WELCOME ANOTHER "SIT AT HOME" BUT "PERFORMING" TRANSITION COMMITTEES

By Omen Bassey

It's no longer news that Governor Udom Gabriel Emmanuel has appointed new Transition Committees for the thirty one Local Government Areas of Akwa Ibom State.

I congratulate those who have been so appointed, particularly the Chairmen who subscribed to the
oath of office yesterday .A cursory look at the list shows that some of the Transition Chairmen are returnees.

Despite my goodwill to the appointees,I have a serious problem with the turn of events in my State.For the past one year or thereabout,there hasn't been anything near a government at the
Local Government Areas of Akwa Ibom State.

In fact, things are so bad that most of the Council Secretariats are overgrown with weeds.

While the Committee members waited for the next credit alert,lizards,spiders and rats were running the Councils without pay.I want someone to convince me that while insects and reptiles carried
out manual governance pro bono, Committee members got paid monthly for e-governance.

We are witnessing the reinforcement of the unproductive culture of patronage and indolence
which has denied some of our youths the opportunity to engage their youthful mental and physical strengths in their interests and for the benefit of the society.

It's even sad that this latest subtle youth abuse is supervised by a man whose long stint in the private sector should ordinarily make him
appreciate the dignity of labour.
In response to the concerns expressed by Akwa Ibom people over the dwindling fortunes of the
Councils,the state government declared that most of the Local Government Councils were not
viable.The Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs,Hon Victor Antai claimed
that the state government, through the State/Local Government Joint Accounts Committee monthly
augments allocations which accrue to the Local Government Councils from the Federation Accounts
Allocation Committee(FAAC) to at least enable them pay the salaries of civil servants,teachers and
traditional rulers.

I shall address this in a subsequent post. The issue for today is,what is a 9-member Committee doing in a distressed Council? Is it to
revitalize or liquidate the Council? Or is the government not telling us the truth regarding the true financial state of the councils? I am certain the government does not expect the
Committees to revitalize the now "moribund" Councils.

This is because the unwieldy Committees constituted by the Governor largely lack the
drive,commitment, foresight,skill and competence to turn things around if they were as bad as portrayed.

How can a financially distressed Council be made to hire nine hands to do a job which a maximum
of three persons can effectively do?The Governor cannot claim ignorance of the fact that his
preceding nine member Committees never rendered any form of service in their respective
Councils.

From all indications,he never expected them to perform and obviously does not expect
anything from the present one.

For the first time in the history of the State,Council functionaries earned monthly salaries for sitting at
home thirty one days in a month.

It's even surprising that the Governor claimed during the swearing in ceremony of the Chairmen yesterday that some of the old hands were retained
because of their outstanding performance.

Haba!In this State? How did they perform when they didn't have
access to their monthly allocations? It's a wonder that a Chairman whose Council Secretariat is overgrown with weeds could be termed a
performer by no less a personality than the Governor.

It's obvious our banker Governor is learning politics and learning only its downsides. Ladies and gentlemen, let's welcome another "sit at home" but "performing" Transition Committees.