Local government chairmen, vice chairmen, councillors and other top officials of the 57 councils in Lagos State will henceforth face strict monitoring to make them meet the yearnings and aspirations of their people, Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa has declared.
While warning them against borrowing money without approval, he noted that any council that failed to deliver at least a project every quarter would face scrutiny from the parliament.
The Speaker at separate meetings with the council chairmen, vice chairmen, councillors and senior staff of the councils in Lagos, frowned at the aloofness that these set of public office holders have exhibited at that level of government to the detriment of the expectations of Lagosians.
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Obasa, who noted that council officials in Lagos were the only ones with four-year terms in Nigeria, added that it is disheartening how some of these chairmen personalise monthly allocations while their communities are crying for infrastructure and other forms of developmental initiatives.
“Some councils 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 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?” The Speaker asked while urging the councillors to up their effectiveness.
Going forward, he said, each council chairman must adopt “a policy that every quarter, there must be something to show that you are truly in office. Let there be something to commission.
“If you’re to construct a road, it shouldn’t be one that would last for a month or a year. It should be something that would make people pray for you each time they pass through it. Let’s truly serve our people.”
He warned the chairmen, the council managers and treasurers against constituting themselves into a power bloc that runs the councils without inputs from vice chairmen and councillors, who are supposed to issue approvals for spending and projects.
The chairman of Conference57, Kolade Alabi 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
