KEYNOTE ADDRESS BY KEHINDE BAMIGBETAN, FORMER CHAIRMAN, EJIGBO LOCAL COUNCIL DEVELOPMENT AREA AND FORMER COMMISSIONER FOR INFORMATION AND STRATEGY, LAGOS STATE AT THE SESSION ON THE THEME, “TOWARDS AN EFFECTIVE LOCAL GOVERNMENT ADMINISTRATION” ORGANISED BY THE CONCERNED IKORODU DIVISION YOUTHS, (CIDY) AT THE 500 – SEATER AUDOTORIUM, LASPOTECH, IKORODU MAIN CAMPUS ON THURSDAY AUGUST 26, 2021
Protocols
It is a great honour to be invited to deliver a keynote address at such a historic event as this. When a group of people decide to reflect on the past of their community and interrogate its present to chart the future, they discharge that social responsibility that is the burden of true patriots. Only true patriots, sincerely and tenaciously committed to bringing into being a better and more prosperous future for their communities can be good citizens irrespective of the polity.
Permit me, therefore, to ask all of us to give a standing ovation to the Concerned Ikorodu Division Youths, CIDY for this achievement. I pray that the patriotism and communal spirit burning in your hearts will continue to fire your passion for the development of Ikorodu division.
While putting this address together, I have wondered why the CIDY chose me to give the keynote. Although once upon a time, I had surveyed the opportunities of renting an apartment in Ikorodu and for some time in my working life, made it a duty to escape into the serenity of Ijede the first weekend of every month, fate took me to Ejigbo in Oshodi-Isolo local government area, where fortune eventually found and promoted me.
It would seem to me that the critical credential that recommended me to occupy this distinguished spot on this occasion is the experience I can share as the elected chairman of Ejigbo Local Council Development Area for six years, specifically between October 2008 and October 2014. I, therefore, express my deep appreciation for this symbolic gesture because it recognizes our efforts to transform a community almost forgotten into the urbane cosmopolis that it is today.
One of my favourite songs by the reggae group, Third World, is titled, “Now that we found love, what are we gonna do with it”. To suit our purpose today, I have paraphrased it to read: Now that we found power, what are we gonna do, with it?
This question goes to the newly-elected chairmen, vice-chairmen and councilors of the local governments and local council development areas which make up this division. After emerging from very tough primaries, not less than four parties campaigned and made promises to improve the lot of the masses if given the vote.
The results, as declared by the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission, showed that the people of Ikorodu division were very generous in rewarding the All Progressives Congress with their votes. In Ikorodu LGA, they gave the APC 4,725 votes, 3,232 more than the 1,497 that its rival, the PDP got. That is the only place where the PDP got more than a thousand votes. In other local councils, the figures were small and the margins were massive. Examples: Ikorodu North, APC- 3,646, Accord, 556 and PDP, 955; Ikorodu West, 2,964 to PDP, 986; Imota, APC, 5,474 to PDP, 88; Igbogbo/Baiyeku, APC- 2,814 to 478 and Ijede, APC, 2,780 to PDP, 206.
The voters are not stupid. They have invested their time, energy and franchise with the cost-benefit analysis that rationally demonstrates that, with the APC at the state and federal levels, the party’s candidates are most likely to deliver the dividends of democracy than the candidates of any other party. This transactional element of the political contract that the exercise of the franchise entails is the foundation of the rising expectations that the voters and even those who stayed away have of our elected representatives.
The problems that the newly –elected leaders are expected to solve are known by everybody. In the process of developing the master plan for Ikorodu Division, the Lagos State Government held stakeholders’ engagement assemblies in 2019 and 2020. The consensus is a litany of challenges:
• Haphazard Developments.
• Perennial Flooding.
• Shanties and filthy Waterfronts.
• Poor interconnectivity across the Sub-Region.
• Lack of Traffic and Transportation Management.
• Poor Tourism & Cultural Heritage Preservation
• Poor Water Transport Facilities.
• Inadequate Provision of Market Facilities.
• Poor Land Administration and Management Policies.
• Inadequate Health Care Facilities.
• Lack of Parks and Garages.
• Inadequate Sport and Recreation Facilities.
• Inadequate Health Facilities.
Inadequate electricity
Inadequate drinking water
And this is where the bad news begins.
The objective reality is that the material resources required to discharge these responsibilities are, today, severely constrained by deepening economic recession and an unjust governance system that discriminates against the good people of Ikorodu Division.
The deepening economic recession is the cumulative consequence of the imposition of the Structural Adjustment Programme and the mismanagement of the country’s debt crises to meet the terms of the lenders. The policies of devaluation, privatization, retrenchment, commercialization of social services have led to hyperinflation and a decline in the purchasing power of the government as well as the citizens. In this situation, revenue generation through taxation has become a serious challenge for the government. Industrial and agricultural production is threatened by insecurity. Where will the local governments mobilise the resources to deliver the dividends?
The naked injustice of keeping Lagos State, Nigeria’s industrial and financial capital, in the jacket of 20 local governments despite its exposure to regional and national migration and environmental pressure on its infrastructures is most graphic in Ikorodu division. Only one recognized local government, Ikorodu LGA services the 5 LCDAS.
This injustice is at three levels. The old Kano State, created at the same time as Lagos State in 1967 now has 70 local governments. This comprises the current 44 and 26 of Jigawa that was carved out of it in 1991. Thus, federal allocation comes to the people of the old Kano State through 70 administrative units while Lagos is denied the opportunity to increase the sources of its federal revenue through local governments to 57.
The second level of injustice is that the basis of the revenue allocation is meant to be revised at intervals. This would have benefitted Lagos State but this is not the case.
The third is that certain taxable items such as the Value Added Tax, which, is a sales tax, are residual functions of the state as component units of the federation. Yet, the courts are not persuaded to grant states this constitutional responsibility.
This implies that there is not enough money in the government’s kitty to solve the critical problems identified by the stakeholders. With few resources for dividends, prudence and frugality become central to financial management in local governments. Cutting waste and blocking leakages are keys to success. Creativity and innovation provide the levers for scaling the hurdles.
But then, however dark, the sky is, you can see find your moonlight.
One good advantage the Ikorodu division has is that the Lagos State Government recognizes the challenges, and has, through the launch of the Ikorodu Masterplan, shown that it is ready to work hand in hand with you to solve the problems. You need the machinery of your own, and the economic council of Ikorodu Division- to make it happen. It will be the first sign that you are prepared to take your destiny into your hands.
An Ikorodu Division Economic Council that commissions drawings, designs and feasibility studies of the waterfront, industrial estates, and takes the projections of the master plan to the next level will get the ears of the administration to execute the desired goals.
An Ikorodu Division Economic Council that lobbies for the removal of the four- level cap on buildings so that the real estate sector can maximize your main streets and dot your landscape with skyscrapers will show that leadership counts.
And an Ikorodu Division Economic Council that takes ownership of the tourism vision of Lagos State and runs ahead with it will set the pace for the next generation.
The second good news is that the planners of Lagos State have realized that the central areas are built up and that future development will be channelled to Ikorodu, Epe and Badagry. It is left to your leadership to embrace this mindset and make it work for your people.
The third is the opportunity that the community, both corporate and grassroots, can provide for the mobilization of goodwill and expertise to enhance development. Let the corporates and the CDAs join the economic council and bring to the table the collective communal passion for development that would remove obstacles and volunteer skills to make the economic development of the division possible. The Ikorodu Masterplan targets 20 years, you can start with what is achievable in five years.
With frugal culture and creative management, local governments can invest their resources in the welfare of the citizens. Programmes such as free meals and free uniforms promote child enrolment and payment of development levy by parents. Free drugs and basic laboratory services keep more people healthy and boost goodwill. Grants to co-operatives give petty traders and small scale owners in the business. Trust me. They work. I have tried them before.
Permit me to end this address by touching on a matter very personal to me. This is the way we perceive and treat the press, the Fourth Estate of the Realm. We have all decided to govern the country democratically. The same 1999 Constitution as amended, which created the executive offices of the chairmen and the legislative offices of the councillors established the Press to make the government accountable to the citizen. It has been a matter of serious concern that the political class hardly factors the constitutional role of journalists into their conception of democracy. When they reluctantly do, they confuse their press secretaries with the Press.
More than 20 years after we ushered in this democratic system, it is time for the political class to wake up to the reality that the same Press, that fought for Nigerian independence in the 1920s, ’30s and ’40s is still around to makedemocracy work in Nigeria today. The emergence of community media has added dimension to the landscape and showed that, like life, our democracy is still a work in progress.
Thank you for listening.
KEHINDE BAMIGBETAN
