WHY HON. WARIBUGO SYLVA SHOULD REPRESENT NEMBE CONSTITUENCY 2 AT THE BAYELSA STATE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY HON. WARIBUGO SYLVA: HIS TRACK-RECORD SPEAKS FOR HIM Hon. Waribugo Sylva as LGA CHAIRMAN is Good Governance Personified By Ayebanoa Douglas Since the 1976 local Government reforms, there appears to be a desperate search for grassroots democracy at the third-tier of government. About three and half decades after those sweeping reforms, the local governments are yet to grapple with three main challenges. The LGAs in Nigeria lack financial autonomy-which underscores the basis of true federalism. Although LGAs draw allocation from the federation account, the States have preponderant powers over the monies allocated to them in terms of imposition of levies, statutory and non-statutory deduction. Essentially too, the conduct of council election is at the behest of state chief executives. The law making powers of Local Government Councils are subservient to the State Assemblies. Their operations, especially those related to finance are under the tight scrutiny of the state, and as it were, the LGAs are devoid of administrative, legislative and financial autonomy. In Bayelsa State, the eight Council Chairmen were sworn in about 8 month ago, consequent upon their electoral victories. In Nembe Local Government Council, Hon. Waribugo had Sylva- a first class graduate of Management of the University of Port-Harcourt clinched the Chairmanship of the Council. Years before his political ascendancy, Hon. Waribugo had dreamt of using the instrumentality of leadership to transform society. In this onerous enterprise and worthy journey of self-actualization he considered the dictum that “charity begins at home”. As a transformational leader, he keyed into the vision of Aristotle who convinced his kinsmen in Athens that “It is better for a city to be governed by a good man than by good laws”. He has since inception, brought his zeal, sagacity and altruism to bear on his sworn affidavit to transform the Nembe kingdom As a man who places premium on the provision of physical infrastructure, human capital development and efficient delivery of social services to enhance the living standards of the people, he did not tarry to take three critical steps to kick-start his administration. Firstly, the chairman embarked on meet-the-people tour of the LGA with a view to identifying development gaps and priorities of the various communities. Secondly, the chairman conducted a needs Assessment survey to be able to feel the pulse of the people concerning government polices at the grassroots. This was done in order to prioritize development polices and programmer within the limits of available resources. Thirdly, he consulted in duly with traditional rulers, community Development communities CDC, Chairmen, Opinion leaders, youth groups and women Associations. The culmination was a condensation of the needs of the various communities comprising the LGA. These needs have been aggregated to provide a basis for policy formulation. Having accessed the needs of the people, he set about the macabre task of providing the very basis needs. To provide Nembe with a facelift, he awarded contract for the clearing of bushes and waterfronts at Ogbolomabiri and Bassambiri, prior to his assumption of office, the water scheme in Nembe were utterly broken down. He resuscitated these dilapidated water schemes and completed the reticulation work that was abandoned by the previous administration. The administration of Waribugo Sylva immediately started the reconstruction of modern toilet facilities in Nembe while simultaneously renovating broken down toilets. In Nembe Bassambiri, he refurbished the existing power plants that were in not operation. Today, the two power plants are in full operation. In order to complement the State government efforts at peace-building, the Council embarked on the building of a new Divisional Police Headquarters in Nembe- Bassambiri. While these laudable programmes were being executed, Hon. Sylva cleared a backlog of salaries and allowances owe to staff of the Council, which he inherited from the previous administration. This is an uncommon feat achieved by the Chairman within the period. In addition, the Chairman has done superlatively well in other philanthropic gestures such as payment of school fees for indigent students, underwriting the medical expenses of the elderly and other forms of assistance to the vulnerable. It was the same spirit of altruism that propelled him to initiate a welfare programme christened “Let the Elders Smile” – a programme in which cash and food items are distributed to 150 elders on a monthly basis. The programme is being coordinated by the office of the wife of the Chairman of the LGA. The programme was designed to put smiles on the faces of the elders and it has achieved that purpose. One multi-million programme the administration initiated and completed is the building and furnishing of the Chairman’s lodge including perimeter fencing. Hitherto, it was a standard practice for the Chairman to spend huge sums of money on hotel bills when top government functionaries and Heads of Government Agencies, Parastatals paid official visit to the Council. The completion of the lodge has distinguished Nembe LGA as one of the first LGAs to have such a befitting edifice in Bayelsa State. In the light of the magnitude of the project, the edifice was commissioned by the Governor of Bayelsa State at that time. NELGA collaborated with an Oil servicing Company in the area to engage in a multi-million Naira dredging and land reclamation project. Today, the dredging of 50,000cm of sand has been successfully completed. The reclaimed land has already been earmarked for the building of an ultra-modern recreation centre – the first of its kind ever to be embarked upon by any LGA in Bayelsa State. Part of the sand has been used to sand fill and reclaim State School 1 field, in Nembe Bassambiri. Prospective estate developers in the community will tap from the sand for building and construction work. Pursuant to his capacity building programme, the Chairman procured laptops for principal officers of the Local Government. This is done to enhance their ICT skills and to facility administrative businesses in terms of transparency and accountability. The Chairman of Nembe LGA is imbued with rare leadership qualities. He is emotionally mature, courageous, and visionary and has a sense of public need. He is considerate of the persona-social need, listens to all viewpoints to develop an enduring spirit of cooperation. He has demonstrable ability to manage conflict in addition to dealing with complexity policy issues. It is on record that he is the only Chairman in Bayelsa State that has been to initiate, see through and pass two fundamental bye-laws – all geared towards boosting internally generated revenue. He promises to be the best Chairman in Bayelsa State, as he demonstrates transformational leadership at the third-tier of government in the State. And within a short period of 8 months, his achievements are watershed in the annals of the history of Nembe LGA. He has been able to conquer the initial hindrances that stood on his way to accelerated development. He has initiated people-oriented programmes capable of creating enduring impact on the lives of the ordinary citizen. For the first time in decades, people from the Nembe LGA can attest to the fact that the third-tier of government is working - courtesy of the managerial and leadership acumen of Waribugo Sylva. In the words of Peter Drucker, management is doing things right while leadership is doing the right things. Hon. Sylva knows the way and goes the way of transforming the people for self-discovery, empowerment and sustainable development. Ayebanoa Douglas - a public Affairs Analyst wrote from Yenagoa
Posted on: Tue, 18 Nov 2014 23:57:20 +0000