Ido will reward Makinde with votes for his good works —Adeojo, LG Chair

The chairman of Ido Local Government Area of Oyo State, Mr. Sheriff Aderemi Adeojo, in this interview by SAM NWAOKO, speaks on a number of issues concerning the council and on the coming general elections. 

 

IT is not often that local government chairman have their experiences documented. How would you describe your experience as elected chairman of Ido LGA?

It has been quite a different experience from being the Caretaker Chairman of Omi/Apata LCA. That sojourn gave me the opportunity to garner experience and know the kind of projects that people need, what to do and how to go about it. So, after the election, becoming the executive chairman of Ido Local Government didn’t come as a strange or big task because of the little experience I’ve had as LCDA caretaker chairman. We’ve been able to build on that as the chairman here and we have been able to do some fantastic things for our people in this locality. We revived the grounded heavy machines – today we have a tractor and a trader working and with those we’ve been able to touch some zones and communities by grading streets and some roads. We did this at Apete, Ekerin, Ward V, Pataki, Idi Iya and at Ward I too before the rains started. We also have a poultry and fish pond all being run by the local government in addition to our Farmers School, which enables us to meet with farmers every month to learn from them and vice versa on how we can improve the agriculture sector. From this initiative, we were able to raise a farmers squad who planted cucumber while that of tomatoes is going on. Soon, we will begin Vitamin A maize production. We have also given out free exercise books to all primary schools within Ido LGA just as we have not abandoned the all-important area of security. For this, we thank our amiable Governor ‘Seyi Makinde for being there for us. He has given us the necessary assistance and support.

 

The experiences of being a LCDA caretaker and that of being an executive chairman have some marked differences, considering our society. What are some of those marked differences and how do they affect you work?

I think the major difference now is that people expect more from you since you’re elected. They see you as father of everyone; son to everyone; brother to everyone and so on. That’s the major task here as elected chairman.

 

Has this got something to do with local government administration generally… Do you think some things need to be done to improve local government administration in the country? It might be through the process of constitution amendment currently going on that might improve local government administration in the country…

So far, in Ido Local Government, we do not really lack that which would call for changes in local government administration. We have been having that freedom to operate and this has helped in many ways, especially in the area internally-generated revenue which enhances our activities. Secondly, we have the support of our governor through our allocation and and security. With adequate security, we can run free and do our work as elected chairman of the local government.

However, we all ask for more – as they say of Oliver Twist. So, it’s always at every opportunity that we ask for more support to deepen performance. We are indeed grateful to the state governor for his support. He brought the very first concrete road in the state to Ido Local Government – the road from Apete to Awotan, and from Awotan to Akufo and from what what he has said, it’s going to run from Akufo and come out at Ward III Akinwale and lead to the Eruwa axis. Ido LGA says a big thank you to him for this. Don’t forget too that that Awotan waste site is also in this local government and we have seen how much work the governor put into that place. From Akala Road to Elebu with its street light is giving us not just more visibility but also more popularity. These are making Ido to be more of a city than what people knew Ido to be. So, we say thank you to Governor Makinde for doing these for us.

 

Ido is a large Local Government. Would you concede that it’s so large that it be broken into different LCDAs or you’d love it remain as it is?

We already have Omi/Apata LCDA out of Ido and the local government is still large. With the help of the state government, it isn’t something so large that it is impossible to handle. For instance, look at the newly-approved projects like Omi to Eruwa road; the one that would take from Ido through Elenusonso straight to NIHORT is also there. Then he has also approved that Ita Faaji be rehabilitated. He asked the Commissioner for Works who went there recently. All these are big projects which require the support of the state government. When the projects the governor has approved are done, Ido would be like a circular town which one could easily maneuver and move around easily. The road coming from Akala to Bembo that would end at Cele side is also there to aid people’s movement and make it easy for people to commute around Ido Local Government. The road from Gbekuba to Ile Tuntun is the kind of things we’ve been praying to happen in Ido LGA and we are seeing it happen now. If the governor can do all of these for Ido in just three years, I don’t think there’s any doubt that we would want him to continue to support the local government for another four years. As the local government chairman, I am pledging the support of Ido Local Government to Governor Seyi Makinde and to tell the world that Ido will deliver him and all other PDP candidates.

 

The constitution amendment is going on and one of the most prominent issues in it is local government autonomy. We also know that Oyo is one of the states that have not announced what has been done on that since the document was transmitted to states. Governors have been accused of foot-dragging on the issue. What do you think should be done regarding the eternally lingering issue of local government autonomy? 

Like I’ve always said, at Ido Local Government we have a Principal who is the Governor of Oyo State. For me, he is like a father considering the fact that whenever he sees anything good coming our way, he makes sure it is not truncated.

He will always call our attention to the things coming our way and help us prepare to receive them. It is worthy of note that the contentious issue of local government autonomy is not peculiar to any one state. It concerns everyone, all over the country and I think it should be something the entire 36 states and the FCT should agree and take on together. I don’t think it is for individual states to act in isolation as this might not yield the desired results.

 

2023 is around the corner. How prepared is your local government for the general election?

Ido is known to always be a peaceful local government. Ido is always to known to be a PDP local government and Ido is known to be a PDP town. So, like I said, we are ready to deliver our governor, our House of Representatives candidate and our state House of Assembly candidates. We are hoping to deliver the PDP in the coming elections by the grace of God. We expect to do exactly as we did in the 2019 general election.

 

You said like Oliver Twist, there’s room for more. What is that ‘more’ you want, what would you say it is? What more do you want… More of what?

Many parts of our local government are rural and if I’m going to be demanding for kore, the more we would demand is more heavy machines. I love to work and those would make us to work better and deliver to the people. Things like bulldozers, excavators, tractors etc are things that would help us to develop rural infrastructure and make the rural infrastructure more accessible to the people. With such, we can grade more of the roads, build drainages, excavate where necessary and just generally work to make the people see that they voted in the right person. That is what we are doing.

You sound so smooth that one would wonder if it was not you that had that bitter spat with members of the Ido LG Legislature.

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It is always like that. Things happen and we would always have our differences and misunderstanding. I thank God everything was sorted out and we are all back as brothers. We had our peace meeting where leaders, elders and the legislature intervened and we are all back to good times and we are moving on as brothers. We are back as one family.

 

That’s all you want to say about the whole issue?

It’s a gone issue and there’s no need opening old wounds. We’ve moved on and we have left the past in the past. Personally, I also do not like revisiting settled issues.

 

Some people say that it is being huddled by state governors because they sit on local government allocations and see it as a source of cheap money. Don’t you think people should sit together and debate this issue and arrive at a logical conclusion and resolution?

Let’s use our Oyo State as an example: We do not have such problems here. We hold our Joint Allocation and Accounts meetings regularly. We get our allocations as and when due so, there isn’t any reason to make such insinuations in Oyo State. Allocations come from the government to every local government and we don’t have allocation issues here.