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Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Rt (Hon) Mudashiru Ajayi Obasa has urged the chairmen of the 20 Local Governments (LGs) and 37 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) in the state to ensure that they provide the dividends of democracy for the people.
Addressing the Chairmen, Vice Chairmen, Council Leaders and the Majority Leaders of the LGs and LCDAs in the state at a summit organised by the House, which held at the Lateef Jakande Auditorium in the Assembly premises on Thursday, Obasa said that they decided to invite them to avoid the mistakes of the past, when most council officials didn’t know their responsibilities.
The Speaker said that the lives, death and burial of the local governments and the LCDAs are in the hands of the state house of assembly.
He emphasised that this was why the assembly has made so many laws including the laws that created the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission ( LASIEC), office of the auditor general, and the laws that councillors rely upon to perform their duties amongst others.
“The house is ready to work with the local governments. We strongly believe that we are one and that we are members of the same family, which is why we must work together. We are not going to witch hunt any local government. We are here to encourage you. We are members of the same family and so we must be able to talk to one another.
“The most important thing to us is the people because your mandate is from them. How do we serve them, we keep saying that our votes are dwindling, who are the closest to the people, it is the local governments.
“If our votes are dwindling, we should blame the local governments chairmen. Don’t just say you will spend eight years and go just like that without achieving anything.
“It is when you serve the people that you will benefit. Don’t just go there and say you only want to make money. Make sure you provide what you promised the people so that life after office will be convenient for you. There is no amount of money you appropriate that will sustain you if you done serve the people.
“We must fear God, I was also a councillor, you can go and verify what I did in my ward.
“You should have council chambers and necessary offices for your local governments. If you don’t have space, you can buy a building and convert it.
“You should not be happy, when your councillors don’t have chambers. This used to be our old chamber, but now we have a new one. If you don’t take care of them, how do you develop your local government.
“Your councillors are your partners. They are not your subjects or subordinates. You must accord them respect and they must also respect you. We have the Governor, the Speaker and the Chief Judge of the state and each of them has roles to play.
“If the Governor wants to spend money, he comes to the House, when we make laws, we pass the laws to them and the judiciary interpretes the laws. So we should all work together.
“As the Chairman, you cannot control everything. This is a new generation. Let us change a style that does not work, work with your people. The youths are now running, and we have not seen anything. We are not feeling your impacts. Some councillors and vice chairmen cannot come up with ideas for some chairmen they would not listen to them, this is wrong.
“If the structure is well maintained, our achievements would be great. Let us change our mentality. Some of us were vice chairmen, now you are chairmen, what are you doing differently. Even councillors too should work with their chairmen. Support your chairmen, if they offends you, settle with them behind closed doors,” he said.
He said further that if there is any issue, the vice chairmen should go and see their chairmen rather than being selfish or harass them.
Obasa also advised the chairmen to discuss with people in the Community Development Areas (CDAs) and those in the Community Development Committee (CDCs).
He revealed that he is still living in his ward because he was able to achieve even as a councillor, while also urging the vice chairmen to be close to their chairmen.
He said; “If the chairman fails to do what you want, you can come to the state house of assembly, we will resolve it. You can come and meet me or send messages to me. We must learn to work together, that is where our successes and achievements lie.
“We cannot continue to have low votes because you are responsible for it. You in the local governments should be available to the people and there must be constant interactions with the people and community leaders.
“When they come to see you, make yourself available to them. Some people built the party to this stage, and how do we maintain it. Some of you retired as civil servants or teachers before joining the All Progressives Congress (APC) all because it is well organised. Let us build the party properly.
“How many of our family members or children campaigned for us. What are your plans for the people that campaigned for you. We will still go back to these people after four years.
“In Agege Local Government, I told them that they should do poverty alleviation of a minimum of N50,000 or N100,000 to a minimum of 50 people each every month. When you do this, if you call them they will answer you. When you take care of them, they will follow you.
“You can come up with your own helpful and impactful ideas. Go and design your own programmes. Local Government is not for ‘akada’ people or else you can resign and go for corporate jobs.
“We exist for artisans, market men and women, traders and others. Make sure you engage your people and have constant meetings with them to know what they want and they won’t say no to you when the time comes.
“Let us do something different in our local governments. You can help those who have malaria or women who want to give birth. You can come up with maternity centres. You can beautify your environment with trees. We are here to support you and change gear when the time comes.
“We have a book that contains all the laws that guide the local governments. Try and study the book to make progress. What we need from you is not money, but your performances.
“I was the Chairman of the House Committee on Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs for six years and I never went to any local government unless they invited me for events. Is it now that I will come to you for money.
The Speaker recalled that they increased the number of years of local governments chairmen from three years to four years unlike what is happening in other states of the federation.
He stated that if that does not work, they will change it to two or three years.
He then told them to do the right thing that they will not regret, adding that they have just started.
“Let us work hard after this meeting. Start doing new things and engage the people, traders, traditional rulers and others. You can be meeting different groups every month. Let us mobilise our people.
“Some people are still complaining about the stipends that should be given to them. Let us engage the Election Officers and identify those who have not been paid. You may delegate it to the vice chairmen.
“Each local government can do one, two, three or four roads in a year and that will be much. We should let the people know what we are doing. We must do enough publicity for the people to see what we are doing.
“We should not keep quiet. We should have one social platform for interactions to showcase our achievements.
We use all our lands for shops, when we were growing up, we used to go to Rowe Park in Yaba. We can start having parks and recreation centres. When you go abroad, you go to parks, why can’t you do your own here.
“Use government money to do good things for the people. Let us help out children and the people around us. Ensure you have a park within your first year in office. You should also have sports centers. How many football stars or athletes have you produced in your area.
“We will organise seminars for the councillors so that they would have a better understanding of what they are doing.
“We will work with four districts as Lagos West will be divided into four.
The chairmen will pay for the seminars. We will get the people that will facilitate the seminars based on what we have in the publication.
“The chairmen can be part of the seminars so that it would not look like incitements. We will give you the resource persons apart from political inputs from us,” he said.
In his response, the Chairman of Conferences 57, the Chairman of Ibeju-Lekki Local Government, Hon. Sesan Olowa, pledged that the council chairmen would work harmoniously with stakeholders and the councillors to entrench grassroots development.
Olowa also said that they would continue to improve on the development of the local councils, adding that they would keep doing their best for the people.