What OPU Government Should Do To Ensure Effective Administration

The worst happened when democracy was jettisoned, as authoritarian system of government was introduced and imposed, to rule and preside over the affairs of the people of Ogbunike. All though the Caretaker Committee was an unpopular government, but it held sway till April 8, 2023, when ndi Ogbunike rose in protest, occupied the town hall and demanded for the dissolution of the OPU Caretaker Committee led by Hon Chigozie Ikegulu.

A new democratic dispensation was birthed through the successful OPU general elections. The April 8 election remains a watershed, adjudged to be the most peaceful, credible and transparent OPU elections in the annals history of Ogbunike. Consequently, every citizen of Ogbunike has been charged with the responsibility to ensure that the new leadership of OPU succeeds.

In his inaugural speech, the newly elected President General of OPU, Chief Tochukwu Obiakor, promised to run an open-door policy, all inclusive government, where every citizen of Ogbunike will participate in the governance process of the town. The new face of OPU, however, promised that the leadership challenges facing Ogbunike were surmountable.

Talking about the leadership challenge, is it insurmountable? The answer is to sit down and say ‘let us be realistic to ourselves’. We should understand that the way OPU was run in the past, how we are running it now, by making it dependent on one source of revenue-Oye-Olisa Market, is not sustaining the town; therefore, we must diversify the economy.

One of the challenges we have in Ogbunike today is not the lack of resources, we have enough for our development. What has happened over the years is that we had formed a very inefficient system, where we waste much of what we have gotten from government, donor agencies and deep spirited citizens.

The New OPU government must promise a future of economic foresight, which will be shaped by the willingness to do the necessary things that will lead us into a new and rapid age of development. We must not wait for the State Government to do it all for us. We have alternative sources of revenue generation, we have wealthy citizens willing to invest in the community. We have the tourism site under explored, we have beautiful culture to export. We have arable land for agricultural purposes.

The new initiatives in the development of Ogbunike should be woven around the cardinal programmes of the OPU government, which is the essence of this article. I have taken ample time to break it into six core areas, infrastructural development, environmental sustainability, culture and tourism, economic revolution, social welfare enhancement and the royal institutional reform.

Without sounding immodest, I decided to champion the renewed agitation for a new Ogbunike, when I led Team Make Ogbunike Great, TMOG, to design and create the Ogbunike Leadership Summit OLS, and throw my unreserved support for the new OPU government in order to ensure that the development trajectory, which we demand is commenced. This trajectory was aimed at recalibrating the Ogbunike politics for a progressive paradigm, a shift in leadership and governance so as to create a significant impact on all major spheres of our collective and individual lives.

Therefore, in our determined effort to develop a modern Ogbunike, where every citizen is empowered with the opportunity to live life to the fullest and to achieve sustainable and inclusive prosperity anchored on good governance, there are certain fundamental building blocks that we must first put in place. The keys to any development in any society are the institutions which are put in place to drive this development. The institutions within this context are the “OPU Committees”.

The truth is that without having strong Committees and processes based on which OPU government is run, all the other attributes in terms of development cannot occur because people had to drive development. The point is that you cannot talk about development when you don’t have people who understand what is at stake.

It is the people who determines how they are led. That is why I’m suggesting to the new OPU government to institute various Committees to assist do the job.

I am using this opportunity to appeal to the President General of OPU to constitute and inaugurate OPU Committees and their Chairmen with a view to effectively deliver in his  administration/tenure of office.

The Committees should be headed by experienced professionals in various fields, to amongst other things, assiduously work towards assisting the OPU Executive to achieve leadership excellence. The Committees, should be responsible to the OPU President General and on the approval of the PG, co-opt more Members.

The Committees should always be accessible to ndi Ogbunike, pay attention and respond to critical issues related to their responsibilities.

I wish to suggest the following Committees be created to help drive the OPU government, namely; Infrastructure and maintenance Committee, Arbitration Committee, Media & Publicity Committee, Health Committee, Environmental Committee, OPU In Diaspora Committee, Youth Affairs Committee, Education Committee, Vigilante/Security Committee, Internal Generating Revenue (IGR), Road Traffic Management Committee, Hospitality & Tourism Management Committee, Electricity Committee, Social Welfare & Culture Committee, Community Choose Your Project, etc.

I strongly recommend that the skills necessary for effective administration will be readily available at the Committee levels herein proposed. Let’s employ and deploy it to the benefit of ndi Ogbunike and Ogbunike.

Ekenem!