The Chairman of Kosofe Local Government, Honorable Moyosore Ogunlewe has led with giant strides since he came into office about four months ago. On Wednesday, December 15, 2021, the stakeholders in the local government gathered to discuss the budget for the incoming year and how to raise funds so that all the projects already embarked upon will not suffer setbacks.
Recall that while the
chairman celebrated his 100 days in office, several projects were unveiled and
he is not resting on his oasis until the dividends of democracy are fully
delivered to the people of Kosofe. Community leaders, party leaders, security
agents as well as councillors from each ward were among those that marked their
presence at the meeting.
Tagged “Budget for all-inclusiveness”, the meeting witnessed different stakeholders in the council such as
the council treasurer, head of the budget unit, head of the market women, Police DPOs
across the council as well as many others presenting their needs to the
chairman who revealed that all has been noted for actions.
Being the first edition
of such kind of meeting in the council, it gathered an appreciable attendance
and lived up to its expectation as it was not only well attended but also kept
the mind of the people of Kosofe at peace because the chairman had proven to be
a man of his words in the few months he has spent as the council boss.
While revealing why the
meeting was held at this time of the year, the council chairman in his opening
remarks explained by saying “in a simpler term, this meeting which is an
interactive session is primarily designed to enable our people be part of whatever will be packaged in the
Budget. It is meant to bring people into the picture, the workings and dynamics of government and governance.
It will be recalled
that in the past, government activities were shrouded in top secrecy and superimposed on the people without their
inputs, but modern governance has changed this, the Administration of
government is now an open book for all of us to see and make contributions, hence today heart to heart discussion.
All our robust
deliberations today and the beautiful ideas will be incorporated into our
fiscal planning. That is why we shall expect comprehensive debate and ideas
that are community-based and People friendly.
Budgets of the past
years have no direct bearing on the people and such financial planning have
always been programmed for failure. You all will agree with me that this
Top-Bottom Approach to budget preparations negates to the principle of fair
hearing, natural justice as well as the practice of true democracy.
Speaking to City People on what necessitated the meeting, the council chairman, Honorable Moyosore Ogunlewe said “it’s the budget we are talking about here so we have to get everybody involved. It is the taxpayers’ money that we are going to be using so we have to know what everyone needs. They also need to give their own quota back to the government. They need to tell us what they need so that we can do a good job. And also see how we can collaborate as a team.
Furthermore, Mr Ogulewe
opined that his administration is bent on giving back to the people what their
needs are. We will not give roads to communities that need boreholes nor
will we give boreholes to those that need roads. So we came up with this idea
to hear what the people want from us so that we can provide them as soon as we
are able to.
Talking about how to
generate revenues, Mr Chairman said one of the reasons for purchasing revenue
busses in his first 100 days in office was to improve revenue generation in the
local government. We want to ensure that all revenues are collected because we
are working on a lot of projects that will need more funds. As far as I’m
concerned, right now we are working on about 10 roads and we are almost done. So,
it’s important for the people to pay their taxes as much as they can so that we
can do a whole lot more for them. For me, I believe that the people could
monitor their taxes and see what we are doing with them and Kosofe will be the
most beneficial for it.
Present at the event
was Prince Muyiwa Sosanya, a member of the GAC, Hon Prince Rotimi Agunsoye, Hon
Ganiyu Okanlawon, the Chairman, Lagos House Committee on education, Otunba
Alakija, a former Vice Chairman, Kosofe LG.
Hon Oloro Idowu, Hon
Femi Oyesile, Mr Segun Babatunde, Otunba Bowale Benson, Comrade Orababa Sunday,
Alhaji Lukman Sanni Iyanda, Chairman, Kosofe league of Imams, Alhaji
Abdulraheem Obasa, Hon Abayomi Ologbonori, Hon S.A. Adebayo, amongst several
others.
Some of the royal
fathers spotted at the event are Oba Nojimu Akinwunmi Fashola, and the
Ologudu-elect of Ogudu, HRM, Oba Jimoh Adewale Cole, the Olojota of Ojota.
-Damilare Salami
08155134152
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