray from the simple bottomline of government being split into many faces for the purpose effectively feeding the peculiar needs of citizens in their various localites within the federation. Therefore, where the local government system fails in its purpose, growth and development will surely run at a crawling speed.

In a few months, fresh elections will hold to constitute the next local government administration in Akwa Ibom State. Even before the recently released timetable for the said elections by AKISIEC was made public, interests had risen, and consultations begun, in virtually all the 31 local entities making up the state. For Uyo local government, the most recent news in that regard was the endorsement of Uwemedimo Udo, an academic who finished a first spell as chairman of Uyo local government council last December, but was retained to head the transition committee that was constituted by the state governor. The said endorsement is an indication that the PHD level academic is interested in returning to the council as an elected chairman for a second tenure.

Aside Udo, a few others who served their respective areas in the last local government administration have either indicated interest or rumoured to be interested in returning, even most, if not all of the freshly appointed chairmen of the current caretaker committees have enjoyed the taste of power and are struggling to prove themselves worthy of returning in elected capacity. This then brings the question, how much do these intended returnees deserve a second chance in a local government system that has been opined and rated by citizens to perform below par, even to the immediate past administration?

Well, unlike the second chance of divinity which relates to forgiveness for failure and disappointment, the second chance related to public service can only be sought by those who made visible impacts when they had the first opportunity, and can so easily pass the conviction of having more to offer. And the focus in this first attempt at solving that "deserving" question will be on Uyo local government under Uwemedimo Udo.

The health sector for instance has had perhaps a larger part of the chairman's attention, considering the existence of a built-from scratch primary healthcare centre at Ikot Ebido Oku and fully equipped to modern standard. A more interesting fact about this primary health facility is that it is more equipped to serve as a comfort zone for maternity cases. And according to the chairman, this idea was to help decongest some public secondary facilities like the UNIUYO teaching hospital, by providing a strongly competing alternative capable of diverting that case of patients.

Furthermore in the health sector are functional primary health facilities at Ewet Offot and Uyo main village which were upgraded to meet modern standards and demands. While the former saw a complete overhaul and facelift, the latter had potable water and communication equipment for its social mobilisation unit fully installed to functionality. As much as this would want to pass as just a chairman's effort at moving healthcare development a bit further for the benefits of his people, wishing he had more time amidst availability of resources to spread these health facilities at a distribution ratio of one per two villages in Uyo, makes it unclear why a council chairman in an area that has several public and private health facilities would want to invest this much just to make healthcare delivery more accessible and affordable to his people.

It may look like the health sector was a handful to have consumed the chairman's three years tenure duration, but that was just a part, as he was able to spare some attention for a little contribution to job creation. This was through increasing the availability of job roles in revenue units and entrepreneurial markets and sponsoring indigenes on target studies/training, among others. While news of governments at the national and state levels sourcing for investors and sustainable investments from the local and foreign shores are being reported on a regular basis, the Mayor felt having citizens of Uyo extraction trained to expertise in select areas based on individual interests and needs was a good investment in human capital development. The purpose, which inspired quick action and eventual execution in this regard, is to build a pool of manpower in specialised areas to set them up for opportunities these investments will present in the near and even far future. For instance, the deep seaport and liberty free trade zone are core examples of investments that will present myriad of such opportunities. Hence, his feeling that Uyo local government area should be having the largest pool of qualified specialists in areas relevant to these investments when they eventually launch operations the state and have need for manpower.

In the records for him in the area of administration are executed renovation and fresh construction projects to encourage enhanced productivity in the Uyo local government council workplace, such as a 24-room, well-furnished office accommodation with three open registries at the council secretariat which remedied the problem of a hitherto decongested office spaces at the council, making for a conducive working environment for staff, while boosting and prioritizing staff welfare to push commitment on the part of staff; a renovated multi-purpose hall, as well as boosted power supply to the council secretariat through the provision of new electric transformers and solar energy power sources; and currently in the news, the freshly built technical building which is to serve as the new works department in the council which is fixed for commissioning on Thursday, July 4, 2024.

Agreed, the chairman is constitutionally permitted to have a second term where he may return to enjoy a council he had fixed to afford future elected chairmen a council and staff members equipped to assist them hit the ground running. But this takes nothing away from the visionary disposition of this chairman and his ideas. And crowning all so far narrated, his star performance for me is the fiscal prudence and transparency aspect of his administrative records. Against the option of having more monies into his pockets by declaring less figures for records as revenues generated by the council under his reign, Udo had chosen the collective advantage of chasing increased allocations for Uyo local government council in the future by declaring the net revenues in their original figures. Under the fiscal laws of Nigeria, the more the revenues generated by a council, the more the funds it attracts as allocation. Even if this commendable act of fiscal responsibility has been or will be rewarded to the local government anytime soon (depending on when the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission will effect the necessary changes), the Offot-born academic's chances of calling the shots in that office can only last for another three years. Hence and again, shorting nothing from the credits he deserves for placing collective interest above his personal gains.


Ubong Sampson (07038987697) writes from the capital city of Uyo.