Speaker of the
Lagos state House of Assembly, Hon. Adeyemi Ikuforiji has said that critical
stakeholders in the Nigerian project must come together to address the critical
challenges confronting the people at the grassroots level.
Ikuforiji made
this call in his remarks at the second edition 'Legislative-Civil Society
parley' of the state Assembly which took place at the Lateef Jakande
Auditorium, Assembly complex last week.
The theme for the
parley was, 'Promoting Grassroots Governance: A synthesis of roles'.
According to the
speaker, "the task of good governance is a collective responsibility for
all of us: the government, the civil society community, the media, the
traditional and religious institutions and other stakeholders.
"The critical
import of today's parley is the strengthening
of our understanding with the civil society community in Lagos state and
for us to evolve a working synergy and arrive at a more operational mechanism
by which we could jointly assess the effectiveness and efficiency of our
government at the grassroots in order to ensure good road networks, adequate
security, qualitative education, sound health care delivery, hygienic
environmental condition and an enabling atmosphere for trade and good living
among other dividends of democracy", Ikuforiji said.
He stressed the
hope that the interactive and thought-provoking dialogue would help to lay a
strong foundation for better governance and more measurable improvements in the
living standards of the people at the grassroots.
Adding that,
"the Lagos Assembly has on regular basis and in a very diligent and
innovative manner, been carrying out her oversight functions in the monitoring
of various government ministries, departments and agencies including all local
councils in the state.
"This is to
ensure that they are not only adhering to global best practices in the
discharge of their duties but that the people are having unhindered access to
the dividends of democracy especially at the grassroots level where governance
is most measurable", Ikuforiji said.
In his welcome
address earlier, chairman, House Committee on Information, Strategy, Security
and Publicity, Hon. Segun Olulade stressed on the imperative of soliciting the
active collaboration of civil society organisations in "the sustainability
of those values and ideals that would not only help to strengthen democracy in
the country but such that would help to promote good governance, massive job
creation, quality education, sound and affordable health care services, steady
infrastructural development and measurable improvement in the living standards
of the people that we have been elected to serve".
The parley,
Olulade said, is hinged on the need to strengthen governance at the grassroots
level through performance monitoring and assessment of the pogrammes and
activities of local councils in Lagos state.
“The Lagos
Assembly is very passionate about the people at the grassroots level, bearing
on the indisputable fact that basic government attention to the critical needs
of the people is mostly felt at the grassroots. Effectiveness and efficiency of
governance at this level is very important since the realization of Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) is most measurable at the grassroots". Olulade
said.
In his
introductory remarks,rights activist, Dr. Sylvester Odion Akhaine decried the
bastardisation of local government blaming the situation on 'allocation
mathematics', "besides, under the current dispensation the chief
executives of the various states of the federation have asphyxiated the local
government structures by usurping their financial autonomy in the name of
state-local government joint account. To worsen matter, virtually all the
occupants of the leadership positions of local government are imposed by party
stalwarts".
According to him,
what obtains at that level as a result is local administration and not local
governance "which entails inclusivity and actual participation of the
local people in the decision making process in the affairs of the local
council. The idea of participation has to do with people at the grassroots
taking part in the determination, execution, supervision and audit of projects
as well as partaking in the payback", Akhaine said.
Delivering the
keynote address, Prof. Abubakar Momoh, Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences,
condemned lack of specific local government structure which has continued to
change through time resulting in anarchic and destructive structure.
He called for the
involvement of the community in local government programmes to ensure
sustainability and for information flow between the local councils and the
community.
Among civil
society organisations in attendance were, Committee for the Defence of Human
Rights (CDHR), Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), Women Advocacy Research and
Documentation Center (WARDC), Leadership Advocacy Concept (LAC), Lagos state
Civi Society Partnership (LACSOP), Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL)
etc.
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