Mr. Chairman,
It has been sometime since you were sworn in as Chairman of Yakurr Local Government Council under circumstances that I would rather not go into at this time. Suffice to say that the election is over and the Yakurr nation must move on. I have chosen to use this medium to communicate my thoughts about the Yakurr nation under your leadership for the reason that every issue I raise here will be of public interest and devoid of personal matters.
I have watched, listened and waited all this while to get a sense of direction and vision from your administration without success. Sadly you have settled into the traditional routine of previous chairmen who move around in circles until their tenure is over without making any impact on the lives of the people for whom the Local Government Area was created. Ironically oftentimes, the chairmen themselves do not make any impact on their own personal lives. I would like to give you concrete examples of this, but let us leave that for another day.
Mr. Chairman, I write this piece not in my position as the man you “defeated” in an election but in my position as a bona fide Yakurr son with a vested interest in what happens in the Yakurr Nation. During my campaign for the position of Chairman, I shared with the people an agenda that I believed can move everybody forward. This included among others: strategic and focused youth development efforts, appraisal/revision of our obsolete farming/agricultural system and practices, trade/ commerce and tourism. Believing that you would see this as positive criticism, I would like to repeat some of my thoughts and ideas in this write up. The decision to make good use of them is entirely in your hands.
Like most enterprises that are interested in accelerated growth and development, Yakurr Local Government Area needs a sound strategic development plan that should span at least 5 years. Such a plan that should be based on some formative studies and statistics would spell out clearly our vision as a people. It would also contain our mission and strategy towards the realization of this vision as well as a break down of actions to be taken within identified milestones or indicators. Until the majority of Yakurr people become partners and stakeholders in a clear vision, our aspirations towards a viable Yakurr Nation will come to naught. A lot of Yakurr sons and daughters have tremendous experience in the area of social science research as well as in the design of development programs. Instead of wasting our meager resources in the pursuit of activities that cannot add value to the lives of the people, the Local Government should employ the expertise of these people towards the design of a long term development strategy for Yakurr Local Government Area. This strategy like most good ones will outlive the present administration and serve as a blue print for subsequent administrations.
Mr. Chairman, while we wait for the strategy document, the issue of youth empowerment needs an urgent, short-term treatment. The term youth here, refers to all Yakurr youths not just PDP youths who supported you during the elections. The elections are over and by your job description you are Chairman of Yakurr LGA and not Chairman of the PDP. I agree that you have made efforts to settle some of the boys that worked for you during your campaign- making them PA’s, SA’s, members of the motor park committee etc, but these are not sustainable youth empowerment initiatives. There are different categories of Yakurr youths- for example, those that are graduates of tertiary institutions but are yet to find jobs, those that are secondary school graduates but have not gone further either due to lack of financial resources or lack of mental resources. These different categories require different treatments. For educated Yakurr youths to compete favorably with youths from other parts of the world, they must have access to information about current trends and personal development opportunities. Such information abounds in the internet, newspapers, global radio and television. There is an urgent need to establish a Youth Information/development center in Yakurr LGA. Such a center should be equipped with a broad band internet facility, a cyber café, cable television and a reference library that will be supplied regularly with major newspapers/magazines as well as books that would normally not be found in school libraries. Empowerment does not necessarily mean giving youths the opportunity to make money but an opportunity for personal development and self actualization. To carter for less educated youths, the center should also be equipped as a skills acquisition center. Skills like computer/internet literacy, packaging of curriculum vitae, proposal writing, photography and video production; small business plan development etc can make our youths more employable in today’s competitive job market.
Mr. Chairman, farming has been the mainstay and will continue to be the mainstay of the majority of Yakurr people. Apart from communities that lie along the Ikom-Calabar Highway, most farm roads are not motor able and farmers face a lot of problems conveying farm produce to where it is needed. Most of our young farmers cultivate rice- which is always in high demand. But every year, these young farmers invest a lot of money and energy in the cultivation of rice farms only to make marginal gains during harvest due to problems of pests, plant diseases and unexpected weather conditions. Mr. Chairman Young men and women who have the common sense, energy and enthusiasm to venture into farming at this time that the trend is towards rural-urban migration, need the Local Government’s Support to increase their productivity and earn well from the sweat of their labour. Your government may wish to dialogue with Yakurr farmers to understand and appreciate their challenges with the aim of providing them crucial support. Mr. Chairman, as I write, thousands of farmers from other parts of the country are assessing different kinds of loans and subsidies to improve their farms and make more returns. These farmers are not better than our farmers. The difference is that their governments pay attention to their needs and go out of their way to support them.
The end of your current tenure is fast approaching, but it is not too late to take certain actions and decisions. Governance is a continuous process and some other person will continue from where you stop.
-Thomas Ofem-
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