IMO COUNCIL HEADQUARTERS STINKS ; EXECUTIVE CHAIRMEN, COUNCILLORS CRY OUT OVER DILAPIDATED OFFICES, FURNITURE, TAKE OFF FUNDS
BY OKEY ALOZIE
Newly elected chairmen, and councillors of local government areas of Imo State are finding it very difficult to discharge their duties effectively.
The chairmen and councillors as we gathered are not comfortable with what they met on ground coupled with the inability of government to release fund for them.
Our roving reporter who visited council headquarters observed that most of the places are untidy, bushy, heaps of refuse everywhere. Over grown weeds and reptiles made some council headquarters unconducive and as a result, most councillors and chairmen do not come to work on daily basis.
The most annoying part as we further gathered is that the offices are very dirty and not equipped at all. The worst hit is Aboh Mbaise Local Government Area, Ngor Okpala, Ahiazu Mbaise, Ehime Mbano and Owerri West.
The councillors and their leaders do not have conducive office to stay to discharge their duty. Most have been loitering and parabulating around since they were officially inaugurated they are yet to settle down for business.
Some of the elected officials who spoke to our reporter under anonymity complained bitterly of the bad condition they are facing since they assumed office few weeks ago.
” There is no fund given to us to take off some times we borrow money from our friends to meet up”. The elected official submitted.
A government source hinted that things will stabilize any moment from now, therefore there is no course for alarm.
Because of the bad condition the chairman and their councillors are facing, life has become too difficult to their aides. Information revealed that some of the aides have embarked on illegal taskforces as their own means of survival. The illegal taskforces are now everywhere in the 27 local government areas especially in rural areas .
On market days, they come out fully to extort money from traders and market women and if you do not comply to their demand, they seize your item.
It has been noticed that fake revenue collectors have surfaced again at the local government areas with their fake receipts.
Our roving reporter observed that these fake revenue collectors move around with unidentified vehicle and uniform. One of the council chairman who was alerted on this development have vowed to get them arrested.
