CHIEF Moses Ali, the chairman of Ezza North LGA of Ebonyi State, was commissioner for Agriculture before assuming his current post.
In this interview, he narrates what he is doing to better the life of his people at the grassroots among others.
Attaching importance to agriculture
Ali said his administration attaches a lot of importance to agriculture to ensure food security. To achieve this, the council has given soft loans to the farmers to boost their farming activities. In addition, they have procured and distributed modern agricultural equipment to the farmers in the Council and organized constant training and retraining for the farmers on modern methods of farming.
“In the area of infrastructure, we have completed the perimeter fence of the entire Council headquarters, Ebiaji, covering 50 hectares of land. We installed 24 kilometers of Solar streetlights at some strategic locations in the council headquarters, Ebiaji and other parts of Ezza North council, including Okposhi Umuoghara, Ndiaguazu Umuoghara, Okaleru Umuezeokaoha, Ogboji,Ekka and Udenyi Umuezeoka.
Power supply
“We restored electricity at the Council headquarters, Ebiaji, Ndiaguazu Umuoghara, Ogboji, Umuezeoka, Okaleru Umuezeokaoha, Inyere and Enyim in Okposhi communities which have been in darkness for over seven years. We also restored the Oriuzor/Ndiaguazu Umuoghara axis of the council to the national grid after it was cut off during the Airport projects. We have also procured for installation, three transformers in different parts of the council.
“We have also completed the construction of INEC Secretariat complex in the council; opened roads and graded 530 kilometers of roads across the council, touching all the wards and communities. We have constructed 2 bridges in Amaewula community and 2 bridges at Enyim in Okposhi community, and drilled15 boreholes across the council.
“We have also completed the renovation and re-roofing of the Administrative Block of the council, Civil Defence office, Health Department, NIN Office, Ezza North Multi-purpose Hall and the Police Quarters, which were recently blown off by windstorm.
“We are also interested in human capital development; as such we committed to the payment of severance allowances to all the past political office holders of the council who served between 2017 and 2022. My administration has purchased and distributed 20 Toyota Spider Cars to the Ward Councilors and other principal officers of the Council to ensure effective and smooth running of government programmes and policies”, Ali said.
N50,000 palliatives
“I have appointed 100 SSA and SAs to the Executive Chairman and employed 65 Ad-hoc staff to fill the gap created by inadequate junior staff in the council.
We are very much concerned with the welfare of our people; hence we distributed palliatives of¦ 50, 000 each to every worker of the Council”, he further disclosed.
In the area of health, the chairman listed the procurement of one Sienna bus for the health department of the council, distribution of 11 motorcycles to the Health Workers of the Council and attracted hospital equipment worth millions of naira to equip the Primary Health Care Centres to reduce mortality as some of the things done so far in that sector. He said that the council sponsored 2,300 indigenes of Ezza North to be enrolled into the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
“On education we encourage students with bursary allowance to all the Students of Ezza North origin. We supplied 150 desks and other educational materials to all the schools in the council. We are currently constructing staff quarters at the Joint Community, School, Achiagu and classroom blocks in several of our schools in the council.
Tackling insecurity
“We know the importance of security and we are giving it the deserved attention. We procured a brand New Hilux van for Ezza North Divisional Police Station, Achiagu; we employed 120 youths as members of Ebonyi State Neighborhood watch and gave them 40 motorcycles to make them effective. We are working closely with security agencies. We have done so many other things that I may not remember because of the urgency of the demand. But I think we have touched lives. We have embarked on construction of many roads across the council. The purpose of being in government is to deliver service. And I believe that I am delivering service.”
