Ahead of the local government elections in Akwa Ibom State, the Chairman, Ini Local Government Area, Mr Israel Idaisin has urged all intending Chairmen to be wary of Career civil servants in the council.
He also urged the grassroot people to elect experienced people who would not allow themselves to be manipulated by the civil servants.
In a chat with our correspondent in Uyo on Tuesday, the council boss who recently delivered a 500 market stalls, motor park and 10 new buses to his LGA said he was able to achieve such feat because he never allowed
any distraction from such quarters.
He declared it unjust and an act of ignorance to negotiate to share a good part of the council’s income with those he described as ‘foreigners’,.who would help to retire the money which would have comfortably been budgeted to be spent in the interest of the people who entrusted the affairs of the council into the Chairman’s care.
His words, “You must have a little knowledge of administration before you take up a position of leadership, otherwise you will have a lot of blunders to contain with, because there are so many things that would come your way that you at least need that knowledge to guide you. Otherwise you are going to fall prey in the hands of the career people that you are working with.
“The career people: the Head of Personnel, Director of Finance and even Cashier believe they are the barracks and the politicians are the armies because you come, spend three or four years and leave the office, but they remain there for 30 years.
“Sometimes you have the allocation of N10-30 million coming into your office, they say ok, we can help you retire this money without doing anything. Number one you are doing injustice to yourself, your local government area and your people that voted you into power, because they believed in you before they voted you into office.
“So if you dance to the tune of some of the career people in the council, at the end of your tenure you may not gain anything”.
The Ini council boss who acknowledged that some council Chairmen succumbed to the career people due to the desire to meet with pressure for financial assistance from people at the grassroot, drew the attention of chairmen to provisions made in the budget for donations and other packages.
“If it is because of the money you give to people that would make you commit fraud, or steal your own money, put it in the budget. There is a provision for donations, christmas packages and all of that for your communities.
“During the time for preparation of budget, put those things in black and white. It’s not difficult. So that when people come for assistance, you ask them to apply for financial assistance, let us spend within the budget so that we use that to retire the money.
“Set your priorities right so that you would be handy with things to do whenever you are called upon by the budget department”. He advised
Idaisin also stressed on the need for LG Chairmen to attend seminars and other training courses, noting that such trainings provide an opportunity for council leaders to draw from the wealth of experiences of seasoned administrators on how to operate with career civil servant without a fight
He regretted that some Local Government Chairman do not appreciate the need for self development for better service delivery, and may end up allowing themselves to be manipulated by some ill-minded career civil servants in some councils.
“Many forget that they will someday leave the office, so they keep sitting down to negotiate how to get away with their own monies and at the end of the day they have nothing to show. If you operate that way, your people would have nothing to remember you for, even in a village council meeting. If you perform well, you would leave legacy to be remembered for”. He said
