Parley Journalists In Ughelli
By Godwin-Maria Utuedoye
Chairman of Ughelli North Local Government Area, Delta State, Hon. Barr. Jaro Egbo on Tuesday, October 15, 2024, said the council has saved over 23 million naira within the last 90 days from Internally Generated Revenues of the council.
Egbo gave this disclosure when he held a media parley with members of the Ughelli Correspondent Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Delta State Chapter.
Egbo, in his welcoming speech said the media parley was to collaborate and familiarized himself with the journalists so that factual information and the happenings in the council could be disseminated with facts during reportage to the public.
Recounting his achievements in the past 90 days in office Egbo said; upon his resumption in office, discovered that there is the need for a thorough renovations in the secretariat as almost every sections of the secretariat was dilapidated and in a very bad shape.
“I am not saying this to indict anyone, but the truth is that before now, this conference hall had fallen ceilings and the furnitures were so bad, but when we came in, we have to step in to give the whole secretariat a facelift by renovating the entire council. We provided lights and install solar power energy and connected the council which has been disconnected from the national grid for over seven years to serve the entire secretariat so that the staff can function in their respective duties effectively. 
“We realized the need for all hands to be on deck and I told the staff to be up and doing as gone are the days of absenteeism from work without genuine excuses, hence in the first 30 days in office, we bought five official vehicles for principal officers in the council to boost their services to the people, and also bought one for the security unit and the press unit, all to enhance their services”
Egbo, who gave a vivid picture of the scope of Ughelli North, said the population of Ughelli North Local Government Area is more than some senatorial districts in some states and even larger than some countries in the world, disclosing that the local government had over 600,000 population with 38 primary health centers and 85 primary schools. He further disclosed that over 80% of the council income is channeled to serve all these, and appealed for a synergy with the journalists so that people can be well informed. He promised that with his three years mandate, he will ensure he change the narrative.
“When we came on board, we told ourselves that we are going to fund some of our projects with the internally generated revenues from the local government, and we said henceforth, no monies should go into private accounts but the local government account. To achieve all these, we decided to hike the Local Government Certificate of Origin to Three Thousand Naira and hike a bit the Marriage Certificates, today, we have realized over Twenty Three Million Naira and we said to ourselves that all the monies realised, will be used to provide uniforms, sitting desk, books to our primary schools and also, to build and renovates some of the primary health centres.”
“You could see that the health centre in Ughelli is over 50 years old and its very small, and so, we have decided to build a modern cottage hospital which we have started but due to the season we are, the place cannot be accessible at the moment, hence we decided to stop the work for now.”
On environment and security, the chairman noted that a lot has been done and achieved. He said, when his administration came onboard, the security situation was so intense and bad, but after he serviced the security agents with their needs which has been neglected for long, a lot was achieved by the special squad of the Commissioner of Police, but regretted the gruesome killing of the Agbarho DPO recently, but assured that soon, after a security meeting he has scheduled, issue of security will be over even as he said that the local vigilantes has been of great assistance and has also been rejigged for effective performances.
He also disclosed that the local government is coming out fully against drug abuse as many of the youths are running mad, and to this he said; the NDLEA has been invited and a place given to them close to the Ughelli/Ogor main market. He said, both the NSCDC and FRSC will be moved to that area to tackle drug abuse and other crimes.
On environment, he disclosed that the market, streets and some of the canals were so filled with dirts and traders occupying the pavements and throwing dirts and water on the road, but the administration have to implore stringent measures that has changed the narratives.
“We ensures that we make the market a clean place and removed obstacles from the road and the pavement. We discovered also, that the bridge has become a refuse dump for market women, and soon, we will work on that.”
Egbo, who also disclosed that over 500 million naira is saved for the council by the state, noted that his administration will use the fund if released, to build a befitting secretariat for the local government that could be compared to others in some other states.
On the state of bad roads in Ughelli, the chairman admitted that the roads are bad, but promised to appeal to the state governor for at least a 15 kilometres to fix some of the roads. He appealed that contractors especially local contractors to keep to standards as some of the very bad roads were constructed not too long ago by the past administration of Governor Okowa.
Responding, chairman of NUJ Ughelli Correspondent Chapel, Comrade Sunday Apah, appreciated the chairman for his efforts in transforming the local government but urged him to work closely with journalists at all time so that the could have factual reportage and to also avoid misinformation. He also called on the chairman to ensure he engage professional journalists to manage information from the council.