Comrade Daini Mayokun Olusesan is the Executive Chairman, Igbogbo/Bayeiku Local Council Development Area (LCDA). In this exclusive interview with Kunle ADELABU, Publisher/Reporter-in-Chief of THE IMPACT Newspaper, he bore his mind on his one year anniversary in office, achievements, challenges and future plans. Excerpts:
IMPACT: Good afternoon sir.
Comrade Daini: Good afternoon, Mr. Kunle.
IMPACT: For record purpose sir, kindly introduce yourself?
Comrade Daini: I’m Comrade Daini Olusesan, Chairman Igbogbo/Bayeiku LCDA.
IMPACT: Let me, first of all, congratulate you on your first year anniversary in office.
Comrade Daini: Thank you.
IMPACT: Can you please share with us your experience in the past one year as the Chairman Igbogbo/Bayeiku LCDA?
Comrade Daini: It has been a challenging and interesting journey so far. Challenging not because we don’t know what to do but probably because of what we met on ground. Before getting to the office you are not fully aware of what you are inheriting, so what you inherited at times goes a long way in determining what to do in office. So, on getting to office, we met some issues on ground but not too much for us to cope with and to handle. Although, in one way or the other, those issues initially made it difficult for people to directly feel the impact of our government within the first one month to two months of coming into office. I’ll want to start from the issue of education. Since we assumed office, we’ve given it ( Education) serious concentration and attention, knowing fully well that Primary Education is the responsibility of the Local Government. It’s our area of concentration. When they were resuming in September, we visited schools unknowingly to inform there management that we’ll be coming. We paid unscheduled visits to some of the Primary Schools and on getting there, we looked at some of the pupils. I am a product of public Schools, so, I know that for children to resume to school on the first day, they usually come with new uniforms, showing that this uniform is for the new session. So, I deliberately sent some of my assistants to go into the midst of the school children while they were on the assembly ground and through this, we were able to pick children that were not well dressed on the first day of resumption, meaning that their parents could not actually afford to buy a new uniform for them. So, we picked them across the Schools and we equipped them, we got them new clothes, caps and made them neat and presentable students, despite not knowing who they are. This was no quota, there was no sharing, we picked them without their identity, so, we can say categorically that it was done without fear or favor, without bias, and without political influence. Also, there are some schools that we decided to get drums for. We observed that there drums were not too good while some of them have some drainages problem which we tried to clear for them.
On Education, we equally have just completed a seven block of classrooms, five toilets and one staff room at Lajo Community Primary School. Although, it is an uncompleted project, we decided to change the face and make it a superb standard. There is a Methodist Primary School at Elepe, it’s a school which is about 50 years old and when we observed that it is very close to the market and that most of the children were not too safe,and more so, at times, when people come to that market, they would drive their cars into the primary school and park but knowing fully well the issue of kidnapping and assault on children, we decided to do a perimeter fencing for the entire School and put a gate in the school.Also, we have just approved a full roofing project for another school at Ibeshe based on the damage done by the last rain that fell. We have concentrated more on the primary education and some of the teachers too have benefited from us. We have equally established road safety club in the 12 primary schools in the Local Government, which is an opportunity to teach our children traffic rules from cradle. The Bible says teach your children the way of God, so when they grow up, they will not depart from it. So, we decided to start training them, even some of the parents at home will have to learn about traffic rules from the children. Let me share an experience of what happened to me recently, I was driving at Alausa and my children were in the car, when I got to a traffic light, it was at night, we were coming from Opebi, normally, I am aware that it’s not too safe for a car to stay alone at the traffic light at this particular section at night because of attack or criminal activities, so, I drove through a red light around 10pm and my daughter said daddy you have just violated traffic rules. My defense was that it was late and she said if you want to die, you should do that alone and not when we are with you and I had to apologise. So, that is one of the major reasons that prompted me to made up my mind that, no matter what, I will never do such thing again with those children with. To me, it’s not an offense because it is past 10 in the night and I was only being careful so that I would not be attacked and beside that, it is an isolated area, so, if I had waited for the light to come up and I was attacked, people would say what am I waiting for. This is just to let you know that we can also learn from the children, hence,the reason we decided to establish a road safety club in all our 12 Primary Schools. We also have just approved the procurement of benches and chairs for our Primary Schools so that they will have enough furniture to sit on to learn and write conveniently when they resume to school after their holiday. We also have some other programmes and projects which we will be embarking on towards the end of the year in our Primary Schools.
On health, we have equally done a lot of sensitization programmes. We have partnered with some organizations to distribute drugs and to do free checkups. The road construction, which the State Government is presently embarking on in the Council (Igbogbo/Bola Ahmed Tinubu /Ginti road) will affect our major health center at Agbele but we have written to the Governor for his intervention since our building will be demolished. The Governor has, however, approved the construction of a mini General Hospital in replacement of what we have and because when that particular building will be under construction, we’ll have issues of where to take care of our people, we have decided to build additional block at Bayeku health centre because what we have now cannot accommodate people in Igbogbo and Bayeku altogether. If people will be using Bayeku health centre as an alternative to the one in Igbogbo which will be under construction soon, there is need to expand the facilities in Bayeku health centre which we also plan to further expand to also cater for Elepe, Agunfoye, Offin, Oreta, Morekete and Iree communities. We have a new building block which is 100% completed and we will be equipping it in a couple of weeks. We have equally engaged an international organization over the upgrading of the Ilemere Health Centre which is an abandoned project. We are also in discussion with organizations to ensure that we get it functional. At Ibeshe health centre, we have met their needs in terms of amenities, facilities and even man power and equipment needed to enable the health workers give quality service to the people. On health, I think we have tried but people should still expect new projects. One of the new things coming is the building of a new block at the Igbe Health Centre while we are equally looking at full renovation of Elepe Health Centre.Presently, we are also looking at what we can do to improve the facilities at the Igbe health centre. There is also a health centre in Offin and we have equally partnered with a Church which recently renovated it for us and should be in full operation soon.
IMPACT: Before moving to other areas of your achievements, there is an abandoned Federal Medical Centre along Iyewa road. Though, it’s a federal government project, what is your administration doing to bring the Federal Government’s attention to the project through the Senator representing Lagos East Senatorial District and the Representative of Ikorodu Federal Constituency in the Federal House of Representatives, to ensure the speedy completion of the project?
Comrade Daini: Anyways, it’s a straight answer, all the federal government primary health projects have been handed over to the state body where they reside, meaning that this particilar project you are talking about has been handed over to the Lagos State Primary Health Care. We have written to them and we have appealed to them to come and attend to this project and the response is favourable, so, it’s going to be attended to very soon. As part of what I want to say on health, there is another block under construction at the back of Agbele health centre. Hopefully, it will be completed very soon. It’s a project facilitated by Hon. Babajimi Benson, a member of the Federal House of Representative,representing Ikorodu Federal Constituency.
IMPACT: Let’s look at other areas of your achievements?
Comrade Daini: Regarding the other areas of my administration’s achievements, sincerely, we are doing our best to make sure that all that are needed to promote our culture and heritage are being taken care of. We are also putting in place all that are necessary to strengthening our traditional institution. We have good relationship with the two Obas in the Council; the Adeboruwa of Igbogbo, Oba Abdulsemiu Orimadegun Kasali, Emugoriade I and the Olubeshe of Ibeshe, Oba Richard Ogunsanya. We also have good relationship with the entire Council of Obas and Chiefs in the council.
On youth empowerment, it is a major challenge for us. The reason I said that it’s challenging is because it’s financially consuming because when you talk about empowerment, it’s about investing in people’s life. It comes with rehabilitation and refocusing the life direction of the people and this has been financially consuming, but we are trying our best to make sure we get the youths off the streets. We inherited an abandoned vocational centre which we are rehabilitating and it’s almost completed. In a matter of weeks, we are going to be bringing people into it for training. We also thank Rotary Club which has equally donated a vocational centre for us in the local government to train and educate our youths. We are equally looking at partnering the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF), so that will not only train them but also give them life after the training by empowering them with loans as start-up capital for their respective businesses. We have met with the management of LSETF to discuss how to achieve this and we are still in discussion. We are actually planning to provide the loan facility for the would-be beneficiaries of the skill acquisition training programme so that whatever they would be acquiring would not be a waste after receiving the training.
We are also planning to empower our mothers with skills and promote agricultural activities among them. This, we plan to do,in collaboration with the Lagos State Ministry of Agriculture. There is an abandoned fish farm in Bayeiku which we are planning to make functional. We have written to the ministry that we would like to take over the facility or partner with them in making sure that the place is use in training our youths and others in fish farming. After serious meetings with the Commissioner and the Permanent Secretary, we are delighted that the ministry has written back to us and ready to partner and release the place to us. We’ll be signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the mode of operation in the next few weeks. There is equally an international organization which has built a Garri processing factory for us where we will be using instead of firewood to fry garri. It has been commissioned. The place is not only about Garri, it is open to many other activities like caterers and members of the public only need to pay token amount of money to have access to the facilities there. We are in the process of constituting a board that will manage it.
The Kaniyi Adeboruwa market is under construction. The market is our heritage and pride and we have decided to give it a facelift and make it an enviable market within Ikorodu division. The project is ongoing and very soon, we’ll be completing the phase one of the market and open it for people to use.
IMPACT: Let me bring your attention to this issue regarding Igbe/Oreyo road. The road was built in early 80s and recently, the Community Development Association (CDA) in the area alleged that the road was marked as awarded and completed on the map that was shown to them which is why it was not included in the on-going reconstruction project of Igbogbo/Bola Ahmed Tinubu/Igbe road. What do you have to say to this sir?
Daini Olusesan: I was at the town hall meeting some days back where the Governor gave some explanations regarding road construction in Ikorodu. It is obvious that road projects along Ikorodu axis are in phases because somebody at that meeting asked question about Itamaga-Ijede road and the Governor responded that it would be in phase 4. I want to believe that there is phase 3 since Ipakodo-Igbogbo road is phase 1. Although, I cannot categorically give a statement on the road (Igbe-Oreyo road, but with the way the governor is working, our people should be rest assured that attention will also be given to that road very soon. I have no doubt that the road is under consideration because I do not see the state government completing the ongoing Igbogbo road and also rehabilitating Itamaga-Ijede road without doing Igbe road. When we officially request for how government is phasing the roads, we will be able to know what is the true situation. In the mean time, we have discussed with Hi-Tech to make sure that the road is made motorable by helping to do some palliative works on it.
IMPACT: Within a year of being in office, two banks have opened there braches in Igbogbo community, though not working in full capacity. What should the people be expecting from you again in terms of facilitating more projects that would boost the economy of Igbogbo/Bayeiku LCDA?
Daini Olusesan: Well, aside the location of the branches of UBA and Sterling banks in Igbogbo, we have also gotten offers from FCMB and GT Bank. I want to give thanks to Governor Akinwunmi Ambode for making Igbogbo investors delight. One of the major challenges we faced in terms of bringing in investors is insecurity. After Ikorodu division presented its security situation to the governor, he proposed the creation of another Squadron unit to cater for Ikorodu division. The unit actually covers Ketu to Itoikin axis and fortunately, we have the unit stationed within Igbogbo/Bayeku LCDA. The council swung into action when it was approved by providing the space for the formation within our council annex and started renovation with millions of naira and when we couldn’t continue, we approached the governor. He was happy that we have started and he intervened by completing the project within two months. The officer-in-charge appreciated our gesture when he visited me and presented me with a medal which he only gives to signify the presence of the Squadron at a place. Presently, we have a functional Mopol 63 situated within Igbogbo/Bayeiku Secretariat annex, securing the main Secretariat with about 300 men. This has really helped on the issue of security and even made banks willing to come to Igbogbo because there is adequate security in place. My message to my people is to expect more investments considering the road under construction and the good security that we now have. The development here in the next three years would be unimaginable.
IMPACT: As the youngest council chairman and one of the most dynamic youths in position of authority whose voice cannot be suppressed, what is the position of the Chairmen of the six councils in the division on the proposed shopping mall which has been slated to be located on the land currently housing the Ikorodu Local Government Secretariat which is a collective heritage of the six councils?
Comrade Daini: Anyway, it’s a welcome development. We love it and we’re in full support of it. As chairmen in the division, we encourage it and ready do all that is within our strength to make it a reality. It’s part of the dream of the Governor of Lagos State which we 100 percent key into. We have done every necessary documentation concerning the project.
IMPACT: Sir, I want you to confirm if the passport office and training school of the Nigerian Immigration Service have been approved to be sited in Igbogbo. In fact, I also learnt that a certain plots of land have already been allocated for this purposes. Can you please confirm all these sir?
Comrdae Daini: I’m glad to inform you that we have concluded arrangement to have a passport office here in Igbogbo and we have allocated a land which was meant for a proposed market for that purpose. It’s a two plots of land meant for the proposed Adeyanlu market and it’s located near Igbogbo stadium. We did this because of the importance and the effects the passport office will have on our community and because we can always find another land for the market. We are still working on the training school because we are yet to finalise on that. I think they (NIS) want to do the two projects in phases. The first phase that they are concentrating on is the passport office which Adeboruwa played a major role in getting for Igbogbo. Kudos to our highly revered Kabiyesi for ensuring that the passport office was brought to Igbogbo/Bayeiku LCDA.
IMPACT: The greatest asset of the government is the people, what do you have to say about the welfare of the staff members and entire people of your council?
Daini Olusesan: My staff members are wonderful people and I am doing everything to make the environment conducive enough for them to work in. We are trying to have enabling offices and give bonuses as at when due. I allow members of the council’s staff to have direct access to me and we resolve our issues directly and amicably because I prevent any intermediary. Part of my schedules is to visit their offices unannounced to engage and play with them which brings about originality and direct interfacing. I have monthly package that I do give to take care of the sick ones. Though, I cannot praise myself, but so far, so good, we are doing our best for them and they are happy.
IMPACT: Lastly, what should the people of Igbogbo/Bayeiku LCDA be expecting from your administration in the next three years and where do you want to see the Council in the next four years?
Comrade Daini: Where I want to see Igbogbo/Baiyeku in the next four years will come from two sides. One, from where Lagos State Government want to place Igbogbo/Bayeiku in the next three years and two, where we plan to take Igbogbo/Bayeiku to.The reason for the first side is because of the State Government projects, especially the on-going road constructions which are expected to have social and economic effects. There is also the proposed 4th Mainland bridge which will pass through Igbogbo/Bayeku LCDA. Presently, we have two big jetties that are currently under construction in Bayeiku and Ibeshe communities.These jetties are also going to impact greatly on the development of our council. These are where the state government is taking us to. On our own part, we have to compliment the efforts of the state government by making sure that all these investments are protected and are maximally exploited for developments.
We are planning a befitting office complex that would also house the council chairman in the next one year. Our projection is to be the best in the division if not in the state. We have lots of plans that we shall be unfolding gradually and we want you to keep monitoring us as you have proven to be a good journalist who monitors the development of councils in the division. (referring to the interviewer).
I will just implore you to monitor us and the development we are bringing to the council. I also want to appreciate and thank all my leaders starting from Asiwaju Olorunfunmi Bashorun, Chief Dele Idowu, Asipa Kaoli Olusanya, Hon. Adebimpe Akinsola, Hon. Babajimi Benson, Ernest Sholaja, Baba Bakare, Prince Jimoh Ogunmuyiwa, Hon. Adegbenga Fasanya, Hon. Gbenga Oshin and the duo of Mr. Taiwo Orenuga and Yeye Bolanle Bashorun who served before me. I really appreciate their supports and cooperation and I also thank them all for standing by me and making the success of my administration a collective responsibility.
