Tracka’s intervention in Edo State dated as far back as 2014, where we recruited field tracking officers to visit rural communities in the state and enlighten the residents about related project provisions and the importance of holding elected public officials accountable to ensure service delivery.
Our team, Project and Field Officers visited Ivbiodohen in 2015 to observe the implementation of the N200m Uzebba-Okagbon road.This road connects six villages- Uzebba, Ikpeyan, Okpuje Ivbiodohen, Oah and Okagbon. The construction of a major access road like this will increase economic ties to other States and improve living conditions.
Tracka printed and distributed budget documents to sensitise the indigenes about the 2016 constituency projects allotted to them in the budget. We encouraged them to engage their elected officials – Representative, Ministry of works and Edo State Governor to ensure service delivery. We also sent letters to the public officials in charge of the project to enquire the status of the provision and to ensure they capture the project in the 2016 budget should it not reach completion in 2015. Although both parties got no response from the government concerning this project, it was recaptured in the 2016 Budget for N250m.
Our team repeated the processes and encouraged the people to be involved and actively monitor the implementation of this project. The construction of the Uzebba-Okagbon road commenced in November 2016, and the communities are thrilled about this development.
Tracking projects at the rural communities sometimes involve some security challenges as members of the ruling party often perceive us as oppositions and find our intervention intrusive. Having experienced threats at Okpokhumi Emai while tracking the 2015 constituency projects, the Field Officer threaded with caution to observe the implementation of a N20m Primary health centre in the community. We noticed an uncompleted clinic building which according to the residents has been there since 2009. We encouraged the residents to write letters to their Representative at the National Assembly and the Ministry of Health to follow up on the project. The letters were accompanied by Tracka’s letters to both bodies urging the implementation of the primary health centre. During our field visits in January 2017, we observed work has commenced at the abandoned clinic building; this project will drastically reduce infant and maternity mortality rates in the town.
Tracka held a town hall meeting at Imoukpe in Otuo at Owan East in October to sensitise the residents on the provision of 8 Nos motorised borehole equipped with a solar pump for N96m. As one of the beneficiaries of the project, they were encouraged to get involved and engage public officials for service delivery. The town head received a letter from Hon Pally Iriase in December 2016, and the borehole construction commenced in January 2017. Imoukpe is a scarce water community with a polluted river; this borehole will provide safe drinking water for the residents.
We also monitored the implementation of one of the eight motorised solar powered boreholes for N96m at Ivbiodohen where we organised a community engagement and wrote letters in November 2016. The project commenced in January 2017, although the village head alleged the contractor requested for N48,500 to convey materials to the project site. Our team is dedicated to the development of these communities and will continue to ensure service delivery in Edo State.
