Hon. Oluwole Alawode is the Chairman, Ibadan South East Local Government; in this brief chat with Ametrocopy, he spoke on local administration, Internally Generated Revenue, the handling of COVID 19 among other issues.
What’s your take on local government administration in the state thus far?
We started the local government administration about five months ago and we’ve been able to do the will of God to a certain extent. I remember when we were coming in, our governor told us to go in there and touch the lives of the masses, wipe off the tears of those who cry and make those who are sad happy. When I came on board, I met the existing workforce of the local government and they received me well. We had a meeting where I outlined all intended goals to them and so far we’ve been able to touch lives and render help to those who are in need even with the meager amount we had on the ground, God has been faithful to help us use the funds judiciously. We had people in debts who were trying to offset their bills and also bring back their business operations, they all left with a smile on their faces.
Can you tell us about your working relationship with other arms of government in ensuring the socio-economic development of this local government?
It’s been so wonderful, we are loved by our brothers in the house of assembly and we are working on the same page. They’ve come up with great ideas that have been favorable to us thus far and most of the things they have legislated on are things that are having so much impact on the people. I want to say that the legislative arm of this present time stands among the best that has ever been. They are faithful, they work together, they do their work diligently and they also put us in place by checkmating so we don’t derail. I must say we have a very good and cordial relationship with them because they’ve been wonderful and we appreciate the legislature under the auspices of Hon. Debo Ogundoyin.
What about the Honorable at the federal level?
Hon. Agboworin is a very wonderful person, and he has done that which could be said to be good and better but we can still have his best. We’ve had conversations where we’ve shared ideas, knowledge and he responds well and promptly whenever he’s been called upon. He is one of the good guys around.
Give us an instance where such collaborations have yielded fruits both at the federal and state level
The area of palliative distribution we just had is one. This part of the state is loaded with the poorest of the poorest people, going around the local government when we came on board almost got us into tears but we’ve been able to do little empowerment for them especially those that we deemed fit for such help. Those that needed to learn one skill or the other have been put up there; people who needed funds for their businesses were also given something.
We also filled up our maternities with supplies they would need per time because we don’t want our people sick, you can go around to the ones that run down here and ask them, they will tell you we are doing a wonderful job. These are some of the things we’ve been able to do for our people.
Do you enjoy any measure of fiscal autonomy as the executive chairman of this local government?
Yes, I do. No one disturbs whatever we want to do because we make sure to fall in line with the agenda of the governor because on his mission is where we build our affiliation, we cannot do anything outside the foundation he has laid down. So we make sure that all of the things we’ve been able to do so far are in alignment with the visions of the governor. And so he has never for any time restrained or stopped us from enjoying our time.
So, you can say that you are independent?
Honestly, we are.
Tell us about the IGR status of this local government?
Well, that’s a very wonderful question, before LCDAs were created we could say that Ibadan South East local government sits on a fortune, the kinds of markets we have, we get the little in our own little way but right now, most of those things have been ceded to the LCDAs and it’s like we are starting all over again. We don’t have markets again except for the little ones we have in Orita-Aperin but in recent times, great ideas have been coming and we are trying to see how we can build up and re-open our own economy. That’s why I’ve come here; I’m not just here to work on things that have been built by others in the past. I love to explore where I can put up my ideas for posterity sake and when I got here, I realized there’s a whole lot of work to do and we cannot shy away from it, we just have to do it so that others can be able to point out the things we have done to the best of our abilities when we are about leaving. We don’t have markets right now, we don’t have anything but trust me, we are working and by this time next year when you come around, you’ll be seeing a new South East local government.
Are the LCDAs a challenge to you in any way, talking about the smooth running of your administration?
NO! The chairperson there is like a mother to me and we’ve always had a very cordial mother-son relationship, we do things in common, we talk to each other, we advise each other and we act together. We don’t have any problem at all. Hon. Alhaja Mrs. Kehinde Eboda is a wonderful mother and we have a very good work relationship.
Tell us some of the projects you have done so far even in the face of this scarcity of funds and the ones in the pipeline?
Oh well!!! The one in the pipeline is related to the governor calling us a few weeks ago and telling us that he doesn’t want to see any potholes on our roads asking us to pen down some things and that has reached the final stage. We should commence work on that next week hopefully.
We would have commenced but this COVID-19 issue has made us spend a lot of money from the time it started up till now and God has helped us to curtail the effects. We are looking up to God for strength to go into the projects we’ve outlined but we’ve been able to work on some of the maternities we have here because life is important and whatever we want to do, we need to ensure that the lives of our people are secured, when you get to any of our maternities now you would know that if allowed, we can handle cases of COVID-19.
Before we round off, you said that a whole lot has been spent to curtail the effects of COVID-19 pandemic and all, I would like to know the exact amount of money that has been spent on this and the number of people reached?
I might not be able to give the exact figure readily but I can tell you that more than ten thousand people were reached. As a matter of fact, there are new supplies of face masks and we’ve given out a lot of them with the state helping us with some in the past. We distribute to hospitals, we give to our nurses and doctors so they don’t run away when such cases are brought to them. We also distributed palliatives to people and the state government supported with a lot of money to make sure that people’s hunger is taken care of and we did that just last week.
Lastly, will you be contesting in the next local government elections and how soon do you think that would be?
Well, the future belongs to God and no mortal can say what the next minute holds. I would like to put everything in the hands of God and whatever I’ve become in my entire life has been given to me by God so for as long as God is still there, if he wants me to, I won’t turn down the service to humanity. Whatever God has in stock for me, wherever He leads me, I will follow.
Thank you very much, Honorable.
You’re welcome.
