Open Letter To Akulga Chairman (1)

One bright morning in 1991, when I was the principal of Nyemoni Grammar School, (NGS), Abonnema, I saw two friends of mine strolling along the Abonnema/Obonoma Road. One of them was Turner Briggs, while I have forgotten the other colleague’s. After some exchanges of greetings, a conversation ensued. I enquired what their mission was at that time of the day, and they told me that the sole administrator of the newly-created Akuku Toru Local Government Area (AKULGA) sent them to search for a vacant piece of land between Abonnema bridge and the NGS area that could be used to site the Local Government Headquarters.
I made them understand that all the parcels of land from the bridge to the NGS area belonged to various families and had been plotted out to their respective members and that there was no vacant land to spare out. I then advised them on what steps to take. However, the said advice was not adhered to before the then sole administrator’s tenure expired. Later on, other developments crept up but those issues are not the main topic of this write-up.
When the sole administrator left, David Briggs took over as the first elected Council Chairman with the Council’s temporary office still at the “Owusara” building. Hon. David Briggs (now Chief) used to come to my office from time to time. But on a particular day in 1992, he called at my office to discuss a deal on how to relocate the LGA headquarters to the NGS compound. He told me that the temporary space at “Owusara” was not an ideal place and the Council needed a spacious area to site the LGA complex.
He told me of his plan to move the Council headquarters to the Abonnema Girls Secondary School (AGSS) to use the Abonnema Urban Council Secretariat built by a one-time former Governor, Chief Melford Okilo, but failed to get approval because the girls’ school had since converted it to a hostel for the students.
At this time there were abandoned and dilapidated buildings which accommodated NGS female students before they were phased out and merged with the AGSS. He asked for permission to acquire those buildings to establish the AKULGA Council Secretariat. The said buildings were already dilapidated, overgrown with forest and were harbouring dangerous reptiles and wild animals. At a time the area became a den of thieves as well.
The then Chairman, Hon. David Briggs told me that he had met with the Commissioner for Education then  Celestine Omehia, in respect of the abandoned buildings and had got approval hence he, Chairman, had come to discuss with me to support the Council’s plan to acquire the buildings in exchange for the Abonnema urban building at that time which had been converted to a boarding house at AGSS.
At this point, I asked the Chairman to get written approval from the Ministry of Education before I could grant such a request because, as an employee of the Ministry, I was not vested with the right to release any government property under my care to anyone. This, the Chairman saw with me and left. After a while, when he did not show up with any document from the Ministry, I wrote him a letter of reminder yet no reply.
The next thing I saw was that a contractor and some workmen had been mobilized to site and work had started. The main contractor was one Madam N.B. Whyte, now late, while the workmen were from Degema prisons who were used to clear the bushes around the buildings. As work was going on one morning, a certain officer by name  Madise Wobo, from the Ministry of Education, walked into my office and said he was sent by the Permanent Secretary,  G.T. Toby, to find out who authorized me to release Government property under my care to my home local government.
I narrated to him all that transpired between me and the Chairman, David Briggs, making reference to a letter I wrote to him in which I requested him to get written approval from the Ministry of Education which he did not comply with. The director asked me to accompany him to see the Chairman at “Owusara” office of the Local Government. On getting there, the Chairman produced the copy of the letter I wrote to him which exonerated me from any blame.
Lawson is a retired principal in Rivers State.

Ignatius Lawson