Nya-Etok's System And Festering Sore
By UbongAbasi Ise
Rots in most rural communities in Akwa Ibom State are beyond description. In the 21st century, the picture of a typical rural area is still that of solitary place where life is poor, nasty, brutish and short, to borrow from Thomas Hobbes’s Leviathan. Rural areas, apart from being prejudiced by their own emigrants as abode of witches and wizards where uncles and grandmothers are thought to use witchcrafts’ spells and enchantments to cause misfortunes, they are also a world of primitivism, with deplorable bush tracks and dilapidated amenities. They are at best hotbeds of cultic insecurity, a menace that is forcing massive rural-urban drift in the state today.
Certain rural communities are place for individuals to easily become poor, because one, the operations of entrepreneurs and technicians are confronted by virtual absence of power supply. Instances are abound in most areas in Abak, Oruk Anam, Etim Ekpo as well as other communities in far-flung areas like Eastern Obolo, Ini and Ika that no longer have business with the PHED and their electricity. Hence, most services necessitated by digitalized economy of the current era are unavailable there, putting those communities back in Stone Age. Farming too, which is a mainstay of the rural economy, also faces serious setback. It becomes uphill task for agriculturalists to make good earnings from their produce because of high cost of transportation incurred in conveying their goods through terrible bad roads to markets at the urban centers.
Today local government system has degenerated to become red light district of corruption and all manner of vices. What is called local government council has now become a sort of contraption condemned to fail the people’s expectations at the grassroots. Therefore the local council executives are not expected to fix deplorable roads in their domains because they have no financial freedom from the hook of local government’s joint-account with the state government which is largely controlled by the governor: that is why roads like Odoro Ikpe-Ibam-Ndot Ikpe- Mbiabet traversing farming communities in Ini axis is neglected; that is why Nkek Abak-Ndot Ikot Eda- Urua Offiong Ekpo route is forgotten by civilization; that is why 19km Ikot Ibritam-Ikot Ubo road in Oruk Anam is left to entrap users for criminals; that is why Ikot Akpan Abia-Oboyo road is ruined by erosion; that is why Ikot Ukpong-Ikot Obiota road and other routes in Okon Eket are ignored; that is why Ukpum Abak road is submerged in flood; that is why Urua Ekpa road in Uyo local government is left abandoned; that is why Anen Akpan Ofuk road in Nduo Eduo in Eket, traversing through Ikot Ekpene Udo in Nsit Ubium local government area continue to remain an eyesore; and that is why Ikot Ukpo Inua-Ikot Etenghe Ndon-Atan as well as Eka Iko-Ikot Akpabio- Ikot Okpok-Ikot Efre-Atan Ekpe road in Ikot Abasi local government area are left to become deathtrap. I can go on and on, but I am constrained by lack of space; so I have to limit myself to the aforementioned. The pathetic conditions of the rural areas have forced a lot of enterprising youths out of their communities because there is no hope that they would ever make progress in achieving their life’s aspirations there.
The reason local government system was set in place was basically to cater for the needs of the people at the grassroots level and to bring government closer to them. But sadly some local government chairmen, councilors, and supervisors, are now taking government very away from the reach of the local people. They are now residing and operating from Lagos, Abuja, Uyo and other urban centres. They would only visit their local council headquarters if there are revenues to collect and share. This appears to confirm the opinion of some commentators that local government councils are just there as part of the empowerment schemes or reward for those that aid rigged elections, and not for the benefits of the grassroots.
There are a lot of rural communities that are cut off from the gridline of governance but surprisingly, on the day of voting, election materials would find their way to polling units located in all the nooks and crannies of these backwater communities.
Education at rural areas is struggling today because of the stunted growth at the local government level. This is the same reason the associations of the next-of-kin of the primary school teachers are agitating today in Akwa Ibom State for unpaid pensions of their parents and grandparents. The state governor, Mr. Udom Emmanuel, in a media chat, was shifting the responsibility of pension payment of ex-primary schools staff to local government councils. He even decried of being a victim himself because, as the next-of-kin, the local government has not paid him pension arrears entitled to his mother.
Is there any way to re-engineer the local government system? Arc. Ezekiel Nya-Etok who recently moved to African Democratic Congress, ADC, seems to be coming out with multidimensional solution. During his interaction with the media, he explained the bottom-to-up approach he would have adopted to repair the decaying grassroots should he becomes the Akwa Ibom State governor come 2023. According to him, if he has his way, wards would be transformed to Centres of Development and be receiving direct allocation; ex-permanent secretaries including other retired public servants would take over the leadership of these centres and be called sheriffs. Village heads and youth leaders would become part of the councils formed at this basic level. In this way, the allocation sent to the wards cum centres of development would be managed efficiently based on the needs of the people.
This system could be more involving, allowing people to participate in developing their domains and be providing themselves with what they need and not what are dictated by the political overlords residing in the megacities. Nya-Etok believes a leader could not just sit down in Uyo to know the needs of the rural people. He is of the view that local government administrators should have a feel of what the people lack in the rural areas by living among them. If a leader at the local government level is affected by poor roads, failed healthcare system, lack of electricity and water supply, then he would be able to find a way around solution with utmost urgency.
Nya-Etok’s system is not some nighttime fantasies. With some political will, the initiative could work effectively. Of course similar moves in restructuring the government at the grassroots level has happened before in some states of the federation. For example, former Imo State governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, introduced 4th tier of government known as Community Council Government and was passed into law by the Imo State House of Assembly. The community councils, being run by the traditional rulers, focus their energy in unlocking the latent resources found in their domains. Leaders of the fourth tier were held responsible for every action in their various communities. In Lagos State, besides 20 Local Governments, 37 Local Council Development Areas were formed to drive governance, development and participatory democracy to the grassroots. It could have been the best thing to have happened to rural communities if every ward in Akwa Ibom receives direct allocation to cater for local needs. This alone could decongest unemployed population in the cities and towns as indigenes would stay in their localities to avail themselves with opportunities there.
It is government’s neglect of the local government areas that made rural communities playground of insecurity. From Ukanafun, Etim Ekpo to Essien Udim, Ikot Ekpene and Obot Akara tales of killings, kidnapping, and destruction of properties are abound. On this, Nya-Etok said if he gets a chance at Hilltop mansion, with monthly security votes coming into the state, the government can once again make every inch of the state livable by ensuring that youth leaders in all the Centre of Development Councils are provided with adequate resources to tackle insecurity in their communities and by so doing take responsibility of every criminal activity in their areas. Another method to combat insecurity, according to him, was to deploy drone technology to provide surveillance on all local government areas of the state. He said, “if we can have 100 drone sites for 31 local government areas in Akwa Ibom, nobody would want to come out at night to commit crime, including stealing and cultism.” Releasing unmanned aerial vehicles into the skies at night to monitor and capture criminal details for security action could go a long way in stemming the tides of insecurity in our rural areas and allow the people to sleep with their two eyes closed.
It’s sad that politicians driving the government today are steering with no clear-cut direction. This shows ideological bankruptcy. As next electoral window is fast approaching, all Akwa Ibom people have to do is to prevent themselves from being intoxicated by the cocktail of lies expected to be served them by the aspiring politicians. It is time to look out for those with ideas, and be wary of the ones that would come to think only about the institutions instead of the people. It should be time for contest of ideologies, and perhaps Nya-Etok has more to tell about his social governance precepts.
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