Leader unveils councillors ward offices as next legislative agenda

By Motolani AbdulGafar

The council leader of Ejigbo LCDA, Hon. Olanrewaju Akinbowale (Larry), has revealed that part of the legislators’ plans for the next administration is to have an office for each of the councillors in their wards where people could lodge their complaints and make their requests.

The council leader pledged that if returned as a councillor, he would champion the move to make sure the legislative arm works with the executive arm to provide an office for the councillors in each ward across the local council area, saying such a move would ease the stress of the residents trying to meet government officials.

According to him, having an office in the wards will bring the residents closer to the government as they will be able to see their councillors directly and make their requests rather than following some protocols before seeing them at the council secretariat.

Akinbowale made the promise in response to the request of the health mobilisation committee seeking the government’s help towards the execution of its duties within the community.

The committee had complained of lack of needed equipment which has been hindering the smooth discharge of its duties.

Speaking with ECHONEWS in an exclusive interview, the coordinator of the committee, Mrs Tawakalitu Alao, disclosed that the committee has always been painstakingly mobilising members of the community despite various challenges.

She explained that residents, at some point, harass the committee members or neglect their calls whenever they embarked on publicity, noting the paucity of tables and chairs at orientation sites as another challenge.

In her words: “We are doing this humanitarian service because we believe our commitment is to the community but then a little appreciation is needed to commend and encourage us to do more because we really need government intervention in our dealings. We need the government to pay us transport allowance because we get no benefit from this mobilisation exercise that we are committed to as we use our personal money to cater for our needs.

“After we have successfully mobilised residents, it is pathetic that residents are always stranded because they are left in the sun due to the fact that we don’t have canopies, tables and chairs in our outreach sites. This discourages them and they usually leave very early before the completion of the programme.”

The council leader said the establishment of office for the councillors in their wards will make it easy for all to have access to the government, asking them to take their correspondence to their councillors office if they need anything from the government.

He also told the health mobilisation committee to put their request in writing and submit it to the legislative arm, promising that the legislators will forward it to the executive arm for execution.

He urged the residents and other organisations or bodies to make use of the councillor’s office in their wards when they are provided.