The Office of the Citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, a Nongovernmental initiative, has commenced the inauguration of its Help Desk Offices in the six pilot local government areas of Ebonyi State.
The Office of the Citizen’s LG accountability campaign, codenamed: “#MyLGA project,” is an initiative of ENOUGH is ENOUGH, Nigeria.
It is executed in Ebonyi State in partnership with the Human Rights and Conflict Resolution Centre, Abakaliki, the state capital.
The inauguration kick-started on Monday in Ishielu LGA.
It was part of the outcome of the Local Government-Citizens interactive stakeholders town hall meeting organised by the organisations to advance accountability in the grassroots.
Addressing the people during the meeting, the Information Technology Lead for ENOUGH IS ENOUGH, Nigeria, Oluwasegun Phillips, regretted that the local governments in Nigeria are yet to establish a strong habit of consulting with citizens, engaging them in civic activities and sharing information.
He explained that creating an Office Of The Citizens’ Help Desk where people can easily report issues like insecurity, human right abuses, and poorly done or abandoned government projects, as well as share ideas and ask questions will help citizens and local governments work together for the good of the community.
Phillips further explained that his organisation started the initiative in 2015, and has been promoting its objectives through radio, television and other conventional and social media platforms.
He added: “We recognise that the citizen is the most important person in governance, not the president, the governor or any representative.
“This is because if the citizens are not there, political leaders and representatives will not be elected in the first place.
“That’s why our organisation regards the office of the citizen as the highest office in the land.
“Our mission is to let the citizens know their rights and power to make demands from the government.”
The Alternative Conflict Resolution Officer for HRCRC, Moses Ekeke, and his Monitoring and Evaluation counterpart, Sussan Uroh, also took turns to further educate the citizens on the gains of the project.
Ekeke emphasised that the desk officer was not meant to antagonise or investigate the council chairman, but to act as a liaison between him and the citizens, adding that such interface would help eliminate fake news and disinformation among citizens.
Ekeke added: “It will give the local government authority the opportunity to understand citizens’ needs and bring about initiatives to respond to them.
“So doing, citizens will know that they are heard, and see the government as genuinely trying to collaborate with them to meet their needs.”
In his remark, the Council Chairman, John Onwe, congratulated the Desk Officer, pledging to offer him the conducive environment for collaborative action towards promoting the good of the people of the Council area.
He observed that the local government area under his watch has shown great respect for Citizens’ rights in all areas, adding that the initiative would help the people a lot in further understanding the government, its policies and projects.
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Onwe expressed optimism that the initiative would help drive further development in the area.
A cross section of the citizens who bared their minds, including Paulinus Ida, Chinasa Ogbu and Innocent Alifu, urged the Council Chairman to look into the payment of gratuities to retired local government workers unpaid for over six years, maintain water borehole facilities and rehabilitate dilapidated basic school structures scattered across the LGA, among other concerns.
The desk officer, John Ebenyi, pledged to discharge his functions in total compliance with the rules of the initiative.
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