The Lagos State Government is set for the 18th Executive, Legislative parley organised annually by the Office of Political, Legislative & Civic Engagement.
The Special Adviser to the Governor on Political, Legislative & Civic Engagement, Dr. Tajudeen Abiodun Afolabi disclosed this during an interview in his office at Alausa recently.
According to the Special Adviser, the parley which is slated between 14th to 16th March 2024 falls within the responsibilities of the Office for ensuring a very strong cordial relationship amongst all arms of Government in Lagos State towards achieving good Governance, timely delivery of dividends of democracy to the good people of Lagos State while attaining a Greater Lagos through the THEMES Plus agenda.
Speaking further, Dr. Afolabi revealed that the parley which would be chaired by Mr. Governor will have in attendance all legislators in the Lagos House of Assembly, Representatives of the various constituencies of the State in the National Assembly, Governing Advisory Council members and other key stakeholders for the development of the State.
He said the parley would review the Activities and Mandates of each of the Arms of Government, the prevailing Social-Economic issues and Develop a Strategy for dealing with the potential areas of conflict in the overall interest of the State.
Giving an insight into his role and responsibility as the Special Adviser, Dr. Afolabi said he is to simply advise Mr. Governor on how best he can improve politically, and legislatively through citizen’s engagement. “My Office is to provide all efforts that are humanly possible for the Governor on how best to handle the affairs of the State and positively impact life”, he said.
He said that to achieve this task, the Office has to go to the hinterland to feel the pulse of the citizenry and determine how much they are being influenced by the government. Also, for effective citizen engagement, the office developed the CitizensGate 2.0 App as a feedback mechanism for the residents to interface with the government and give feedback on the activities, programmes and policies.
He added that resolvers drawn from all MDAs had been trained to attend to complaints and enquiries from the populace; It is a one-stop shop for everything about Lagos State.
On other initiatives at bringing government closer to the people, the Special Adviser said he has been engaging the coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) including, Religious Groups, Market Unions and the Artisan Groups. Some of their representatives will soon be drafted into an Advisory Council to advise the Government and exert necessary impact in programmes of the State.
