Dr. Peter Mbah, the Enugu State Governor, has charged Councillors and Council Chairmen in the state to take charge of government’s development projects in their respective local governments and wards through intensive monitoring and holding the contractors to account to ensure that they adhere to both quality and timelines.
He also reminded them that there was no luxury of time, urging them to “get cracking in solving the pressing social and economic challenges in various localities.”
Mbah, who gave the charge during an onboarding programme for the newly elected 260 ward councilors on the State Project Management Team for Smart Green Schools and Primary Healthcare Centres on Wednesday.
He emphasized that the 260 Smart Green Schools and 260 Type 2 Primary Healthcare Centres being constructed in all the 260 electoral wards were very key to the state’s economic growth, assuring skilled manpower for the 21st century economy and good health for optimal productivity.
“The Smart Schools are about transformation. We are expecting that all the 260 structures will be standing by February 2025. By September 2025, every child in Enugu State should have access to Smart Green Schools.
“So, you cannot know that these transformative projects are coming to your ward or LGA as a Councillor, chairman or deputy chairman and afford not to take ownership of them or hold the contractors to account. You all have a duty. We have to see ourselves as trustees holding our future in trust for our offspring and for the generations ahead,” he said.
Mbah also tasked the councilors and council chairmen on productivity and economic growth, noting that just as Nigeria’s economic growth would come from the states, not the Centre, the administration’s target to grow Enugu State’s economy from N4.4bn to N30bn would not come from the state capital, but from the various 17 LGAs and 260 wards. “We want to make Enugu State the premier destination for business, investment, tourism and living. But it is not going to happen simply because we wish it to happen. And it will not happen by accident. We have to be intentional. “So, we are expecting that you are going to attract industries in your various LGAs. We are expecting that you will come up with your own ideas in industrialising your LGAs. Those investments that you think you want to scale up to the state, we are ready and open for business,” he said.
