Meet people's yearning, Obasa tells council chairmen

SPEAKER of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mr. Mudashiru Obasa, has warned local government chairmen, vice chairmen, councillors and other officials of the 57 councils in Lagos State that they will face strict monitoring to meet the yearnings and aspirations of their people.

The speaker lamented that some council chairmen have not met the expectations of their people, just as he warned that it will no longer be business as usual in the councils, as the Assembly will now ensure strict compliance to serving the interests of Lagos residents.

Speaking at separate meetings with the council chairmen, vice chairmen, councillors and senior staff of the councils in Lagos recently, Obasa frowned at the aloofness that the public office holders have exhibited at that level of government, to the detriment of the expectations of Lagosians.

He said: "I wonder how you sleep while your council cannot build and equip a good maternity centre. You can't justify the fact that in six months, there is no meaningful project done in your community.

"Some council areas have no single project for over two years; you treat the vice chairmen and councillors like they must be subservient even when you are going astray. Some of your councillors have not received official vehicles up till now.

"Some of your councils do not have legislative chambers, meaning that the councillors have not been holding sittings. How then do you get approvals for the money you spend?

"We are aware of how some of these councils go ahead to borrow money up to nine-digit figures without approvals or due process and how they lease council property without caution. We won't allow these to happen again.

"It is now strictly going to be true governance at the grassroots level. If you don't develop your communities, where would you fall back to when you leave office? How would the people see you?."

In his remarks, the Chairman of Conference 57, Mr Kolade David, commended the Speaker for his advice and promised that there would be changes in the way the chairmen ran the affairs of their council areas.