How councils can deliver on mandates, by lawmaker, others

By Bola Olajuwon

Local government planners have been urged to see themselves as the engine room of growth by advising council chairmen and elected officers in line with the constitution and established policies.

Deputy Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly Wasiu Eshinlokun-Sanni; Chairman, Local Government Service Commission (LGSC) Kamal Bayewu; Chairman, Lagos State Conference of Local Government Planners Tijani Adekunle, among others, gave the counsel at the Annual Lecture on public policy award/Last day in office for retired local government planners.

Eshinlokun, who chaired the event, said if a local government succeeds, the planners are working. He urged them to advise council chairmen on the right decisions to take and to also follow up with memos for record purposes.

The deputy speaker noted that council chairmen were fond of taking political decisions, especially during electioneering, which might be contrary to law and council policies.

Bayewu, after receiving his award, said “to whom much is given, much is expected. The planners are really the engine room of the local government administrations.

“They are the cadre mentioned in the Constitution in the Fourth Schedule. They are to do economic planning for the local governments in conjunction with local governments and the states. They are tools of development and to check corruption in our local governments. They are the ones to kick-start policy making in our local governments and also see it through to the end.

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“My advice to them is to cooperate with the local government administrations and not forget their professional career places on them a lot of responsibilities at the local government level.”

Adekunle said the annual lecture was beyond funfair of identifying awardees, honorees or retirees. “Rather it is about bringing positive changes and advancement to the profession in line with the aspiration and objectives of our founding fathers,” he said.

According to Adekunle, the association has since inception made significant progress and recorded unprecedented achievements over the years.

He appealed to their principal employer to keep up the good job by rewarding the best so that the planners can keep getting good results.

Adekunle thanked Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu for his resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic, and for approving sponsorship of the association’s 2020 Annual Professional Conference to the Institute of Planning, Nigeria.

The resource person at the event and Head of Lagos State Economic Intelligence Unit, Ministry of Economic Planning and Budget, Mrs. Bamgbola Adenike, stressed the need for everyone in the local government administration to work together for councils’ growth.

According to her, “there is nothing like ‘maintain your lane’; if Lagos State and local councils are to develop”.

waseyi Adeniyi, Mr. A.B. Odutolu, Mrs. Eniola Olaogun, and Mr. A.O. Akanni.