22nd June, 2012
The Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Adeyemi Ikuforiji, has commissioned constituency offices for councillors in Ejigbo Local Council Development Area, Lagos, southwest Nigeria.
The commissioned constituency offices described as the first in the history of local councils by the Speaker’s deputy, Kolawole Taiwo, who represented him on the occasion,were built by the Kehinde Bamigbetan administration.
The ward offices were located in all the six wards within the LCDA namely Oke-Afa; Ailegun; Ilamoshe, Aigbaka; Fadu and Ifoshi.
Speaking at the commissioning, the Ejigbo LCDA boss, Bamigbetan, said the reason the offices were built was to lay a solid foundation for democracy at the local government level, which is the closest to the people.
“This phenomenal advance in grassroots democratisation is in response to the comments and observations of our people, particularly during the last council elections, to the effect that many citizens do not know the councillors in their wards as well as their roles. Many of those who know the councillors and understand their role complain that they do not have access to them.
“Following our election, we established a regular consultative forum of the executives and legislative arm to discuss common challenges. One of the conclusions of the forum is the need to respond to the yearnings of the people by creating constituency offices for each councillor in his ward.
“The constituency offices will enable us to comply with one of the critical laws of the state Assembly, which mandates each local council to publish its financial reports in each ward in its jurisdiction. It will also provide an avenue for residents to make enquiries concerning the services of local government and meet with their councillors to find out how they can assist them to benefit from the services of the council.
“We expect the new offices to be great source of information that will enable the legislative arm of the council to initiate and make laws for the peace, prosperity and orderly governance of our local government and our state of excellence,” he said.
Bamigbetan appealled to the State House of Assemby to take ownership of the initiative by encouraging other councils to make provision for democratic facility.
—Yisa Jamiu