Our report card. By Umuaka President-General Hon Kizito Duru.
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For some time now the 10 presidents general in Umuaka Municipal Council have been in office doing one thing or the other. Some have put in their best while others are still struggling to give their community a good shape.
From this week, Umuaka Times will be presenting the work roadmap so far covered by each president general in Umuaka Municipal Council. In this week’s edition, the focus is on Umuaka (Uba) Autonomous Community where Hon. Kizito Chinonso Duru, the President General Umuaka Ancient Kingdom speaks on the achievements of his team.
Excerpts.
My very dear citizens of Umuaka Ancient Kingdom, since assuming the office of President General of Umuaka Ancient kingdom on 7th day of May 2021, my executive and I have embarked on the following activities;
ACCOUNTABILITY. On assumption of office, we realized that there was no administrative record of how the community was being run. It was discovered for example that there were no reference documents, no bank account in the name of the community. So, my executive and I opened a bank account in the name of the community. This step and similar ones were taken to ensure transparency, accountability and more especially for continuity purposes.
SECURITY. I assumed the position of President General of Umuaka Ancient Kingdom at the height of insecurity in Umuaka, with violent crimes being the order of the day. The first thing we did regarding this, was to convene a meeting of all stakeholders including the village chairmen in the community to collectively brainstorm on how to stem the rising tide of crime in our community. It was generally agreed that the community will adopt both proactive and reactive measures in its approach. Part of the proactive measures was erecting security gates at specific entry points to the community, another part of the proactive part of the plan was to reactivate the erstwhile community neighborhood watch and vigilante. Today we have some of the gates completed and functioning. Equally, the vigilante and community neighborhood watch has been started. While these measures are still in progress, they are yielding results and we hope crime rate will be minimized, if not totally eradicated in Umuaka ancient Kingdom when the setup is complete. I thank all our people who have provided their time and resources for this purpose.
UMUAKA HIGH SCHOOL. One of the major challenges we met on assumption of office is the community financed secondary school. For very obvious reasons, our administration took a little while before getting involved in the school. This was done to allow the former PG to complete one of the approval processes. Following complaints by the teachers and staff of the school that they have not been paid their salaries for over six months we decided to see how to solve this problem. Unfortunately, we realized that it will not be possible for us to solve the problem of staff salaries without doing a few other things. We therefore decided to set up a committee made up of eminent Umuaka sons to have an in dept look into the activities of the school and come out with sound proposals for the future of the school. The committee is currently working day and night and as soon as they conclude their work and present a report, the report will be made public. Based on that report, we will chart a course that will make the new school an envy of all in Imo state.
The executive members of Umuaka Autonomous Community team.
WASTE MANAGEMENT AT AFOR UMUAKA. One of the first things my executive and I observed and were determined to permanently address was the reoccurring issue of indiscriminate dumping of wastes close to Afor Umuaka. These wastes constitute a major health hazard to our people. The initial plan was to remove the wastes by appealing to our people. However, on a second thought, we decided to seek for a permanent solution to problem knowing that wastes will be generated daily from the market as long as the market exists. Plans are at a very advanced stage and as soon as it becomes operational, indiscriminate dumping of wastes and the health danger which is constitutes to our people will become a thing of the past. Umuaka as we all know is growing daily in both population and economic activities. We must position it to face the challenges of urbanization. So, we ask our people to continue to be patient and watch out for a long-lasting solution to the problem indiscriminate waste disposal in Afor Umuaka.
CONSULTATIONS. As we all know, part of the reason for setting the Community government is to enable the people at the grassroots have a say in how they are governed. We have encouraged this purpose by making sure that our people decide what happens in their community. We have had several meetings with the people and their representatives on a wide range of issues. We have also consulted with all the stake holders in the community for their inputs. We hope to set up a model of community government that is 100% people oriented. We therefore use this opportunity to call all Umuaka Ancient kingdom indigenes to please be a part of this new movement. Umuaka is our home and we have no other place. Umuaka is very blessed and together we will make it a great community. I want to also use this opportunity to thank all Umuaka people who have given resources in moving Umuaka forward. May I also use this opportunity to once more thank Umuaka Times for the wonderful job it is doing by bringing Umuaka to the world.
