The governorship candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in Ogun State, Biyi Otegbeye says the Local Government Councils would be reinvigorated if he is elected as the next governor of the state.
Otegbeye made this known on Tuesday at the Palace of Olu of Igbeinland, Oba Festus Oluwole Makinde, on the sidelines of his campaign tour of Obafemi Owode Local Government.
Otegbeye stressed the importance of the local governments and their capacity to accelerate development in the rural areas if allowed to function as designed by the crafters of our constitution. He noted that council administration is comatose under the current dispensation in the state and all their rights have been appropriated by the state.
“The immediate past administration, for instance, created LCDAs for deepening governance. A Local Government like Obafemi Owode could be up to the size of a State in population and landmass. They saw the need to create more Development Area in such big local governments in order to bring government nearer to the people. But the current government dismantled the system to control the finances of the Local Governments and curtail their autonomy”.
Continuing, “Everything that was done to enhance the performances of the Local Governments has been erased by the current administration of Dapo Abiodun. What you now see is that monies allocated to Local Governments from the Federation Account are being mopped up by the state government. It would have been understandable if such funds are used for the benefit of all but there is lack of transparency in government spending. I said it last week and I will repeat it here that it is nonsensical for a government to use several billions to construct a city gate when such monies can be used to build schools, healthcare centres and construct community roads “.
Otegbeye assured that his administration will restore vibrancy and relative autonomy back to the councils. “One of the ways to address the infrastructural deficit in our state and especially in border councils like Obafemi Owode is to ensure that the nearest government to the people is made to function properly, let them have more use of their allocations so that they can undertake meaningful people-focused projects. What we have presently is total inertia and the trend must be reversed”.
Earlier at the Palace of the Olu of Siun, Oba Lawrence Adisa Odeyinka, the ADC guber hopeful said the next government will not only maintain but improve on the legacies of past governors like Chief Olabisi Onabanjo, Chief Olusegun Osoba, Otunba Gbenga Daniel and Senator Ibikunle Amosun.
“The progressive trajectory of those leaders has been derailed by the current administration but are coming into power to fix it”, he said.
