By Uche Eze, Nsukka

The chairman of Igbo-Etiti local government area of Enugu state, Hon. Dr. Eric Odo said he does not see his office as a position that can make him over and above all other persons in the local government, emphasizing that the office of a council chairman is not at the top but at the bottom.

According to him, a council chairman is elected to serve his people and not to be in office alone without having the feelings and challenges of those that elected him into the office, adding that this is why the chairman should be at the bottom for him to be accessible to the people.

Hon. Odo who disclosed this in a chat with the members of Nigeria Union of Journalists, Nsukka Chapel during a courtesy visit to him at the Igbo-Etiti local government secretariat, Ogbede said his administration has an open door policy that gives both the rich and the poor the same opportunity to meet and interact with him.

“By the time we were campaigning, asking people to vote us in, we promised that we are going to run an open door administration, making sure that no matter how small or how big, how poor or how rich, how bad or how good you are, you can always access us as a council chairman.

“What we have done that I see as the greatest success within my one year in office is that I have made the Igbo-Etiti people to believe that the office of the council chairman is not at the top but at the very bottom of leadership, that one can access and because they can access it, we can identify with their challenges, with the view to solving some of them.

“I’m very much happy about it. There is nothing that gladdens us than that we came around and see people who are indigent and are waiting for us to see them. That one for me is a major breakthrough in my administration that I can proudly go out and people will see me anywhere and say this is my council chairman”, he said.

The chairman said his administration gives priority attention to infrastructural development, health, education, beautification of council headquarters, security of lives and property, agriculture, digital technology, innovation and ICT, and poverty alleviation.

In the area of poverty alleviation, he said he has restored confidence in some widows and widowers in the local government, adding that over 1000 of them are in the pay roll of the council, each receiving #10,000 monthly to cushion the effect of hardship. He added that the local government under his watch built three bedrooms flats for each of the three most vulnerable widows that were almost homeless.

“We did not mince words to let the people of Igbo-Etiti know that this is where our administration is going because as we were coming, we told them that we are going to place the poor people at the driver’s seat and put the rich people at the back seat, meaning that we want to prioritize issues that concern the vulnerable and the poor”, he said.

The chairman expressed the hope that their promises through their blueprint and vision to make Igbo-Etiti the most progressive local government, not only in Enugu state or Nigeria but African continent would come to pass. This was as he lauded the Governor of Enugu state, Barr. Peter Ndubuisi Mbah for his support and cooperation in the running of the council.

Members of NUJ, Nsukka Chapel led by comrade Ike Okenyi commended Hon. Odo for showing the light and raising the hope of the downtrodden in the area.