Ondo State Governor, Mr Rotimi Akeredolu, on Monday, inaugurated the newly elected Chairmen for the 18 Local Government Areas in the state, charging them not to betray the trust reposed in them by the people
Akeredolu who tasked the new council chairmen to give priorities to the welfare of the people who elected them.
The governor said: “The best way to pay back is to give good service that will continue to improve the conditions of living of our people. We do not intend to forget this gesture, conscious of the axiom that the reward for hard work is another opportunity to serve diligently and conscientiously.
“The victories recorded at the polls must not be taken as a licence to embrace recklessness and wanton display of arrogance.
“Our administration will continue to discourage all attitudes which subordinate the interests of the generality of the people to parochial and selfish preferences.
“We are irrevocably committed to the welfare of the people. This promise to conduct an election into the third tier of government, actualised almost seamlessly, points at our readiness to take governance to the people at the grassroots through their elected representatives.”
Akeredolu advised the new local government officials to key into the state government project of developing the state through infrastructural development which is aimed in bringing dividends of democracy to the grassroots and eradicating poverty.
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“We have, however, remained undaunted and resolute in our resolve to abridge the yawning gap in the welfare of our people. We have taken steps which posterity will adjudge as prescient.
“We have succeeded, largely, in abridging the infrastructural deficit in spite of the acute paucity of funds. Workers and citizens have felt the direct and positive impact of governance.
“We will continue to strive to make the voice of the people count in all decisions taken on their behalf as we move into the second phase of our statutory mandate of service,” he said.
The governor who noted that the last Saturday exercise was not perfect, said there were reports of a few hiccups in some units and some wards across the state, but said: “the peaceful conduct of the electorate offers enough assurance on the readiness of our people to co-operate with our administration for the development of the state.”
He said: “It is our belief that outright lies and deception must not become the directive principles of State policies. We will not make promises that are not realisable.
“Our word is our bond. The conduct of the local government election in the state must be seen as integral to the mandate of redemption graciously extended to our party by the good people of Ondo State.
“The people would have been availed of the service of their elected representatives long before this time. There have been several extenuating circumstances which militated against the conduct of any election before now.
“The exigencies of the moment made this exercise mandatory at this moment. Our administration tried to make this exercise possible in spite of plausible reasons justifying delay and/or outright non-committal to an earlier promise made to take governance to the people.”
He called on the newly elected officials to ensure that the impact of governance is felt at the grassroots, satin “positive interventions must be discernible in the areas of health care delivery, education, agriculture, commerce, public works.
“The people have spoken, eloquently, on their preferences. It is our bounden duty to ensure that nothing and nobody thwarts this message, delivered without ambiguity.
“The creation of the Local Government Administration in 1976 was, as declared by the military government at that time, to bring the government to the downtrodden. Successive administrations, at all levels, have failed to realise the objectives.
“Any honest commentary on the situation of things at this level of engagement with the people cannot be salutary.
“It is ostensible that citizens, living in the hinterlands, have been extended the short end of the stick in the polity until the advent of our administration.
“It is our fervent hope that this deplorable trend will be reversed, progressively and appreciably, before the expiration of the statutory mandate permissible by law.”
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Akeredolu inaugurates Council Chairmen
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Akeredolu inaugurates Council Chairmen