Nwifuru’s administration providing dividends through People’s Charter of Needs Mantra – DG, EBBC
The Director General, Ebonyi State Broadcasting Corporation, EBBC, SALT 98.1 FM and SALT Television, Chief Tony Nwizi has stated that the present administration was providing dividends of democracy to Ebonyi people through its well packaged Peoples Charter of Needs Mantra.
He stated that the Government’s execution of projects, empowerment programmes, provision of basic social amenities, policy formulation and implementation were in line with the needs of the people of the State
The Director-General of EBBC stated this when a team of Journalists paid him a Courtesy call in his office in Abakaliki
Nwizi who gave a run down of the progresses so far made by Governor Francis Ogbonna Nwifuru, since he assumed office as the 4th Executive Governor of the State, applauded the Governor for coming to the aid of retirees in both State and the 13 Local Government Areas
“When His Excellency the Governor, Francis Ogbonna Nwifuru assumed office on 29th of May, 2023, he reeled out his agenda, code named the People’s Charter of Need.
“And in that People’s Charter of Need, he outlined areas that he was going to concentrate on. And he made us know that he was going to act, work according to what people want. And he was going to, you know have a kind of regular town hall meetings to know what the people want.
“And what the people want, which is their actual need, is what the government is going to do. And, you know, to ameliorate the sufferings of the people because generally, Nigeria is not all rosy everywhere because of our economic condition.
“So, first of all, he started with settling the arrears of gratuities of pensioners from 1996 that are packed and packed. You know, previous government did nothing about it. And he paid a whopping sum of four billion naira, he started with that, to settle the arrears of pensions and gratuities of state civil servants.” He said
Nwizi further explained that the payment of pension and gratuities to retirees, gave the beneficiaries a sense of belonging and the courage to face their future with utmost optimism.
According to him, “It looked like a joke, but it happened. When it happened, people were like, there were people who were in the hospital and submitted their details and they got alert while in the hospital bed, and got well automatically.”
Continuing, he said: “Because they saw money that they had not seen all through their service years until they were old to that extent. And they saw money, they were paid in full, arrears of money since 1996. They were given very serious uplifts in their life.
“And there was a kind of a new life given to a lot of them, those who were involved, those who have retired all this while and nothing was paid. So, like play, like joke, the government settled everybody.”
On the area of Education, the Director General stated that the Governor has embarked on the renovation and construction of classroom blocks in both Primary and Secondary Schools across the State.
“He promised to bring education closer to the people, and then reserved the educational disadvantage code that we have borne for some time now. And they saw that there were collapse in education and decided that he will nip it at the bud. And he started with building structures in the primary and secondary schools.
“First of all, he split the education sector into two: primary and secondary, and then tertiary. So, under primary and secondary, he started with building structures in the schools. And those structures he built in the schools were to bring back glory of schools.
“To prepare for a better condition, better environmental condition for pupils and the students of secondary schools. And he started with buildings. He selected some schools and started with.
“And if you go to some secondary schools, you will see gigantic buildings that he awarded the contract for people to build. He said, I’m going to give local contractors the contract to build most of the structures we have here in the state. One, it will give them a sense of belonging.
“It will remove from us capital flight. And it will also help the people to feel the impact of government. I mean, give contracts to local contractors to build those structures. He also embarked on recruitment of teachers to man the schools, the primary and secondary schools.
“So, primary and secondary schools, he started with structures, very big and gigantic. We see them. And then he recruited teachers. He has employed over 1,000 teachers. He also started by fighting fake private schools that do not meet up with the requirements to give better education to the pupils.”
Nwizi who was the immediate past Chairman of Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, Ebonyi State Council, stated that the impact made by the Governor in Tertiary education has given hope to Students and graduates of the State.
He said: “Then, on the area of tertiary, he started with offsetting the debt of impress that were owed the Ebonyi State University that made their lecturers embark on one strike or the other. And then he offset all those arrears of money owed, and added something to their overheads, the students and the school started booming again.
“And then if you go to EBSU, you see a lot of structures sprouting up. And then, he didn’t stop there, he awarded scholarships, overseas scholarships.
“That is 1,000 graduates of the Ebonyi State were given scholarships. 300 for foreign and 700 local, to run their masters and PhD programs. People do not understand the meaning of having over 200 graduates of Ebonyi State outside the shores of the country, in the UK, working and earning dollars or pound sterlings.
“People will not understand the meaning until one year, two years, three years after. Imagine that 200 families have been alleviated from poverty. That is what it means, automatically. Because when they have a PhD holder living abroad, they know what it means to that particular family. So, people do not see the undertone of the action the Governor has taken. Some view it from the periphery.
“But when you look deep down, you will discover that the 200 Ebonyians did not just travel abroad, all bills paid to go and read their masters and PhD, but that each of the 200 households have been alleviated from poverty, that is the implication. It may not be very immediate, but it is a long-term venture that people will begin to reap the dividends in no distant time.
“Now, the other 700 others are in various universities in Nigeria doing their masters and PhD. And that is a very big boost to the academics standard of the people of the Ebonyi State. And so, let me end it there.”
