AN ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT GENERAL

AN ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT GENERAL ELECT ON THE DAY OF HAND OVER/SWEARING IN CEREMONY OF THE NEW EXECUTIVES 1ST JANUARY 2014 His Excellency, Governor Sullivan I. Chime, The Hon. Commissioner for Rural Development, The Executive Chairman of Ezeagu L.G.A, The Hon Councilor, , H.R.H Igwe C.C. Obueke, The cabinet chiefs, town union executives and members, The Youths, Distinguished ladies and gentle men HAPPY NEW YEAR. May the year 2014 be a prosperous year for all of us AMEN It is a great honour for me to stand in your mist today as the PRESIDENT GENERAL of this great community Amankwo Oghe. On behalf of my humble self and my executives I thank you all for finding us worthy to serve you. One of the best things that has happened to this community is for them to have gathered in their numbers on 7th December 2013 (The Election Day) to elect high cadre team of executives (highly educated, bold, exposed, broad experience and a lot of naturally and developed intelligence) to man the affairs of this community. With your support, Amankwo Oghe community will definitely change for better. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: I want remember in a special way all the past executives and members of Amankwo Oghe Town Union, who have in their various ways tried to maintain the structure called the Town Union. My immense gratitude goes to the immediate past President General, Mr. Nwabueze Bonny Chijioke and his team of executives. Their administration has attracted many developmental projects to this community, some completed and some on-going. The greatest achievement of Mr. Nwabueze’s administration is the making of the Amankwo Oghe 2011 constitution. Not only that they produced a constitution, this constitution is registered with the relevant state and local government offices and it has been certified and approved as the working document in the community. Though they were other constitutions before their own, but these other constitutions were kept in abeyance and never made reference of in the governance of the community, to the extent that many citizens of the community never know that such documents do exist. I also want to acknowledge the cabinet chiefs the youths and our patriotic citizens, who have always rallied round the town union in time of need. OUR ADMINISTRATIVE AND DEVELOPMENTAL PLANS: The success of Town Union will not be credited to any one person or the executives only. The activities of the Town Union are going to be run by various committees as provided by the constitution. Some of the committees will include even the women group. Among the committees listed in our constitution, only the water committee has been created by the past administration and they are doing very fine. Good enough, the constitution expanded the membership of the town union to include the Age grades. On this note I want to remind the few wards and age grades, who have not sent representatives to the Town union to do so before the next meeting of Town Union in February, 2014. I want to use this opportunity to inform my people that the state government is interested in having a good structured town union in every community, as the town unions will serve as grass root government to assist the local, state and federal governments in ensuring the execution of all projects allocated to the communities. His Excellency, made it very clear that the Town Unions will be held responsible for failure of projects in their communities. He added that the door is open for the town unions to liaise with the Rural Development commissioner to make request for amenities lacking in their communities, as his administration will ensure that all communities in the state will have basic amenities such as water, road, electricity etc before he hands over in May 2015. It is the plan of this administration to work in a very close relationship with the councilor, the local government chairman, the state rural development commissioner and other government developmental agencies to bring home real development to the community. CHALLENGES: 1. Lack of financial support: It is unfortunate that the office of the town union is saddled with much responsibility without adequate financial support, from the government, to enhance their performance. While we call on the government of Enugu State to device means of financing the Town unions, it has become very clear here that the town union needs financial support for mobilization from our people, if we must meet up with our target of enjoying the developmental stride of our enviable governor. Thou the constitution provided for payment of annual subventions from the wards and age grades as part of financing the activities of the town but the realization of such money is always very difficult. We therefore appeal to our brothers and sisters who are blessed to always donate to the town union to enable them be active in their work. 2. Inactive/lukewarm members of the town union: “The harvest is plenty but the labourers are few”. It has been observed that the works of the town union which suppose to be a collective effort of all are left for some few members. Some town union members tend to slack after some time. I want to appeal to the wards and age grades to ensure that those they sent to the town union are active members. The town union will no longer relax on the defaulters. 3. H.R.H Igwe C.C Obueke’s gratuitous irritant on the town union: It is worthy to mention the set backs occasioned by Igwe’s despotic leadership to the town union and the entire community. The summarization of H.R.H attitude is clear case of one refusing to accept change. Since the constitution was signed into law in February 2011, Igwe has continued to kick against the use of the constitution as a working document in the community. Unfortunately, he has not been able to say why he rejected the constitution. Ninety percent (90%) of his cabinet members accepted the constitution. They saw it as a welcome development in the community and praised those who laboured to produce the document. In an attempt to straighten issues the past administration had several cases with Igwe at the offices of the commissioners for chieftaincy matters and the Rural Development. In all the cases Igwe has been directed by the government to work in line with the wish of his people which is written down in their constitution. He has remained adamant. Of recent is his illegal inauguration of a caretaker committee headed by one Pastor Clifford. His formation of caretaker committee was in total violation of both our constitution and Enugu State laws on Town Union. The commissioner for Rural Development, Dr. Eric Oluedo made this very clear when he gave us final approval to conduct our town union election. He expressed dismay over Igwe’s refusal to honour invitations from his office so that he could direct him appropriately. I wish to advice Pastor Clifford to seek necessary counseling from his layer before continuing to parade himself as a caretaker committee chairman. The town union only needs to petition to the government to get him punished. HRH is also insisting that he takes control of the water borehole as against the government lay down rule. The water committee chairman if time permits is in better position to tell you the ordeals he has been passing through in the hands of Igwe on the water borehole management. CONCLUSION: The present executives have resolved to embrace peace and welcome development in the community. It is our intention that a joint meeting be scheduled between Igwe, the cabinet chiefs, the youths, the town union and all stake holders at any convenient time and venue within the week, so that we can resolve our differences without going to the government courts. This is very important. Thank you. May God bless you all and lead you safely back to your destinations. Engr. Silas Anonde President General