Ikuforiji Decries Worsening Poverty

Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Adeyemi Ikuforiji, last night in Ghana disclosed that he is always sad whenever he remembers the level of poverty and suffering in Nigeria.

Ikuforiji, who declared open a three-day retreat organised by the House of Assembly for the 57 Council Chairmen in Lagos state, tagged: “Building Developmental Local Government System in Lagos State; Some Thoughts” held at Alisa Conference and Banquet Hotel, North Ridges, Accra in Ghana, maintained that the level of poverty had become too high.

He stressed that the local government administration in the country had not met the expectations of the people and urged those proposing that it should be scrapped to have a rethink as the consequence for their being scrapped would double the poverty level.

According to him, “we will only be deceiving ourselves if we say some people at the grassroots are not suffering and each time I think about this, it troubles my heart day and night. And if as elected officials, we fail to better the lot of these electorate that trusted us with their votes by electing us into offices, the punishment will be a big one.

“Apart from being a local government chairman, no matter the position we find ourselves, any elected office where we may be, we must always have it at the back of our mind that one day we will give account of our stewardship to God.

“The local government system is only the government that can be used to get closer to the people and anyone who wants the system scrapped should expect a greater punishment.

“If truly we are serious about bettering the lives of our people at the grassroots, then the local government system must be properly empowered,” the Speaker emphasised.

Ikuforiji, while noting that Lagos as a state is as big as Accra, pointed out that if Lagos is so blessed to have 60 per cent of Nigeria’s GDP, “each and every elected official should see it as an opportunity to serve God even if you don’t want to serve men.”

He urged the state’s 57 council bosses to make judicious use of the programme by going back to their various Local Government Areas and Local Council Development Areas and ensuring that “we better the lot of our people. At the end of this programme, we should be able to discover what our problems are and be able to solve them.”

—Eromosele Ebhomele