We have built lock-up shops, mechanic village, health centre —Sade Akinrinmola, Gbonyin LG boss

Mrs Sade Akinrinmola, the Chairperson of Gbonyin Local Government Area of Ekiti State is the first female elected to head the council area. Going by the fact that only a few states in Nigeria had conducted local government elections, Mrs Akinrinmola stands out as about the only female elected as a council chairperson in the South West of Nigeria if not in the entire country.

The traditional institutions in the council area were unanimous in their recent assertion that Mrs Akinrinmola had been an effective council boss, considering all what they said she had been doing in Gbonyin Local Government Area.

The chairperson herself had, on various occasions, lamented the current economic downturn that has stalled development of the country. “The economic recession has affected the resources accruing to the government at all levels, and I dare say that the local government, which is the third tier of government and that which is closest to the people, is unfortunately the most affected,” Mrs Akinrinmola, popularly known as “Sade Gbonyin” said.

She however explained that “the call to serve the people of Gbonyin,” which she also described as “an opportunity to help harness the resources of the various communities that make up the council and make them useful for the people” has remained her driving force. She also acknowledged what she said was “the encouragement we receive from our governor, Dr. Peter Ayodele Fayose, a great motivation and political mentor.”

According to her, “the poor financial resources notwithstanding, we have to work hard to largely meet the needs of our people. If not all of their needs, we should at least work hard to the extent that the citizens of the council area would be convinced that we are not just there to make excuses and just rehash complaints. We were elected because there are problems to be solved, not for us to dwell on blaming the last administration and on making excuses.”

She said “a lot has been done in the critical area of human capital development, and that has led to one of our popular schemes, known as Ilera Laafin. The scheme is complete with free drugs, essential tests and relevant medical activities. Through this, health officials take turns to visit the palaces of all the traditional rulers in Gbonyin council area to attend to the royal households, the old as well as the indigent citizens of the various communities.”

She added that her government at the council had built a modern mechanic workshop for the relevant department of the local government, at the council secretariat at Ode-Ekiti. “The workshop is equipped with modern mechanical equipment and this, among others has increased productivity in that department of the council,” she stated.

The Gbonyin LG boss also stated that her administration had renovated stalls, shops and lock-up stores in markets in the various communities in the council area. She said: “We have completed the renovation of 40 units of open lock-up shops at Ijan-Ekiti.  We also renovated 20 units of lock-up shops at Imesi,  while 20 units are currently awaiting inauguration at Ilupeju-Ijan.”

She said the poor electricity power supply had spurred her council administration to “purchase a generating set for the comprhensive health center Ode- Ekiti.” She added that to tackle the dearth of storage equipment for essential drugs and vaccines, her administration embarked on the repair of solar refrigerator at the same hospital.

Among other essential duties she said her administration had carried out, was the procurement of laptop computers for heads of departments in the local government. She said this, among other benefits was “to aid their performance and improve productivity.”

She said her council had purchased modern equipment “to replace manual cutting of grass and sundry cleaning in the council, especially at the local government secretariat.”

In the area of infrastructural development, her ad ministration, she said had ensure the clearing of road verges throughout the length and breath of Gbonyin LGA.”

She hinted that some of the projects embarked upon by her administration are about being completed while some of the completed ones would soon be inaugurated for the use of the people of the council area.