ASATU boss lauds govt, public partnership initiative

THE roles of town unions in galvanising the people throughout the 179 communities in Anambra State, especially the rural areas cannot be over-emphasised and this invariably necessitated the inception of the Anambra State Association of Town Unions (ASATU) as a rallying point and canopy of these grassroots’ administrative organs to serve as the bridge linking the populace with the state government towards sustained synergy for rapid transformation and overall development of the entire nooks and crannies of the state.

   As the year (2019) gradually inches towards an end, the mood of the moment is both exciting and somewhat challenging albeit an auspicious time for stock-taking by both individuals, corporate organisations and communities altogether to count their blessings and shortcomings as well as dreams actualised and those yet to materialise.

  President of ASATU, Chief Alex Onukwue, in an interview with National Light, assessed the journey and activities of ASATU within the year thus: “It has been a wonderful journey and the most important thing is that ASATU is a united house and we have been doing our best in promoting people’s participation in the governance of the state. We are supporting and working in synergy with the state government to promote good governance which is the essence of democratic rule. We are lucky to have Governor Willie Obiano (Akpokuedike Global), who believes in the people’s participation in governance of the state. ASATU is a kind of bridge between the government and the people and that has engendered very positive collaboration which has worked wonderfully in the advancement of the state and the communities generally.”

   Beating his chest for having perfected the flourishing relationship between ASATU as an umbrella of the 179 communities across the 21 LGAs and the state government, especially the roles the PGs play in cementing this synergy, he asserted that the contributions of the PGs under ASATU are highly commendable and have immensely broadened the people’s knowledge and perception in terms of politics and the policy thrusts of the incumbent Governor Obiano’s grassroots development.

   Chief Onukwue described 2019 as “very interesting year,” added that there were elections during the year and ASATU succeeded in mobilising and arousing the people’s knowledge and perception in terms of politics which equally made things better. “The ensuing year has been an interesting one. We had elections during the year and ASATU succeeded in broadening the awareness of the populace on the ultimate need for effective synergy with the government. The collaboration is still going on and the ‘Community Choose Your Project’ initiative also in progress,whereby every community in the state has received N20 million in the first phase and another N20m under the second phase while the third phase will soon kick off.

   The ASATU henchman enumerated the contributions ASATU had made in terms

of monitoring the ‘Community Choose Your Project’ scheme and the issue of maintenance of security in the state, saying: “The ‘Community Choose Your Project’ initiative is woven around the PGs and traditional rulers of the towns in the state, and the issue of security of lives and property equally revolves around the local vigilance who are collaborating with other security organisations in making Anambra the safest state in Nigeria. The PGs and traditional rulers are the fulcrum of these schemes regarding the choice of desired projects, selection of the contractors and supervision of the projects. The PGs play critical roles in the success of government’s policies and programmes indeed.”

  As the year gradually comes to an end when ndi Anambra usually troop homewards for the celebration of the Christmas festivities, his candid advice to the returnee holiday makers and their families coming home for the yuletide is to have absolute confidence in the water-tight security arrangement entrenched by Governor Obiano which has ensured maximum safety of lives and property throughout the state, so they should not be afraid of coming home.