C’River LG personnel abandon council headquarters over accessibility challenges
Despite the election of a new chairman in Boki Local Government Area of Cross River State, more than 95 per cent of the personnel of the council do not go to work.
This is because the workers are not able to access the headquarters of the council, situated at Bojie town due to loneliness, topography, risks and long distance.
As a result of these, even the local government Chairman, Eti-Eka Beatrice Etta Nyiam finds it very difficult to go to her office to perform official tasks.
Often, the personnel prefer to work from their homes and only travel the long and tortuous roads to the council offices once in two weeks, or not at all.
Although the forested road is now graded, yet the very high cost of travelling to the council headquarters in Bojie is highly prohibitive.
Some of the local government staffers spoken to said most of them do not live in Bojie, not even the council chairman.
A council staff member, who gave his name as Bissong Amos, explained, “Bojie is very far away from the rest of the towns. The place is not conducive to live in. Fewer numbers of people live there.
“There is no electricity, no pipe borne water there, no hotels, no houses to rent. The handful of natives there depend on nearby streams. There is nothing to make it liveable for non-natives. So how can we live in such a place?
“From where I live in Okunde, where the Council Headquarters ought to have been sited, I pay over N3000 to Bojie.
“So in a day, I will have to spend N6000 on a commercial motorcycle to go to work. That’s just the transport fare alone. I cannot afford that. How much will remain from my salary? That’s why most of the staffers don’t go to work. But we draw our salaries at the end of the month.
“There was a time when a certain Council chairman used to administer the local government area from the booth of his car because he could not access the Council.”
According to him, recently, one Mr. Otu John Eshua, a social activist and author, took pains to visit Bojie where he discovered how non-challant the staff of the Council were as a result of discomforts occasioned by tiresome journeys to their workplace.
A Boki LGA stalwart, Ambassador Florence Kekong issued a statement on Friday, drawing attention of other stakeholders to the plight of the council staff members and the inability of the chairmen to access her office daily.
Part of her statement reads, “Now, we are able to see that we have a lot to offer in the Boki development cooperation.
“Sometimes, the Executive Chairman would be at the office but the members of staff would be absent.
“So the question now is- how do these staff members position themselves to understand the workings of local governance?
“Can they be bold to put up constructive criticism or positive contributions that enhance productivity?”
Kekong urged other stakeholders to appreciate the plight of the workers and visit the LG headquarters to appreciate the pains that council personnel take in their quest to enhance livelihood.
Despite the election of a new chairman in Boki Local Government Area of Cross River State, more than 95 per cent of the personnel of the council are not reporting to their duty posts.
This is owing to the workers’ inability to access the headquarters of the council, situated at Bojie town.
A journey to the council headquarters is associated with loneliness, poor topography, risks and long distance.
As a result of these, even the local government Chairman, Eti-Eka Beatrice Etta Nyiam finds it very difficult to go to her office to perform official tasks.
Often, the personnel prefer to work from their homes and only travel the long and tortuous roads to the council offices once in two weeks, or not at all.
Although the forested road is now graded, yet the very high cost of travelling to the council headquarters in Bojie is highly prohibitive.
Some of the local government staffers spoken to said most of them do not live in Bojie, not even the council chairman.
A council staff member, who gave his name as Bissong Amos, explained, “Bojie is very far away from the rest of the towns. The place is not conducive to live in. Fewer numbers of people live there.
“There is no electricity, no pipe borne water there, no hotels, no houses to rent. The handful of natives there depend on nearby streams. There is nothing to make it liveable for non-natives. So how can we live in such a place?
“From where I live in Okunde, where the Council Headquarters ought to have been sited, I pay over N3000 to Bojie.
“So in a day, I will have to spend N6000 on a commercial motorcycle to go to work. That’s just the transport fare alone. I cannot afford that. How much will remain from my salary? That’s why most of the staffers don’t go to work. But we draw our salaries at the end of the month.
“There was a time when a certain Council chairman used to administer the local government area from the booth of his car because he could not access the Council.”
According to him, recently, one Mr. Otu John Eshua, a social activist and author, took pains to visit Bojie where he discovered how non-challant the staff of the Council were as a result of discomforts occasioned by tiresome journeys to their workplace.
A Boki LGA stalwart, Ambassador Florence Kekong issued a statement on Friday, drawing attention of other stakeholders to the plight of the council staff members and the inability of the chairmen to access her office daily.
Part of her statement reads, “Now, we are able to see that we have a lot to offer in the Boki development cooperation.
“Sometimes, the Executive Chairman would be at the office but the members of staff would be absent.
“So the question now is- how do these staff members position themselves to understand the workings of local governance?
“Can they be bold to put up constructive criticism or positive contributions that enhance productivity?”
Kekong urged other stakeholders to appreciate the plight of the workers and visit the LG headquarters to appreciate the pains that council personnel take in their quest to enhance livelihood.
Meanwhile, in an exclusive interview with DAILY POST, the chairman of Boki LGA, Beatrice Nyiam said, “I have been faced with the challenge of staff members not wanting to reside at the local government headquarters, it tells on their productivity.
“However, I will make sure that the workforce is improved upon by building on the Governor’s People First mantra.
“This has been the reason there is no hospitality industry in the locality. This is where Boki would have been able to generate revenue.
“It is so sad to see the huge numbers of bananas, plantains and other crops perish because of the cost of transport due to inaccessibility.”
“Sincerely, the road network challenge is what ignited my interest in becoming the Chairman.
“And I have always been crying to the Governor to give us a meaningful intervention. My joy is that the Governor is keeping to his words on the ‘People First’ mantra.
“He has already ensured that the Ikom-Obudu roads get fixed to alleviate the pains of the commuters who suffered the consequences so much during the last rainy season. This has made the people so happy and they have been sending their appreciation to the Governor.
“Coincidentally, I am the President of Bayinyi Boki, the umbrella body of all Boki women associations.
“During our August meeting in August, we passed through hell from the western part of Boki to get linked through the Council headquarters to the eastern Boki axis where the annual celebration was held.
“This broke my heart as I saw passionate women who are working for the unity, development and growth of Boki, go through the indescribable plight, just to get through their neighbouring communities.
“So being the Chairman now, I know where it pinches most and I will do my best to ensure improvement on this longstanding plight.
“This has been responsible for the inability of investors to come into Boki to invest, even as we have a lot of God-given natural resources,” she added.
