Nsit Ubium: Beyond the Oversight Report, the Facts on Ground Deserve to Be Heard

Nsit Ubium: Beyond the Oversight Report, the Facts on Ground Deserve to Be Heard

An oversight function is an important component of democratic governance. It provides an opportunity for the legislature to examine the activities of government, ask questions, identify gaps and ensure that public resources are deployed responsibly.

It was, therefore, in keeping with that responsibility that the House Committee on Local Government, led by its Chairman, Hon. Mfon Idung, visited Nsit Ubium Local Government Council, just as it visited other local government areas.

However, while the committee’s report is entitled to its own findings and assessments, the picture it paints of the administration of the Executive Chairman of Nsit Ubium Local Government, Hon. Alfred Charles, appears markedly different from the body of projects and interventions physically established across Nsit Ubium in the last 24 months.

This is not an attempt to question the constitutional responsibility of the House or accuse its members of dishonesty. Rather, it is an appeal for the public record to be sufficiently broad to accommodate the documented projects, measurable interventions and direct human impact of the administration.

Indeed, several of these achievements have been publicly documented before and independently acknowledged. In July 2026, for instance, Governor Umo Eno commended Hon. Alfred Charles for grassroots economic development while commissioning the Urua Ntakrok Model Market and the council’s ₦100 million traders’ empowerment programme.

The Alfred Charles administration is an emphasis on interventions that directly touch the lives of ordinary residents. The administration established the ₦100 million Nsit Ubium Educational Trust Fund, with the first batch of 53 students already benefiting from scholarship support in tertiary institutions. The programme has been publicly reported as covering educational needs of indigent students, with plans to expand its reach.

The council has also purchased 2025/2026 and 2026/2027 JAMB/UTME forms for more than 500 candidates, alongside sponsorship of tutorial classes for JAMB candidates.

Education support has extended beyond tertiary students. More than 20,000 educational materials were distributed to 38 primary schools across the local government. The State Government’s ARISE News Weekly also documented this intervention.

At the Patience Umo Eno ICT Centre built by the previous administration, the Alfred Charles administration procured additional computers, taking the centre’s capacity toward 250 systems, installed solar power infrastructure and provided 24-hour internet connectivity. The centre was subsequently accredited as a CBT centre by JAMB, giving young people in Nsit Ubium access to facilities that previously required travelling elsewhere. Contemporary reporting also documented the centre’s upgrade and expansion.

The administration has further proposed bursary support for 640 undergraduate and 100 postgraduate students, reinforcing its stated emphasis on human-capital development.

Perhaps one of the most visible expressions of the administration’s economic intervention is the Urua Ntakrok Model Market.

The project comprises three blocks of lock-up stores containing 36 stores, 378 partitioned open stalls, six open sheds, toilets, a generator house, water facilities, solar-powered lighting and market offices.

It was complemented by a ₦100 million empowerment programme for traders, designed to support traders, small businesses, farmers and entrepreneurs across the LGA. Public reports around the commissioning recorded Governor Umo Eno’s commendation of the initiative.

These are not abstract policy promises. They are physical structures and financial interventions that can be seen, counted and independently verified.

Beyond the council headquarters, the administration has undertaken the drilling of solar-powered boreholes with overhead tanks and reticulation in communities including Ndiya Ikot Ukap, Ikot Uso and Ndukpoise. More than 30 rural roads have been graded, opening up access to communities and easing movement.

Solar-powered streetlights have been installed in strategic locations, including Ikot Okoro and its environs, as part of efforts to improve safety and visibility. The administration is also undertaking the construction of an Executive Building comprising 17 offices and two conference halls, while compassionate homes are ongoing in communities including Ikot Esen and Ikot Inyang Eti.

Within the council premises itself, the administration has secured the facility with approximately 1,666 metres of perimeter fencing, while security has been strengthened through collaboration with 20 Nigeria Peace Corps personnel.

The transformation has not been limited to external projects. The council’s conference hall has been renovated and furnished. The Chairman’s office and Executive Council Chamber have been renovated, while the legislative chamber for councillors has also been renovated and furnished.

Administrative offices have received renovation, furnishing and tiling. Supervisors’ offices have been furnished, and official vehicles have been provided for the Council Secretary and Leader of the Legislature. The Council Secretariat has also undergone landscaping and beautification.

These may appear less spectacular than a major road or market, but they form part of the institutional infrastructure required for a functional local government administration.

The administration’s record also extends into healthcare. In 2025, a free medical and surgical outreach reportedly attended to almost 2,000 patients, including both indigenes and non-indigenes. Beneficiaries received treatment for various ailments, including major surgical procedures and eye-related conditions.

There have also been cases of financial assistance to residents, including payment of hospital bills and school fees for numerous indigenes and youths. Such interventions may not always make headlines, but for the beneficiaries, they represent direct government assistance at moments when it matters most.

The Alfred Charles administration has also trained 22 indigenes in skill acquisition in partnership with the Dakkadda Skill Acquisition Centre (DASAC). A demonstration farm has been established as part of its agricultural intervention.

The “Keep Nsit Ubium Clean” initiative represents an attempt to institutionalise waste management and environmental sanitation, while the December 2024 cultural celebration was used to promote and preserve the cultural heritage of the people.

The council has also employed casual workers to strengthen its administrative operations.

And in keeping with the demands of modern governance, an official website for Nsit Ubium Local Government has been developed and awaits its formal launch.

It is advisable that the records should be reexamined in its entirety. It is important to distinguish between an oversight report that gets people talking negatively about the inspectors over the totality of an administration’s record that is visibly applaudable.

A sincere oversight report can identify shortcomings. It can raise questions. It can recommend improvements. Those are legitimate functions of legislative oversight. But when such a report is interpreted by the public as witch-hunting or clandestine political moves to get to His Excellency the Governor, the question therefore is, to what gain?

Why the questions are asked are, there are substantial body of physical projects, educational interventions, healthcare programmes, empowerment schemes, rural infrastructure and institutional improvements that deserve to form part of any comprehensive assessment.

The concern, therefore, is not that the House Committee exercised oversight. The concern is that an assessment that leaves out, minimises or inadequately contextualises such a significant body of documented interventions can inevitably create a perception of imbalance.

That perception is what deserves clarification. The appropriate response is not confrontation, but facts. Let the projects be inspected. Let the beneficiaries speak. Let the figures be checked. Let the completed works be measured. Let the ongoing projects be assessed. Let the documents be examined, above all, let the people of Nsit Ubium, who live with these interventions every day, have their experiences considered alongside whatever observations the oversight team recorded.

Hon. Alfred Charles may be judged by the people on the strength, quality and sustainability of his administration’s work. But whatever assessment is ultimately made should be based on the full record—not a selective snapshot. That record does not ask for applause, It asks to be seen.

And when the facts on the ground appear broader than the narrative in an official report, the responsible thing is to place both side by side and allow the evidence to speak.

Media Unit
Office of the Executive Chairman
Nsit Ubium Local Government