Imolites seek clarification between Imo ENTRACO and office of the Special Adviser on Monitoring and Compliance

Imolites seek clarification between

Imo ENTRACO and office of the Special Adviser on Monitoring and Compliance

Following series of report about the activities of Imo State Environmental Transformation Commission, (Imo ENTRACO) and the similarity between the activities of Office of the Special Adviser on Monitoring and Compliance to Imo Government Hon. Nze Chinasa Nwaneri, concerned Imolites have started asking for a clear difference between the two offices and taskforce working with them, they’re also calling for sanity in the actions of the taskforce working for both offices.

Speaking during an opinion poll conducted by selected journalists in Owerri to sample the views of the people, Chief Emma Dike, said; ‘what the general public need is proper information about the duties of ENTRACO and the duties of Office of the Special Adviser on Monitoring and Compliance.

He noted that government taskforce from these offices should be separated anytime they go out for any official activity so that the general public can know who is acting with decency and human face and who is not acting with human face.

Another thing, I want to ask; do these two different offices carry out joint field work? If yes who leads in any field work, is it office of ENTRANCO or Monitoring and Compliance.This should be well defined so that we know who to hold responsible any time there is report of inhuman treatment or violence.

In the words of Barr. Opara, he ask,what locus do the office of the SA Monitoring and Compliance has to enforce compliance, saying is like they are doing both duties of OCDA, EXTRACO Ministry of Lands, Ministry of Industry, Mines and Solid Minerals.

His words “whenever I drive on the streets of Owerri, looking at the activities of both ENTRACO and those boys working for Monitoring and Compliance, I try to figure out the difference because all of them appear almost in the same uniform,”.

Ijeoma Obi, in her views said, Imo ENTRACO and the Office of the Special Adviser on Monitoring and Compliance are two separate entities in Imo State, with distinct roles but most times there’s a misconception and misrepresention in the activities of the two bodies, there is need for clarity, proper job definition and clear separation of duties to avoid confusion, clash of duties illegality and finally ensure sanity.

According to her ENTRACO is headed by a gentle man known by the general public for his decency of life and calm disposition.

Contributing; Mrs Chinyere Opara, explained that ENTRACO is responsible for environmental promotion, sustainability and transformation. However, she noted that the commission has faced controversy, including allegations of misconduct and excessive enforcement, which led to its suspension by Governor Hope Uzodimma, she noted that many were of the view that ENTRACO is headed by a gentleman who will not support violence or play any hide and seek game,saying; the ENTRACO GM by his family background and training will never support any rude or violent action against the general public.

Mr Ndubuisi Ekeh, asked “what is the difference between the works of ENTRACO and Monitoring and Compliance? As it appears that they do the same work?

From my observation, ENTRACO focuses on environmental transformation, while the Office of the Special Adviser on Monitoring and Compliance focuses on advisory role that ensures compliance with government policies.

ENTRACO is an executive agency, whereas the Office of the Special Adviser on Monitoring and Compliance is an advisory office, saddled with the responsibility to monitor, not to enforce, it was created by the governor to carry out advisory roles but they carry out enforcement works with negligence to agencies backed by extant laws of the land to carry out such jobs, they taskforce from the office dabbles into works most agencies backed by extant laws are supposed to do, this is where the confusion lies and it should be cleared for sanity and betterment of all in the state.

Emeka Udeh said, though ENTRACO operation has been suspended but within 24 hours the

group jumped over to the SA on Monitoring and compliance doing the same job, presently at Heroes Square, so who is fooling who?.

if a proper investigation is carried out, one may be surprise to discover that ENTRACO may not be guilty as accused because there are signs of infiltration from other taskforce who are not ENTRACO staff.

In the comments of Mr Ebuka Okoro, “when other agencies impound people’s goods, they come to ENTRACO to drop, it, Monitoring and Compliance and Ministry of Transport use ENTRACO Office, any havoc they caused during field work will be blamed on ENTRACO, that’s also the bad image they are causing for ENTRACO and the general public will always point accusing finger to ENTRACO. Most of these agencies don’t have any office in ENTRACO,just that ENTRACO allows them to use their premises”.

Barr. R.I.Osuji asked what are the functions of office of SA on Monitoring and Compliance? where does he draw his power from which law is backing his enforcement actions, if you go to land, you may be surprised to notice that there are hundreds of court cases,which his office is the major reason for most of the cases. If what that office is doing is allowed to continue, the next administration will pay judgement debts that will run into billions of naira, the governor needs to call him to order before is too late.

From Observation, it appears that the problems some agencies are having are from the actions of the Special Adviser on Monitoring and Compliance.Where does he open everyday and sit down to work as his government allocated office, does he has an office, why does he not book appointment in his official government office if he has one?

Chinedu Osueke has this to say, ‘the major problem we have in Imo State is that one man, he has always acted as if he is the defacto governor or assistant governor, with impunity, harrasment, molestation and intimidation, the earlier the governor call some of his close aides to order the better for him and his image.

The governor needs to call some of his close aides to order, how can office of an adviser do the work of ENTRACO, OCDA and Ministry of Lands, mark building for demolition, embark on Land recovery with Impunity without any extant laws of the Land backing his action?.

Is not enough to stop ENTRACO’s activities,

The governor should please look

into the Office of the Special Adviser on Monitoring and Compliance as it remains operational , what extant laws of the Land is backing their enforcement action? Is it not a duplication of duty with other agencies?

These entities play important roles in Imo State’s governance, and their differences are crucial to understanding the state’s environmental and regulatory landscape, but duties must be backed by extant laws of the Land.We are not in a banana republic.

Do office of Special Adviser has locus to carry out any enforcement, what is the extant laws backing enforcement action from that office, OCDA, has extant laws backing it’s action, ENTRACO has extant laws backing it’s action, Imo State Advertisement and Signage Agency has extant laws, Ministry of Lands has extant laws backing it’s action, but an advisory office without extant laws backing it’s action has always dabbled into their jobs, resulting in casualties, illegalities and some times court cases against the state government.

In the words of Engr. Tony Emenike, which ever way one looks at it, ENTRACO has done some good jobs in sanitising the streets of Owerri from the menace of shanties, they have done good jobs that restored Environmental sanity of the capital territory.Some of the shanties ENTRACO removed were comfort zones for criminal elements. In some areas, deadly weapons were seen and demolished. No matter how one sees it, ENTRACO deserves commendation ridding the street of Owerri Capital from shanties and chasing out criminal elements from these areas.

From general perpective many expressed believe that there should be a clear separation between the works carried out by ENTRACO and office of the Special Adviser on Monitoring and Compliance to avoid confusion,

Others who spoke noted that the General Manager of ENTRACO appears like a gentleman who should be given more time to familiarise with the system and behavioural manifestation of some of the field workers.