Kunle Adelabu
The Assistant General Secretary, Ikorodu – Oga Development Association (IKODASS) and President of I – Heroes , Seun Eleso has stated that the over 7, 000 relief packages provided for the residents of Ikorodu Division by the Managing Director of the Polaris Bank PLC, Mr Adetokunbo Abiru and his wife, to cushion the effects of the lockdown, actually benefited about 12, 000 homes across Ikorodu division.
Eleso, who was a member of the IKODASS Distribution Committee that navigated the nooks and crannies of the division for eight days to distribute the food items, provided deeper insight while speaking with THE IMPACT on how the distribution exercise went.
He described the food materials and pattern of delivery to people as the most robust gesture received by the teeming residents of the division.
“In my own view and to the extent we had covered, though not enough, this is the most robust relief materials delivered to the Ikorodu people that I have seen”, he stated without hesitation.
“We touched over 7,000 homes. We started with the aged people and later distributed to everyone generally”.
He explained that despite the insistence of the distribution committee on ensuring that a resident received a pack as directed by the donors, some of the beneficiaries shared their packs with others, a situation which he said depicted existence of love among residents of the diivision.
Going by that development, the young community builder stated about 12, 000 residents actually benefitted from the relief packages which he described as the largest ever in Ikorodu division.
“In some areas, the people themselves told us to pair them into two, such that two people will take a carton but we insisted that the donor wanted one pack for one person.
“We later discovered that some people in most of the areas that we visited unconditionally agreed to share their packs with others, as a result of this, we would have indirectly touched over 12,000 homes”, he stated.
“We are glad that we were able to do this without any political colouration and any form of bias. It was carried out in two phases”.
Explaining how the exercise took him to many communities he has never being to before, the IKODASS Assistant Secretary also analysed how the distribution exercise was done in two phases.
“ln the first phase, IKODASS went round to all the communities and as a young man, I can tell you that I now know Ikorodu division better because I can begin to mention the villages we went to from Igbokuta to Offin to Oke-Agbo to Lasunwon to Odonla, Eruwen, Oke-Eletu to Ojokoro and others.
“In the second phase, we involved the Community Development Associations and Community Development Committees (CDAs/CDCs) which further gave us spread and deeper penetration. I must say that Nigerians are good people and one of the blessings God gave to Lagos State and Ikorodu is Mr. and Mrs. Adetokunbo Abiru”, Eleso stated.
He also stated that the donors, Mr Adetokunbo Abiru and wife, gave the committee free hands to operate and commended them for having the interest of people that they don’t even know at heart during challenging period.
“They did not give us any priority regarding the places to visit. They did not even know the people we gave the packages to. All they were interested in was that the relief materials should get to the good people of Ikorodu division using IKODASS as the link, and as the Assistant General Secretary of IKODASS, I am proud that I was part of this”, he said.
