Chairman, Andoni Local Government Area in Rivers State, Erastus Awortu, has advised the people of the area to be vigilant and quick to report any security threat to the appropriate authorities.
Awortu gave this advice on Tuesday during the first quarterly meeting with Andoni Traditional Rulers Council at the council’s secretariat.
He said his administration would leave no stone unturned in the quest to restore sanity in the area council.
Awortu, a lawyer and former Adviser on NDDC matters to Rivers State Gov Nyesom Wike, urged traditional rulers to lend full support to his administration’s master plan.
The council boss successfully took part in a meeting convened by traditional rulers at the Ngo council headquarters for the first time in the past six years.
The area had in the past suffered high level of insecurity following cult rampages and proliferation of light weapons.
To this end, infrastructure development, economic and social lives of the people of Andoni were basically under siege until the emergence of the current administration.
The council chairman, in less than three weeks of his administration, had made a huge impact by restoring peace to the area and returning refugees, who were displaced from their communities as a result of cult war.
Life is gradually returning to the area once notorious for its volatile nature as other institutions of government are set to resume full operations in the council headquarters.
“The council’s engineer is already carrying out various jobs to fix the closed down general hospital, court and other moribund sectors at the council,” he said.
Admonishing traditional rulers at the meeting, Awortu noted, ” If am afraid of the security operatives, I will not hesitate to seek the governor’s support just to ensure we maintain sanity in Andoni.
“The local government is probably the most powerful tier because the government is built on people and the third tier is closest to the people.
“The power we derive from the people and the chiefs, who are opinion leaders, can’t be ignored. So, undermining the traditional rulers in a given society constitutes an administrative risk; that’s why, I will charge them to visibly demonstrate their roles,” he added
The Council boss further said, “traditional rulers are so important that the law recognizes them and allots as much as five per cent of the local government monthly allocation to them.
He said the essence is to empower them and make them a viable component of local government administration.