Gov. Biodun Oyebanji of Ekiti, on Thursday, tasked the 38 newly sworn-in local government Chairmen and their Vices to place high premium on security and revenue generation in their respective council areas.
Oyebanji also gave a matching order to the council chairmen to work assiduously to develop their council areas by building on the strong foundation laid by their predecessors.
The governor said these on Thursday in Ado-Ekiti, at the swearing-in of the chairmen and warned that his administration would not tolerate any form of security lapses in the council areas.
The new council chairmen were elected during the local government election held in the state on Dec. 2, 2023.
Addressing the new council bosses, Oyebanji, represented by the Deputy Governor, Chief (Mrs) Monisade Afuye, described the rural areas as an integral part of overall development focus and strategy of his government.
He said that the rural areas of the state required adequate attention to tackle the menace of poverty, joblessness and insecurity.
Oyebanji commended the immediate past council chairmen and those that were reelected for demonstrating enough political and administrative acumen to deliver, in spite of the multifarious challenges associated with being pioneers.
Stoutly expressing zero tolerance for corruption and pilfering of council funds, the governor urged the new council executives to discharge their duties with utmost “honesty, impartiality , even-handness , compassion and fairness”.
He advised the chairmen to work assiduously for the actualisation of the shared prosperity mantra of his government.
Oyebanji said that he decided to put machinery in motion for the conduct of election at the local government level to demonstrate his desire for the councils to be run in a democratic manner.
On his commitment to stamp out bandits, kidnappers and other criminal elements out of Ekiti, the governor charged the chairmen to prioritise security at all times, adding “you must be deliberate about this.”
“Your security plans and strategies should be communicated to me through the office of Special Adviser on Security , as soon as you take over.
“I will not tolerate security lapses in your domains, therefore, ensure all critical stakeholders are carried along and are involved,” he said.
Oyebanji advised the new council bosses against relying solely on the funds accruing to them from the federation and state accounts to run the affairs of the councils, to avert administrative failure and inability to fulfil their electioneering promises.
“You need money to run a successful administration. It is not enough to rely on federal and state allocations.
“You have to improve your internally generated revenue and ensure it forms a sizeable source of your funding revenue.
“One of your major performance metric will be how much IGR you generate and how much it contributes to your project financing.
“Government will be looking at the possibility of giving conditional, mileage-incentive to councils with significant IGR improvement,” the governor said.
Oyebanji, said his government was sensitive to local content in project execution, directing the council chairmen to patronise local contractors, while not ruling out the possibility of direct labour in execution of projects in exceptional cases.
Oyebanji added: “Let me reiterate my call on the local government leadership that this administration is very sensitive to to local content in project execution. While the need for direct labour may be inevitable, in certain circumstances, it shouldn’t be the norm but exception.
“Our shared prosperity mantra is to the effect that all socioeconomic opportunities must go round. Let local contractors with proven track records of performances and delivery benefit in job execution at the grassroots level”.
Oyebanji appealed to the council chairmen to manage their local politics in most effective fashion to mitigate political crises or hostilities that can tinker with peace being savoured by the citizens from rearing their ugly heads.
The Chairman of Ajoni LCDA, Mr Michael Ogungbemi, who spoke on behalf of his colleagues, pledged that they would work hard to surpass the expectations of the governor in their performances.
Ogungbemi added that the new council bosses will complement the governor’s deft move to rescue Ekiti from poverty, by replicating his policies at the local government level.
In attendance at the event were the wife of the Governor, Dr Olayemi Oyebanji; Member House of Representatives, Mr Femi Bamisile; Speaker of the House of Assembly, Mr Adeoye Aribasoye; members of the state executive council and the state House of Assembly.
Others include traditional rulers and chieftains of the All Progressives Congress (APC) among others.
