Chairman, Bonny LGA, Engr. David Irimagha (right) in a handshake with the Chairman, Bonny Chiefs Council, Chief (Lt.Col.) Dagogo Claude-Wilcox (rtd.) at the Perekule Palace, Bonny.

Irimagha, who said this today during an interactive session with the Bonny Council of Chiefs at the Perekule Palace in Bonny, pointed out that due to the shortfall in federal allocation accruing to the local government council in recent times, there was the need to review alternative sources of revenue generation. 

The LG Chairman was accompanied on the visit by a former Caretaker Committee Chairman, Mr. Charles Jumbo, Vice Chairman, Mrs. Anengi Barasua Green, Leader of the Legislative Council, Mrs. Miriam Hart, Deputy Leader, Mr. Dipinye Jumbo, Secretary to Council, Mr. Omoni Longjohn, Chief of Staff, Mr. Uriel John-Jumbo, amongst other members of his entourage.  

Chairman, Bonny LGA, Engr. David Irimagha (right) with his Vice, Mrs. Anengi Barasua Green, during the visit.

He observed that the rating parameters for payment of tenement rates by multinationals and other business entities operating in the area was long overdue for a review, noting that there was the urgent need to engage experts to carry out a thorough review of the rating parameters to ensure they are consistent with global best practices. 

On the issue of the collapsed bridge along Hospital Road that connects Akiama, Abalamabie and Oguede communities, Irimagha assured that it would soon be reconstructed and open to commuters as he had just commissioned the new design of the bridge and reconstruction work would soon commence. 

He regretted that previous interventions on the failed bridge were generally palliative and were not profound enough to address the structural failure which resulted in the avoidable collapse of the bridge. 

He appealed for patience from commuters while the process of doing a proper work on the bridge to avoid a reoccurrence of the incident was ongoing, reiterating his warning to road users, especially commercial motorcyclists to avoid the bridge for their own safety. 

Irimagha, who is also a mechanical engineer, thanked the Chiefs for granting him audience and availing him their fatherly wisdom and motivation, stressing that he would continue to leverage their support and wealth of knowledge to help him succeed in the governance of the LGA. 

Earlier, the Chairman of the Bonny Chiefs Council, Chief (Lt.Col.) Dagogo Claude-Wilcox (Rtd.) had congratulated the Bonny LGA Chairman on his election and inauguration and charged him to focus on issues that would fast-track the development of Bonny Kingdom. 

Acknowledging that the kingdom was faced with multifarious challenges, Chief Claude-Wilcox expressed optimism that a robust synergy between the local government council and the traditional institution those challenges will be speedily addressed.     

He called on Mr. Irimagha to leverage the competencies, capabilities and resourcefulness of the Chiefs, titled citizens and other sons and daughters of Bonny Kingdom to drive his policies and programmes in order to achieve maximum success. 

Also speaking, Chiefs Reginald Hart, Arthur Willie-Pepple, Golden Christy-Wilcox, and Idadonye Ezekiel-Hart praised him for how he has adverted himself to pursuing the issues that would move the community forward, advising him to be forthright, focused and open to ideas and contributions of all and sundry.