March 04, (THEWILL) – Prince Eyo Oku, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) candidate, for the Odukpani State Constituency in Cross River State, has pledged to change the narrative of bad representation in the area.
Prince Oku disclosed this in an exclusive chat with THEWILL newspaper in Calabar, decrying the poor representation the people of the area have been subjected to in recent years.
He pledged that when elected into the State House Of Assembly, he will prioritise education, water supply and electricity in the area, to ameliorate the plight of his constituents.
Prince Oku said, “I’ll ensure good and reliable representation by sponsoring bills to renovate schools, provision of standard and quality educational materials to aid effective teaching and learning process.
“I’ll also prioritise the building of a school in some difficult terrain of Odukpani.
“Our children ensure the stress of travelling from Ukem to Creek Town, Akpap, Okurikang to attend secondary school in the morning and cross the Calabar River through Creek Town to Marina beach to have education in Calabar South.
“This has to end and we’ll need to create a school in these areas to make our children access quality education without much stress.
“On electricity, Odukpani has one of the biggest power plants in Nigeria, but no community can boast of electricity for 30 minutes.
“Starting from Creek Town Ward 1 down to Okoyong Usang Abasi where the plant is sited there is no electricity and I could vividly recall that extraction of Odukpani once protested against this kind of mistreatment.
“Mbarakom Esiñe Ufot, Ikot Abasi Eyo, Ikot Ayi Eyo and many others have not seen light for over three years now.
“This and more is the reason we choose to look critically and provide solutions through Bills and engagement with relevant Federal and state agencies to put an end to this”, he said.
On water supply, Prince Oku decried the accute water scarcity in Odukpani and also faulted the failed 13.5 million naira solar water project abandoned in Ifako Community.
He promised that when elected he will never compromise and always ensure that no project is abandoned in his constituency.
“How on earth can I abandon a single project under my watch as a legislator in my local government.
“I’m very sure of this, no matter the matter, I’ll not compromise. I’ll employ any means to give my people good representation and SDP is known for good governance and social Justice.
“Sponsoring of Bills, going for oversights and ensuring the every projects is achieved is sacrosanct to me.
“We’ll not relent to use any means either by traditional or non-traditional means to change the narrative of bad representative in odukpani LGA because we deserve the best”, he said.
He promised that when elected, his first bill will be on the rehabilitation of water projects in Odukpani.
He also pledged as legislator to engage the local government Chairman, community leaders and the Federal Rep. Member to launch and remit from the subvension derived from the LGA to fix those projects one by one.
He said these are things people use everyday and they cannot afford to overlook the malfunctioning of these amenities.
He added that he is very zealous to see that there is a solution to the lack of development and progress in Odukpani LGA.
THEWILL Correspondent, Aniekan Bassey has over six years experience that spans across several fields in print journalism including development communication, sexual reproductive and health rights issues, crime, climate change, social justice, business and human interest stories.
