The Chairman of Udu Local Government Council, Chief Vincent Oyibode, says his administration is focused on infrastructure, security, welfare and social development to transform the council area.
Oyibode stated this when a delegation of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Delta State Council, led by Chairman Comrade Churchill Oyowe, visited to physically verify projects executed within one year.
He highlighted key achievements, including building a chapel to begin each working day with prayers and constructing a modern office complex to replace the council’s inadequate chairman’s office.
The council also completed 11 lock-up shops for the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) to boost revenue generation and support staff welfare.
Ongoing projects, according to him, include a duplex for the chairman’s office, two bungalows for domestic staff and construction of a police station for Udu Division, the first of its kind in Delta State.
He said the police station facility includes administrative offices, detention cells for various categories of offenders, a female and juvenile cell, and a residence for the Divisional Police Officer (DPO).
Oyibode said the police station will enhance security, attract banks and investors, and strengthen confidence in Udu’s safety record, which he described as the best in Delta State.
He said the council has cleared, surveyed and documented its 19.5-acre land to prevent encroachment and cleared trees along high-tension lines to protect power supply to surrounding communities.
The chairman revealed that his administration resolved inherited community crises in Okpaka, Opete, Ogbodu, Okolo Island, Otor-Udu and Orovwokpokpor, restoring peace and improving relationships among youths, leaders and communities.
On staff welfare, he boasted that Udu became the first council to implement the national minimum wage, clear outstanding staff claims and provide Christmas incentives to workers.
Environmental sanitation, Oyibode noted, had also been strengthened, with residents mobilized to clean drains and clear grasses or face mobile court prosecution and fines.
His council’s health interventions include campaigns on polio eradication and the Rollback Malaria initiative, while plans are underway to build health centres in all ten wards to improve primary healthcare delivery.
Oyibode assured residents that Governor Sheriff Oborevwori had already addressed Udu’s road challenges before recent protests, urging gratitude for existing projects and accountability from past leaders.
He invited investors to take advantage of Udu’s peaceful environment, robust population and abundant opportunities, while lamenting the financial burden caused by pending court cases.
Future plans, he said, include establishing libraries in primary schools to promote reading culture, providing power using abundant compressed natural gas (CNG), grading street roads during the dry season and floating a football club.
He said sports remain a priority, noting that Udu recently won the Urhobo Progress Union (UPU) Football Cup and plans youth empowerment programmes to address restiveness and unemployment.
Earlier, NUJ Chairman, Comrade Churchill Oyowe said the visit was part of a scorecard initiative to reward excellence, promote transparency and encourage healthy competition among local councils.
The NUJ team later embarked on an on-the-spot inspection of projects executed within Oyibode’s first year in office to verify performance claims.
