COMMUNAL EFFORT, A CATALYST TO COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT -ONDO FIRST LADY

By Temitope Musowo 

COMMUNAL EFFORT, A CATALYST TO COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT -ONDO FIRST LADY

The first lady of Ondo State, Her Excellency, Chief Mrs Betty Anyanwu-Akeredolu has described communal efforts as a major catalyst for community development in Nigeria.

Wife of Ondo State Governor, made this assertion during the end of the year Town Hall meeting at her community, Emeabiam in Owerri West local government area of Imo State, organized by Betty Anyanwu-Akeredolu Foundation in conjunction with Ada Emeabiam foundation.

 Mrs Akeredolu stated that gone are the days when communities like Emeabiam, blessed with a lot of natural resources, human resources and has huge economic potentials like ecotourism, will fold their hands and wait for government alone to bring development in the area.

She regretted that Emeabiam has remained one of the most marginalized and undeveloped communities in Imo State irrespective of her huge natural endowment and contribution to the State economy, and blamed it on the successive governments in the area.

Mrs Akeredolu, who is also the apex traditional title holder of the community, "Ada Emeabiam II" therefore charged the people of Emeabiam to take the bull by the horn and chart the course of a new Emeabiam of their dreams.

She however warned that implementation of the resolutions of the town hall should be taken seriously, hence the popular hash tag in the community #NOMOREKARAWUSA, meaning (resolutions must not be taken for granted anymore).

The annual town hall meeting of  Emeabiam Clan held at Comprehensive secondary school Emeabiam, was chaired by Mr Rogers Nwoke, a consummate banker and CEO of Oche Micro Finance Bank, with one of the traditional rulers from the clan, His Royal Highness, Eze Eunan Eke, as the royal father of the day.

Other participants included: the community leaders, both women and youths, opinion moulders, stakeholders and other members of the community.

Highlights of the event were the reading and adoption of the previous town hall's communique, development fund raising, cultural display and raffle draw exercise.