Kunle Adelabu
A member of the Lagos State Governance Advisory Council (GAC) and the first Secretary to the State Government, Asiwaju Olorunfunmi Reuben Basorun, has called on the council chairmen, especially those in the six councils in Ikorodu Division of Lagos State, Southwest, Nigeria, to come up with development programmes for the next four years.
The elder statesman sees this as a way of wooing voters and preventing apathy during elections and also as a means of guiding against what he called misinformation by some people and groups that councils’ helmsmen are not doing anything.
Basorun stated this in an interview with THE IMPACT at his residence in Igbogbo while discussing the aftermaths of the last Saturday Local Government elections which were marred by low turnout of voters across the state.
The senior citizen, who is the Asiwaju of Igbogbo Kingdom, voted around 10:15am at his polling unit in Ward C2.
While commending the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC) for the good conduct of the election, Basorun, however, said that many factors accounted for the low turnout.
“Well, the turnout was poor because of a lot of factors”, he said.
“Some of them are based on poorly researched information disseminated particularly by our local people.
“One other factor is the situation in the country, everybody is down. This one is complaining that there is no job, another is complaining that they are not selling and others are complaining that they have little money and that the country is hard.
“Our party requested members during the election to go out and get people to come out and vote. We mandated them to tell them that things will be better .
“Also, the issue of misinformation, particularly by the youths who want to be saddled with responsibilities in the government, really affected the attitudes of our people towards the elections”, Basorun said.
“They carried out what they called a research and I would have avoided it but the report was again published in a community news medium (name withheld), given the public impression that all the six councils in this area did not perform.
“I think that they must go and do a lot of rethink and do better research. First, the most important ingredient of what they did would have been the revenue base.
Asiwaju Basorun said that payments for primary school teachers and council staff are usually deducted from the allocations from the federation before the remaining fund is shared among the six councils.
He added that the internally generated revenue (IGR) from these councils, apart from Ikorodu Central LG and Ikorodu West LCDA, are also poor.
“Out of the 20 councils in Lagos State recognized by the Federation Account Allocation Committee, only one is in Ikorodu and when it arrives after making deductions for teachers and council staff, the balance is what is left for the six councils to share” , the former SSG explained.
“When we talk of internally generated revenue, we may talk about Ikorodu Central and Ikorodu West LCDA, the other councils are rural and there is no IGR there. Why not do a research into this before saying that 95% of the voters in Igbogbo/Bayeku LCDA would reject the chairman?
He faulted the research which he said scored the council chairmen poor and charged those that conducted it to do better findings next time.
“It is an extremely misplaced research. I was told that they did the same to others too, scoring them low. It is not bad scoring them low, it is meant to ginger them up but it would be counter – productive if you have not done the research properly. This is the situation today”, he said while identifying the research work as a major factor responsible for the low turnout during the election.
“I am disappointed in them. They should do better research next time. First, they should know what they get and what they have done with it.
“You will not just divide by six if you hear that Ikorodu got N200 million. You must be mindful that the primary school teachers and local government staff are funded from this money. If Ajeromi Ifelodun is getting between N125 million and N130 million, Igbogbo/Bayeku will get N25 million or N30 million. How do you compare the two?”, Basorun asked.
“During the #EndSARS protest, the Ajeromi Local government Secretariat was burnt down almost completely but was built back within six months. That is an example of a council that is adequately funded.
Speaking on the performances of the councils in Ikorodu division, Asiwaju Basorun said:
“In Ijede LCDA, the former chairman constructed a council edifice and also in Igbogbo/Bayeku LCDA, our own chairman constructed a council Secretariat which the governor came to commissioned and also an ultra – modern market.
“In fact, those two things are major infrastructures that an organization like council needs. The market would generate money while the staff working in the council now have a good and conducive environment to work productively.
“I went there last week and took a tour of the Secretariat. When you operate in a conducive environment, you are likely to perform better. So, those who do not know should take note of that. I am not defending anybody.
“The chairman also fenced the Methodist Primary School and built classrooms in Igbe at the school that was setup in 1955 during Awolowo time and also a bit of other things”, he said.
“My point is that people are confronted with these problems when they are voting. Some of them would have read the research results, especially the elites who don’t even vote.
“Whatever that we get out of the election is a parameter of what is on the ground. I believe in the youths as our future, they will do better if they take my advice and if not, they should keep quiet and not go into such ventures without making use of materials that are available”, he charged.
Basorun said that programmes highlighting developmental actions for the people by the council is the only way to encourage people to vote and also guide against what he called misinformation about their performances.
He added that council chairmen in Ikorodu Division have been directed to come up with development programmes of action in their various localities and submit the same to the leadership before the taking off of their new administration.
“To correct these problems in future, our council chairmen should have programmes. We have told them that. We met with them before this election and demanded that all of them should go and draw up their programmes and that we must see those programmes before they take off after their swearing-in”, Basorun told THE IMPACT.
“There is this booklet called, ‘Even Development’ that I have been recommending to them. When Awolesi launched it after his term, he called it ‘dedicated service to deserving people’. That is what he titled it and he was able to mention every ward and village touched during his administration.
“The last one that generated so much controversy because he was adamant on not taking nonsense, was when he wanted electricity to go to Adamo and Akanhun villages but some party leaders given these jobs were asked to bring qualified electrical contractors but they insisted that they would do it their way but he refused to give them the job and instead he gave it to a qualified electrical contractor. Kudos to him”, he said.
To this end, he charged the council chairmen to stop giving contracts to party leaders and others that will not do thorough work.
“I will recommend the same thing to our local government chairmen. They should not give contracts to anybody who will do shoddy job that they would be blamed for at the end”, he said.
“They have been told to bring their programmes staggered over four years. If everybody forgets, I won’t and l will remind them.
“Even the state government is now releasing its programmes on agriculture and other sectors.
“These programmes will be a sort of barometer to watch yourself and know the next thing on the agenda. Even if you don’t have enough funds, you will know that there is an agenda on ground and know how to go about it.
“You will know that something is waiting for your attention.
Asiwaju Basorun also enjoined council chairmen to carry along their Councillors in developing and executing their programmes.
“The appeal generally is that those who want to run government, particularly the council chairmen, should have programmes and should involve the Councilors as much as possible in them”, he advised.
It would be recalled that the Ikorodu Division Youth Initiative (IDYI) conducted a field survey on the performances of the six council chairmen in Ikorodu Division and scored most of them very low in areas considered in the research.
The outcome of the survey, which was conducted in 2020 and released early this year, generated mixed reactions across the division.
