Hon. Ayodele Majekodunmi : Serving Abeokuta South LGA without blemish, Re-defining Grassroot Development

Sampling the opinion of millions of Nigerians on the impact of local government administration in the lives of an average citizen and general development of the country gives traction to the reality that non-performance and at best a scant impact has heralded the supposedly third tier of government.

The deficiencies in the constitutional framework and the reforms that have shaped the operation of local government administration in Nigeria has more or less stymied its effectiveness. As a matter of fact, the legal framework does not see local governments as a third tier of government, but merely recognizes local government as an appendage of state government where the latter enjoys absolute discretion over the former.

Operating under the crippling and domineering influence of the state governments has not given local governments the latitude to live outside the shadows of the state governments or even have a life of their own.

This obvious constitutional landmine has made most people to wonder if indeed there is a functional grassroots democracy in Nigeria.

But even in the face of this reality, some transcendental leaders are currently emerging from the grassroots who are determined to break the ‘jinx’ of lethargy and non-performance associated with local government administration in Nigeria and are set to transform it and reposition it for effectiveness. One of such emerging leaders and ‘men of vision’ is Hon. Omolaja Ayodele Majekodunmi, the Executive Chairman, Abeokuta South Local Government Area of Ogun State.

When Hon. Majekodunmi took over the mantle of Leadership, Abeokuta South just like many other LGA areas was buffeted by myriads of challenges ranging from inept leadership, fragile peace, and army of restive unemployed youths to broken and dilapidated infrastructures, gross lack of social amenities, inter-community distrust and disillusioned folks. It is a Council that was in dire need of direction, inspiration and more importantly, qualitative leadership.

Though not your usual politician (who is usually schooled in the art of rhetoric and deception), the local government administrator came naturally equipped with a critical component of leadership quality: moral intelligence. Close aides reckon him as a cool, calm and collected fellow who possesses the right mental and psychological balance to take on the daunting task of charting a new course for Abeokuta South Local Government Area.

For Hon. Majekodunmi, his vision “is meant to bring government closer to the rural dwellers for easy communication and adequate service delivery. And as a council Chairman, once there is a gap both in communication with the villagers then the motive of the coiners of the ‘third tier of government is defeated”.

According to him, he carries out due diligence before embarking on projects or take any action, but he does not subscribe to the idea of unnecessary meetings, consultations and permissions of the “power blocks” before delivering services to his people. “What matters most is that he is empowered by the law and strengthened by his boss, the Executive Governor of Ogun State, Prince Dapo Abiodun to have free hand of operation and achieve the build our future agenda for the people”.

Confronted with the widespread rot wrought by successive absent-minded leadership of the council and mounting hardship on the people occasioned by the economic downturn in the country, his vision did not need any more prompting to roll up his sleeves and get to work. According to him, the dearth of critical infrastructures and social amenities – the bad roads, debilitating markets, health care needs, deteriorating schools – and the magnitude of privation in the council areas were enough prompting for him to come up with quick impact projects that will address immediate needs of the people.

To this end, Hon. Majekodunmi moments after being sworn in as the Executive Chairman, identified a number of such desperate needs of the people and quickly set out to address them.

His overall mission and development template as the Executive Chairman, Abeokuta South Local Government Area, enthused that he “Came to redefine leadership and governance at the grassroots and ready to drive fast away from the old order that never favoured the people and he is already receiving unprecedented positive reviews across Abeokuta South and beyond. To some indigenes of the area, his progressive strides are surreal and an eye opener on how much a local government administration can impact lives.

In no distance time, Hon. Ayodele Majekodunmi intends to build on the enviable legacies of his boss, Dapo Abiodun and to do more for his people in all aspects of the Local Government socio-economic and infrastructure development, peace building and social harmony, as well as human capacity development.

The people of the Premier Local Government are reassured that the policies and programmes of Hon. Majekodunmi administration will upscale the living standards of the people, expand socioeconomic and infrastructure development across the fifteen wards in line with his electioneering promises.

Muhammed Oluwaseun is from Ogun State, writes for The Nigeria Standard, Abuja.