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In this interview, the Caretaker Chairman, Boluwaduro Local Government in Osun, Hon. Aina Abayomi Adesina speaks to Oni Gbenga on his achievement and experience in office so far.
• It’s been almost one year since you became chairman, how can you describe the experience you are having?
Thank God, at least by August we would have spent one year in office. I mean we have spent like eight months now in the office,
The experience is mixed feelling. We are doing well. We have about 15 or 17 projects that we have embarked on to elevate poverty to infrastructure.
We have done well too. What I mean by mixed feelings is that people expected much from this government. We’ve been out of the government for more than 12 years.
People have been expecting greater things. People have been expecting miracle. So government is not Jesus Christ that does miracle. It’s step by step.
So some people are disappointed in us that we have not really touched them, how they feel we should be touching them and some people are very happy that we’re at the
helms of affairs because we are doing well. So it’s mixed feeling but then we are happy we are doing it. We’re happy we at it.
• what has been your achievement in office so far?
Thank you so much. I don’t know whether time will permit us to tell you our achievement.
Like I said, we have been able to do so many things. We resumed office August to August 16 last year and we have been able to do so many things because of our time.
We just itemized some of the things we have done. when we came in, Igbodu area; where we have state technical college and Anglican grammar school which has produced so many graduates the
likes of late Tafa Balogun (former IGP of police) and the rest of them, those areas have just been there without electricity. So we were able to buy poles, wire and the rest of it.
So electrification extension was the first thing we did when we came from centenary hall to along Eripa Road.
As I’m talking to you now, technical college area is having electricity and Anglican Grammar School where they have computer lab, they’ve not been able to use it, they’re using it now by the grace of God
because we have been able to lighten those areas through electrification extension. we discover that all the veggies are not something to write home about,
We’ve been able to clear all the veggies, we engage our party members, the community people, we employed casual workers, we employed about 30 casual workers and initially before we got there I think they employed less than 30 and they were being paid them 10,000.
But when we got there, we employed 30 and we are paying them 15,000 per person. Another thing we also did was employment of a corps member, a medical doctor to our hospital. We discovered the state is lacking medical personnel. So we have general hospital here in Otan Ayegbaju, Boluwaduro Local Government, we have maternities that are not having medical personnel so to say a doctor. So we went to NYSC orientation camp and we got a doctor that we are paying well.
Before PDP left, the local government has a functional poultry but unfortunately
it’s not functioning again and it had been vandalized. Nothing is there, So we erected a poultry pen and we are currently in the process of stocking the pen.
Recently, we did this renewal hope initiative by the First Lady of Nigeria, Sen. Oluremi Tinubu, our wives were instructed to do it and we supported our women by doing that. They gave them vegetable seedling material that they could plant in their compounds to alleviate hunger.
We gave books to public schools too to empower them. The party, we came to this position through; People’s Democratic Party, we cannot leave them untouched, so we’ve been able to touch around the political wards and we give them good money to at least people that have not been able to get to where we are.
Anybody that need assistance, we give to them and we are doing that. We’ve been assisting our people now and we made sure every other claims by the staff of the local government are paid to them. I think that’s the reason why we are having a very cordial relationship with
them.
First Monday of every month we make it a point of duty to come to God in prayers after which we hold a meeting to see review our work, achievement and other related matters, what have we done good and what have we done that are not good.
When we came on board there are some vehicles that we met in the local government that are faulty, they were out of road, we put them back to road and we repaired some vehicles.
We also renovated two classrooms at st Philips primary school otan ayegbaju;
and built two more classrooms there, as well as St Mary Nicholas primary school.
Then Oke Irun happens to be the only community before we came that are not having light in the very short while,
the transformer there is not functional again. So we took it for repair and we’ve been able to pay to certain amount.
And the rest, like I said time might not permit us to be mentioning our achievements but in a very short period of time we’ve been able to do this and we are hoping we’re still going to do more.
• Are there challenges you are facing currently in your administration as the Local Government Chairman?
Like I said,there is none except for the fact the one I said other time that people are expecting miracle which is normal. It’s just like when there is dry season that the land is seriously dried, people will expect much rain to cover it up and the expected much rain has never dropped to take care of the dried land.
Our party member especially voters are very anxious, very agitated to get what they have in mind. Their desires; But we’ve not been able to meet them at that point. But we are doing the little we can do, so no much challenge, so to say.
• There has been insinuations that Governor Adeleke is not funding your local government. is this assertion true?
You can only ear that from the opposition party, APC who are not happy with Senator Ademola Jackson Adeleke. These opposition people are not happy with good things he’s doing, he is funding the local governments. We get our allocations as and when due.
I just said that we pay imprest and he’s not my father’s one that we used to pay.
That is the allocation from the state government, the allocation from the local government, state government that we used to pay. So we are getting our money as and when due.
So that rumor might be from enemy of progress, people that are not happy with good things Governor Ademola Adeleke is doing. People that are not happy with him, they might be saying that but we are getting our money regularly.
• How will you rate the administration of Governor Ademola Adeleke?
Maybe I should say 101% if there is any mathematical analysis of such. I was a teacher sometimes ago during former Governor Rauf Aregbesola
and I was a senior teacher then they were owing us half salary and somebody just came in, he did not borrow money and he is paying the salary and the arrears. I’m still getting mine.
So what would you say about that person? That man is an angel. He’s an angel sent to humans, sent to us in osun state. He’s paying the money that Aregbesola could not pay, the money Oyetola could not pay; Governor Adeleke is paying it now.
So how do you expect opposition to praise such a person? The money that people like the civil servants and retirees are not expecting, they’ve zero their mind that they will not get such money again, Adeleke is paying it.
I just came back from where I went to check the road they are constructing now the Otan Ayegbaju to Iresi road. This road was built during Awolowo administration and no other government was able to do anything on the road for almost 40 years but Governor Adeleke has started work on it and we have not had any firm or any banks or any
financial houses where he borrowed money, he’s not borrowing money and he’s doing wonderfully well. Get to Oke Fia in osogbo, get to Alekunwodo, get to Akoda ede, get to Ikirun and every nooks and crannies of the state.The contractor that will do our roads here too; They’re prepared. They’re coming in any moment to do that road again. So he’s doing well.
So if there is any mathematical analysis of 101% then I want to give him that 101% that he deserves. Infrastructure, he is doing well.
human capacity development, he is doing well.
• Some people are saying that governor Ademola Adeleke is being biased when it comes to associating with some local government, like he had neglected some local governments. Is this true?
He cannot, I’m not too sure because we are 69 that are Chairmen of the local government and we meet regularly.
Nobody has complained of Sen. Ademola Adeleke neglecting his own local government, from here Boluwaduro Local Government and the LCDA that i am conversant with he’s not neglecting us.
He’s doing wonderfully well with us. So how would they say he’s neglecting Local Government if he’s doing that? We’ll have gotten that information from our platform,
from our forum. He’s not doing that and like I said, too many bad things from pit of APC that are not happy with what they taught Governor Adeleke won’t be able to do.
So he’s not neglecting us. He’s doing well for the local government. I’ve just told you our achievements.
These are the money from the state government and not from my purse and I’ve just told you what we intend to do. So he’s not neglecting the local government. He’s doing well with us.
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