Lagos State Government has on Monday reassured residents in the state of its commitment to grassroots development in line with its Security and Governance pillar of the T.H.E.M.E.S. development Plus Agenda.
The State Commissioner for Local Government, Chieftaincy Affairs, and Rural Development, Mr Bolaji Kayode Robert, gave this commitment while speaking at a press briefing held at the Bagauda Kaltho Press Centre, Alausa, Ikeja, which was part of the activities to mark the first year of the second term of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s administration.
The commissioner assured that people at the grassroots would continue to be at the centre of the state government’s development policy to ensure that the dividend of democracy was taken to the doorstep of the common man.
Robert, while rolling out the achievements of his ministry under Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s administration in the last year, stated that Mr Governor intended to actualize the dream of making Lagos a 21st-century economy and deliver the reality of a greater Lagos.
According to the Commissioner, the state government had committed huge resources to pay insurance benefits to the families of deceased LG and SUBEB staff, adding that a total sum of N391,226,636.05 had been disbursed to 164 beneficiaries of the deceased staff in the last year.
He affirmed that his ministry remained undaunted, focused, and unrelenting in its drive towards bringing the dividends of democracy to the doorsteps of the citizens of the state and fully actualizing the T.H.E.M.E.S. Plus Agenda of this administration.
The commissioner said that the ministry had, in the last year, continued to engage critical stakeholders in the state and had had a direct interface with local government councils in its efforts to cascade development to the grassroots, pointing out that such an approach “has yielded developments at the grassroots and has culminated in the on-going rural-urban renewal projects that have aided in reducing rural-urban migration.”
“One of these efforts is the two-day capacity-building workshop the Ministry recently organised for 376 councillors across the councils, which is part of the state government’s role in improving the law-making capacity of councillors across the 57 councils,” he said.
The commissioner also hinted that the ministry had continued to monitor and inspect projects and markets across the 57 councils to ensure proper hygiene, cleanliness, waste management, and structural safety of facilities in them, which, he said, had led to safety and cleanliness in public markets.
Robert, while noting that the involvement of traditional institutions in governance had continued to enhance peaceful co-existence among people of diverse backgrounds in the state, stated that the approval and reconstitution of 84 members into the State Council of Obas and Chiefs by the Governor Sanwo-Olu administration had helped to promote a sense of belonging, equity, and unity in the state.
He further disclosed that the present administration had so far installed 50 traditional rulers without any rancour or dispute, saying that this attested to people’s support and belief in the leadership quality of Governor Sanwo-Olu.
Also speaking, Dr Nurudeen Yekinni Agbaje, Special Adviser (SA) to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Rural Development, while responding to questions at the press briefing, disclosed that the ministry, through the Office of Rural Development, had in the last year committed itself to strategic and critical infrastructural development in rural communities.
He listed them to include a 400-metre road in Ijake Community, Oto-Awori LCDA; a 510-metre road at Ganiyu-Oduntan in Ikorodu; four other road constructions in Iganke Community, Agbowa LCDA; Ayubu-Bashorun Road in Ijede; Erelu-Amikanle Road in Alimosho; and Onishon Street in Ibeju-Lekki.
“Also, in our ongoing efforts to ensure the provision of community-based projects, we have provided 500KVA transformers to communities such as Yologbo Estate 1, Igbe Alagbe Community in Ikorodu, and eight (8) other communities across the state, which includes Odan-Ilogbo-Eremi PH1 in Olorunda; LASU Campus, Ojo; Oral Estate CDA, Mojoda, Eredo in Epe; Owu CDA in Ibeju-Lekki; Gengenla CDA, Agunfoye in Ikorodu; Ama St., Ijede; Agbede Omolaye in Ikorodu; and Liberty Estate CDA in Igbogbo-Baiyeku,” Agbaje said.
He added that the projects and achievements chronicled by the ministry were noticeable in communities across the state because of Governor Sanwo-Olu’s unalloyed commitment to a greater Lagos project as envisioned in the T.H.E.M.E.S. Plus development agenda.
Agbaje, while assuring that most of these projects would cut across the state, urged Lagosians to take possession of the rural projects executed and guard them from vandalism or destruction, considering that the projects were part of the efforts of the state government in improving the lives of people in Lagos.
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