In this interview with Abolaji Adebayo, the Chairman of Lagos State Community Development Council, Alhaji Azeez Amusat, explains that the CDAC is not a puppet but working in harmony with the government to secure developmental projects for the communities. He also pointed out the lapses of the local councils which affected the last general elections. Excerpts:
Can you tell us about your achievements as the Chairman of CDAC so far sir?
Well, to the Glory of God, we came in about the time Covid-19 appeared. We were inaugurated in March 2020 . We were invited to the State House at Ikeja, where we were briefed about the emergence of Covid-19 on the 2nd of February, 2020.
By Monday, February 3rd the State Government invited us and all other stakeholders to the Blue Roof at LTV8 where the Deputy Governor addressed the entire stakeholders and there we were requested to go out to sensitise our people to pass the information to our community members. And that’s where we started work, that was the very first assignment we were given by the state government. And to the glory of God, we did our very best in the dissemination of that information to the grassroots.
Information about Covid-19 right?
Yes and what the community and individuals were expected to do like the use of nose cover, washing of hands, use of sanitizer as well as maintaining distance between individuals. So all these we passed around to the entire community, in fact, to the extent of planning this information for the five divisions of the State . We started the programme from the palace of the Oba of Lagos.. So one of the achievements of this CDAC is that we were able to disseminate government information to the grassroots and we’re doing it passionately.
Secondly, we have been maintaining, and seeing through the coordination and organisation of all CDAs in this State because the State Government felt that we should make sure that our people are well organised. And you know the CDAs are growing so, there has been an increase in the number CDAs in Lagos State. We have added more members as more CDAs have been established in the State.
Then thirdly, there has been serious training og our members about the duties and functions of the CDAs according to the constitution of the CDA. We collaborate with other agencies. We are collaborating with the University of Lagos where our members, some of our CDAs are now being educated about engagement with political leaders and the elected officers.
Some CDAs through the CDAC have enjoyed support and training on Community Engagement; Community Charter of Demands from UNILAG Centre for Housing & Sustainability Development and Heinrich Boll Stiftung Abuja office. CDAC has been a link between USAID Youth-Powered Ecosystem to advance Urban Adolescent Health (YPE4AH) and our CDCs to disseminate information about the benefits of the programme to our needy Community Youths.
In the past, CDAs were not putting the elected officers to question but the system has changed, things are done accordingly and the elected officers are now being asked about what they do for their communities. There is an engagement between CDA and the elected officers. This is now made possible by this administration because training programmes were organised for them to that effect.
The total number of CDAs is now 4,604as against 3,000+ when we took over. CDA Law C27 stipulates that not less than 20 voluntary members can form a CDA.
We also introduced an Annual Interdenominational Prayer for the peace, stability, and prosperity of the Nation and Lagos State in all the 57 CDCs same day same time.
Apart from that, there is serious accountability. We have been rendering annual accounts and annual reports of activities to all our members. There is an open policy in what we do, you know when you are leading a group and they don’t know what you are doing and they see you doing it but they don’t have access to information about the activities of your organisation, there will be rumours, fighting and so on, but where you make it open and they can see what you are doing, they see transparency in your ability, definitely there will be cooperation. And there has been strong cooperation and collaboration between all the CDCs and the State Advisory Council because we are so transparent to them and we have been carrying them along in everything we do.
We ensure that we assist the government. We have been supporting the State Government in all its activities, and the type of cooperation that we enjoy from the state government is unprecedented. The state government has been very co-operative with us. On our part, we have been doing our best to give our maximum cooperation to the state. In fact, during that Covid, we were involved in the distribution of palliatives to our members, and we did that systematically and according to what was given. We made sure what was given by the government was distributed to our members.
Sir, I think there is an annual ceremony that the State Government always organises to reward the Best CDAs?
I am coming to that, that’s what we call Community Day. Since we came to office we have been celebrating Community Day every year. It has never failed, and the state government has been funding it, enumerating and rewarding CDas that perform well in their self-help projects. And since we came into the office, the government has increased the number of vehicles being given to CDAs from 3 to 5. That’s to show how happy the government has been with the community body.
But there is one particular international or foreign body that has been assisting the youths, the adolescents in our community. The body is called USAID Youth Power Adolescent Ecosystemen to advance adolescent health. This organisation has been doing a lot. It collaborates with the Ministry of Sports, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education, and Ministry of Local Government and Community, and with the Lagos State Community Development Advisory Council to take care of our out-of-school children. Some children have left school for one reason or the other and we are trying to rehabilitate them back to school. For those who want to learn a trade, we are collaborating with different agencies and different groups to help them.
The state party has also been relating with us. Since we came into office, the state government has been inviting us to budget consultative forums done in each division of the state and we have been going there with our demands. Our demands have been included in the budget and executed since we came into office. If any of our demand has not been met, we present it again in another budget forum.
When we came in, the account of CDAC was almost empty but, we thank God that we have much in our account now.
Since you came in recording all these achievements, was there no challenge you faced as a leader of the LCDA?
Thank you. We faced some challenges at the initial stage. One of the challenges encountered during the Covid-19 pandemic concerning palliative distribution. Some people who were not CDAs started parading themselves as CDAs and complaining that they did not get the palliative they were supposed to get from the government. But we conducted an investigation immediately to identify that they were not really CDAs; they were just blackmailers, who wanted to strain our relationship with the government. But with the maturity of the State Government, we were able to overcome the problem.
You will recall that during the #EndSARS crisis, properties were being damaged, and the politicians were nowhere to be found in our various communities; we directed all the CDC chairmen to go and appeal to those youths and calm them otherwise the damage to the public properties would have been more than what we witnessed.
Then some of the local council chairmen procured buses for the CDCs in the communities to facilitate their movement. I know Ejigbo, Egbe, Onigbongbo and some others have bought buses for their CDCs. We are appealing to other council chairmen to do the same for their CDCs.
Is there cooperation between CDAC and the local council authority?
Yes, there has been collaboration and cooperation between us. We have our HODs in the local governments who serve as intermediaries between the community and the local government chairmen.
What are the responses of the Ministry of Local Government and Community Affairs, and other Ministries to your demands?
The Ministry of Local Government and Community Affairs is our major ministry, it is the provider of almost all our needs or should I say it is a link between the CDAC and the state government. So, we have a cordial relationship and we have been doing a lot of things together harmoniously. The annual Community Day we talk about is organised by the Ministry of Local Government and Community Affairs so, we have a very good relationship with the ministry.
There are various corporate organisations and companies in each of the local council areas, have they been supportive of the CDAC? What are their impact on the communities sir?
They are cooperating and supporting the CDCs at the local government level. They are indirectly supporting the state, the Advisory Council. So, we have been hearing of different types of assistance being rendered to various CDCs by various NGOs. So, what they are doing is to the advantage of the Advisory Council. We have been enjoying the assistance of those bodies and appreciate them.
Some critics see CDAC as a government tool to control communities rather than being a community platform to engage the government. What is your take on this sir?
You will recall that I told you that the Community Development Advisory Council is more or less like a pressure group on the government. And for any community to enjoy government patronage in terms of projects, it must liaise with that government, and cooperate and support the government. The government will only relate with those who support them, not those who antagonize them. We cannot be antagonizing the government when we know they are doing little within their power, if we want more, we have to liaise with them, lobby, and contact those we know in government to get those things done. We cannot antagonize the government and that is what some people consider to be the government’s puppet. But no, the government is not using us as puppets, we have our areas of disagreement but we will never go to the pages of newspapers to condemn the government, we prefer to settle our disagreements at the round table. We know whom to report our grievances to and that is why people do not hear us fighting with the government.
The State government normally rewards CDAs for their self-projects annually. How has that motivated other CDAs and how many projects have they done this year?
We are yet to compile their projects this year, we celebrated last year’s achievements. Let me give you the assessment of last year. Last year, we recorded 63 projects executed by CDAs across the State. But those that were standard were rewarded. The best four CDAs went home with a bus each. Then some others were given grants.
As the overseer of all CDAs in Lagos, how do you motivate the CDAs that are lagging in self-projet execution?
The award given to the Best CDAs is a way of encouraging others to be up and doing, to buckle up so that they too can get such rewards. And again, you will notice that the awards have been spread all over the state, they are not concentrated in a particular area or division. And I have to tell you what the state government has done to this award which is one of its major achievements for this Babjide Sanwo-Olu’s administration.
It has divided the awards into both urban and rural areas. Two buses went to the urban area while two also went to the rural area and that is why CDAs in Epe, Eredo, and other CDAs in Ifako-Ijaye, Agege were able to get buses as gifts. Before it used to be concentrated on urban areas alone but in my address at the 2020 Community Day, we suggested that the rewards should be divided into urban and rural and we thank God, the government yielded and even increased the number of vehicles to four.
Although Lagos State has about 7.1 million registered voters, still there was a low turnout of voters during the 2023 general elections. What do you think caused this?
It was caused by some factors. One is the aftermath of the #EndSARS crisis. Our youths were blindfolded by the #EndSARS thing and that is one of the reasons why the number of voters was low, particularly during the presidential election.
Another factor that made it very low was that the arrangement made by the INEC for the collection of PVC was not good enough, many people had to go far distances to get their PVC at their collection centres. And due to the creation of new polling units, during the election, there was no movement of vehicles to take them to their new polling booth to cast their vote.
Then finally, I have to say this and it is very important. The local government needs to change and improve their performances. People are not happy with them. You will recall that during the local government election, even though there was no manifesto, people still believed in APC and voted for the council chairmen. But now, people are enlightened, they want to know what you will do before voting for you, it is no more than N1000 per vote, they want development in their communities. So, I will appeal to our local government chairmen to make sure they perform excellently in their various local governments. The era of wishy-washy empowerment has gone, nobody will appreciate any empowerment that is not meaningful. You organise a two-week training for people and give them a token and you call that empowerment, that is not the kind of empowerment people want for now. Their underperformance is affecting the party at the state and federal levels because all politics are local. If we had had local government elections together with the state election, many of them would have failed. You could see how some of them could not deliver their local governments during the last general election, it was due to the non-performance in their various communities.
Is there any way the state government can monitor and measure what they do quarterly or yearly to make sure they perform?
The state government can only monitor the local government through the House of Assembly. It is the oversight function of the State Assembly that could take them up. This has to be done genuinely by the Assembly; if they don’t do it genuinely, we can’t have that result. If any ministry goes to any local government to challenge them, they will tell that ministry that they were duly elected by the people and that they are the executive officers of their own local governments. It seems the state government doesn’t have much control over them unless the State House of Assembly. So we are appealing to the State House of Assembly to perform its oversight function thoroughly and effectively so that the party will excel in the forthcoming local government elections.
Finally sir, how can residents in Lagos State form a CDA and how many CDAs are in the State currently?
Presently, there are 4,604 CDAs. You see, CDAs are under the CDCs and the CDCs are the committee at the local government level. They are the one that oversees the activities of the CDAs. But when we observe that they are not performing well in any local government, that is when we come in. Or if there is a petition to the state, we will come in to resolve the issue.
The formation of a CDA has been made easy, 20 residents, I mean households can form a CDA once they agree to operate and fund the associations, they have the constitutional right to form it. What they need to do is to register with the local government and also register with the state. Once that is completed, the CDA is formed and they will operate according to the constitution.