OBE SAYS EJIGBO ROADS WILL GET BETTER

 Chairman of Ejigbo LCDA, Honourable Monsuru Obe has promised to improve roads in the community to fulfil his promises during  the election.

Obe disclosed this during the Town Hall Meeting held at the New Romeo and Juliet Hotels, NNPC Junction, Ejigbo, an event which focused on the infrastructural development and effective means of generating revenue in the Local Government Council.

Obe addressed the huge crowd which included members of the community Development Association of the community, traditional rulers, traders, clerics, Stakeholders among others  towards achieving the aim of a better community.

Obe also noted that the LCDA has  awarded the rehabilitation of the deplorable Raufu Tijani Road, a link road from Idimu-Ejigbo for immediate construction which is aimed at ensuring smooth movement of the road.

Meantime, the council, also unveiled a special tax revenue team, which was created recently, with the aim of reducing the high level of leakages associated with collection of cash by revenue officials.

He urged the residents to join hands with the administration for the  overall development of the area among other councils in the state.

He also emphasized the need to be committed to his campaign promise of ensuring a transparent, evidence-based plan to support infrastructural development with high quality public investment and effective service delivery in all sector.

“ Local councils are systematically designed to be as close as possible to the people at the grassroot levels with the objective of facilitating development which cannot be achieved by government alone, he said.

“Our roads are in terrible shape, our waterways need urgent attention, and some of our communities are in need of government schools, clinics, among others. Our drainage system is worrisome and shameful while our youths need to be meaningfully engaged.

“I am happy, therefore, to notify you that our administration has awarded the rehabilitation of Raufu Tijani up to Kolawole Sebilli Street, which is about 152 meters in length and Moshalasi Road from Idimu Junction down to Alhaji Obe, which about 540 meteres in length.

“These two link roads which will further ease movement of traffic in Alimosho axis are expected to be completed before the end of December, 2017,he stressed.

Obe explained that the project which had been awarded to a local contractor is to further complement the on-going construction of 181 inner roads already embarked on by the

state government.

“These roads links, Lagos-Abeokuta Road, LASU-Iba, Ikotun, Oke-Afa, Ipaja, Ayobo roads, thereby, reduces man-hour loss as. result of traffic gridlock, as well as boost business activities of. residents in the area. ”

Obe lamented the challenges facing the council due to scarce resources. He also stressed the need for private partnership and co-operation from residents.

“Ejigbo has the potential to survive on Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, if the right parameters are set. We are considered weak in our IGR because we do not have. comprehensive data on who should pay the approved revenue. license fees and permits or the key economic activities that can generate levies.

“It is important for all of us to look inwards and start to engage in resource development in order to fashion out a more effective means of generating revenue while encouraging. Public-Private Partnership, PPP, within our locality.

“Today we intend to make Ejigbo LCDA self sufficient so that we can generate at least 75 percent of our revenue from within. This is achievable through your support and co-operation and by implementing a customized data base with cutting-edge technology methods.”

Unveiling the special tax team, Bello, stressed that the government will partner with companies.

His words: We will partner with you in order to reduce the high level of leakages associated with the collection cash by revenue officials, hence, we have trained and retrained  our revenue officers who will  be going about their official duties in  uniform for easy identification, thereby, eliminating possible impostors in the process.”