The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Council

  • Council fetes senior citizens

    They came gaily dressed in white lace and beautiful head gears. For the men, it was a locally sewn blue cap; the women had a pink head gear known to the locals as gele of the same fabric. Something else was common to all of them; they were old men and women, the least, being 60 years old. They had all congregated at the events centre of the Ifako Ijaiye Local Government Area, where the wife of the council chairman Pastor (Mrs) Modupe Oke and her husband, Oloruntoba had thought it fit to celebrate them as part of the activities marking the World Aged Day.

    It wasn’t really the first time they had been so gathered. They had been gathering monthly for the past three years. Their coming together then was financed solely by a midwife, Mrs. Folorunso Lawal, who had been transferred to another council. Mrs. Oke adopted the initiative and continued from where she stopped; ensuring that the elderly meet monthly in a relaxed atmosphere, undergo light exercises to improve their health and give them health tips as well as check their vital signs.

    That was not all, Mrs. Oke ensures they get appropriate drugs and food such as wheat, sugar and salt as well as groundnut oil.

    But the recent event was different. The crowd of the elderly that came was way above the number that usually showed up monthly. Not less than 1,000 of them came, as a council official said they had to get names of more aged from the various Community Development Associations, (CDAs), wards, and community leaders.

    Oke, who confirmed this, said the council had taken the step to ensure that as many elderly as possible were feted at the ceremony which marked a day set aside globally to draw attention to issues affecting them in the society.

    The chairman, who expressed happiness at seeing most of them in good health, thanked God for preserving them, even as he praised his wife for having a thought for the aged.

    He said celebrating the elderly on a day set aside globally to draw attention to their plight, is a very good way of giving back to those who have laboured in their youth, adding that the celebration further underscored his administration’s determination to ensure that their labours were never forgotten.

    He added that though the welfare of the aged had been a major item of his campaign, he had been unable to kick-start the welfare package he had due to “paucity of funds.”

    He said: “Most of you would remember that the welfare of the aged had been one of the major items on my campaign for this office. However, we have not been able to start what we had in store due to the state of account of the council; but we cannot continue to be moaning our circumstances. If care is not taken, we may not get anything done if we continue on that path as we would be marking our second year in office soon. That is why we decided to buy into this event this year and begin what we had in store for the elderly.”

    Oke, therefore, announced the take-off of a N2, 000 monthly welfare package for all aged in the council area beginning from November.

    “Let me assure you all here today that this council, beginning from November, will give the sum of N2,000 to our aged as part of our welfare packages. This is in addition to our regular food, drugs, and check-up which would continue on a monthly basis. We would continue to give them drugs, food items, and look after their general welfare. But, in addition to all these, we shall be giving them N2, 000,” Oke added.

    Though admitting the amount might be small, Oke said the council will, at no time, give anything lower than N2,000, even as he said his office already has a register of about 2,000 people that would benefit from the scheme.

    “What we intend to do is that every month, precisely on the 10th of every month, those whose names are already on our register would receive an alert and would be promptly paid anytime they come to our office,” the council chief further added.

    In her welcome address, Mrs Modupe said she took over the initiative as part of her determination to give back to the aged for their service and as one who is also “looking forward to getting to that age someday.”

    She said her non-government organisation – Nightingale Care of the Aged has been gathering these elderly together once a month under a congenial atmosphere in order to counsel them and take their vital signs while a medical doctor is always on hand to give them health tips. She said this has helped greatly in ensuring that many of them continue to be in good health, even as they are given wheat among other light food items.

    “For over one year, the Nightingale Care of the Aged has attended to the needs of over 800 senior citizens through its monthly meetings. The meeting, it must be stated, has afforded the NGO the opportunity to constantly interface with our aged people where issues bothering on their well-being such as health, nutritional advice, health exercises are given attention, while food items are also given to them free,” she said.

    She said her group’s commitment to the care of the aged is further underscored by this year’s theme: “Say no to Discrimination of the Elderly,” even as she urged more individuals and groups to show more concern to the aged. She praised the council for buying into the initiative and giving more vive to the event through the introduction of the welfare package.

    The Special Adviser to the council chairman Elder Ezekiel Ojo who also doubles as the council’s coordinator of the elderly, said no fewer than 2,000 elderly people would be accommodated by the scheme, even as he disclosed that the number would be continuously reviewed to accommodate as many as could be found residing in the council.

    “That amount looks small, but it certainly cannot be lower, and if this can go on for the next four years, it would have gone a long way in adding to the economy of these indigent people,” Ojo said.

    He said the chairman decided to introduce monetary package to further cushion the effects of the economy on the aged most of whose children are still battling with unemployment.

    Dr. Anthony Ewodage took time to educate the elderly on what to do to avoid high blood pressure and diabetes, two diseases he described as “silent killers.”

    He advised the reduction in the consumption of salt, alcohol and drug abuse, even as he encouraged regular exercises, including strolling, walking or jogging, as well as regular check up of blood pressure at least twice a month for anyone above the age of 60.

    The health instructor for the aged Mr Olumide Bello praised Mrs. Oke for sustaining the care of the elderly, adding that the monthly meeting where these people gather and often do light exercises had gone a long way in improving the health conditions of many aged people in the council.

    One of the beneficiaries Venerable Lawrence Ogunsipe, thanked the council for taking a major step in the welfare of the aged.

    Ogunsipe, 74, and a former teacher of the council chairman said the package would go a long way in making life better for majority of the elderly who looked up to nothing and had never benefitted from the government.

  • Cross River SIEC bars APC from council poll

    The decision of the Cross River State Independent Electoral Commission (CROSIEC) to disqualify the All Progressives Congress (APC) from contesting the September 21 local government election has been met with a stiff opposition.

    A chieftain of the APC in the state, Hilliard Eta, described the decision as “a ridiculous act, which has further questioned the independence of the electoral umpire.”

    According to him, the decision of CROSIEC depicts “the romance of the electoral body with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led government upon which the decision was hatched.”

    The Chairman of the State Independent Electoral Commission( CROSIEC), Sir Patrick Otu, said last weekend during a meeting with the registered political parties in the state that the APC is not qualified to field candidates for the September 21 local government poll since it was not up to 90 days old after its registration.

    Otu also said the commission took the decision after considering the legal implications concerning the new mega party and in order not to run foul of the law.

    “The Electoral Law stipulates that if parties merge, the new party can only stand election after 90 days.”

    “The commission cannot postpone the election because of a newly-registered party. By September 21 when the local government elections will take place, the stipulated 90 days period would not have been met by APC in the state. Therefore, no candidate can be fielded to run on the platform of APC,” he said.

     

  • British Council holds fashion, film workshop

    The British Council, Lagos is inviting applications from filmmakers interested in exploring fashion as a theme, adding range to their body of work and contributions made to art.

    The five-day fashion and film workshop will take participants through the central aspects of the fashion filmmaking process. The workshop includes: an illustrated introduction to film language using examples of fashion film; Introductions to planning, shooting and editing a fashion film, and participants then plan, film and edit a simple sequence.

    It is open to filmmakers and their teams which should include a minimum of the following: editor and director of photography/lighting technician. The team can also include art director (optional).

    Each selected film making team will work with a design team comprising – fashion designer, stylist, hair / makeup stylist. Experienced filmmakers, especially those interested in producing short films and experimenting in the genre as well as applicants should be able to assemble the team required to produce their film.

    The workshop will be facilitated by London born film director, Grace Ladoja. Grace has worked on films for an array of clients including Nike, and has gone on to found her own production company, Ladoja & Sons. In two short years it has created a name for itself with its steady output of music videos, fashion films and personal projects, becoming a truly unique platform with a heavy creative output.

  • Lagos trains council’s budget officers

    To meet up with the new Medium Term Sector Strategy being implemented by the Lagos State government, all budget and planning officers of the 20 local government areas and 37 local council development areas must conform with the new accounting system that would go into operation next year.
    Dropping the hint on Monday during the workshop held for 58 budget officers at the Training Centre of the Local Government Service Commission at Ikeja, the Director of Budget in the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, MBEP, Mrs Oluremi Jibodu, said the government would no longer tolerate a situation where reports by budget and planning officers are muddled up and do not conform with acceptable practices.
    Jibodu said the training is meant to refresh the ideas of accounting officers to keep accounting officials at the council level to be in tune with the global best practices. She added that the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning has decided to adopt the United Nations approved the Classifications of Functions of Government (COFOG), adding that when it fully comes on stream would ensure that accounting reports of the state government whether at the state or council level remains same
    She said: “Government wants a situation where what the budget officers’ report at the council level is the same with what accounting officers and state treasury officers (STOs) use. Our objective beginning from the 2014 fiscal year is to ensure that we achieve the same thing. Let the reporting format be the same.”
    She added that when classifications are clearly stated and classified, there would be no ambiguity. According to her, the state as part of the reforms has developed seven segments and 36 digits of classifications which all budgetary or planning officers whether at the council or state level must adopt and make use of in putting together their report.
    She listed the critical segments to include; fund, organ, function, sector, programme, location and accounts, adding that each of these have number codes from one to 25, which represents all the development sectors already identified in the state, adding that there is no function or activity of government that cannot be captured under the 25 categories.

    Mrs Jibodu added that workshop aimed at providing participants with the framework they would henceforth make use of for the inclusion of the local government financials into the state financial statements.
    Speaking earlier, the Director of Training at the Local Government Training and Pensions Office, Mrs. Margret Omolara Akin-Aderibigbe, said the essence of the training is informed by the training ongoing at the state level and the need to bring budget officers at the council level at par with their state counterpart.
    “At the end of the training, we expect the planning and budget officers to apply the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and the Medium Term Sector Strategy (MTSS) in their budget planning and this is scheduled to commence by 2014,” Mrs Akin-Aderibigbe said.
    The Training Director added that the C omission would organise more of these training for all officers of the council, especially the budget, planning and human resources officers to be at par with the colleagues at the state level in working within the state government’s development framework.
    Earlier while declaring the workshop open, the Chairman of the Commission Mr Moshood Olawale Ojikutu said the training would afford a seamless coordination between all the 20 local government and 37 local council development areas and the state government in the areas of development.
    Ojikutu who was represented by the Commission’s Permanent Secretary Mr Jamiu Adewale Ashimi, said this new format is different from the previous system as it proposes to align the budgeting system with the development plan of the state government and make reporting uniform in such a way as to remove any ambiguity.
    He said the commission would continue to train its workforce, even as it hopes its efforts in bringing the workforce at the grassroots in line with their colleagues at the state level would be supported by the political leaders at that level of governance.
    “It is our desire to ensure that local government chairmen also buy into the plans of the state government in ensuring a unified reporting standard and we would be working with the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs which is the coordinating ministry to ensure that a similar workshop or training is organised for the council chairmen to bring them on the same page with the state government medium term sector strategic plans.” Ojikutu added.

  • Council organises workshop for staff

    In a bid to make staff of Eti-Osa East Local Council Development Area (L.C.D.A.) be more productive and efficient the council has organised a two-day workshop for its staff.

    Speaking at the workshop, the chairman Eti-Osa East L.C.D.A, Alhaji Owolabi Yisa said the workshop was organised to ensure that all staff take their job seriously.

    He appealed to members of staff to desist from the act of receiving gifts or other forms of inducement from contractors and customers as this is against staff code of conduct. He emphasised that any staff caught in the acts will be dealt with according to the rules and regulations of service. He also promised that the training will be a yearly event.

    He reeled off some of the projects which the council has completed to include block of classrooms at Okun Mopo and Olomu Primary School, Public Health Centre at Owode Langbasan, Sand Filling and Grading of Roads among others.

    The Council Manager, Mrs. Sanyaolu A.L advised the staff to take the workshop seriously in order to improve themselves.

    One of the facilitators who spoke on “Office Management and Personal Effectiveness” Mr. Oyetayo Popoola said the staff should embrace excellence and not mediocrity. He also advised the workers to develop themselves through reading.

    Speaking on behalf of other members of staff, Mr. Tijani Olatunji thanked the chairman and management staff for organising the workshop.

  • Aturu for Council

    The alumni association of ACE has nominated Bamidele Aturu as its representative on the college’s Governing Council.

    The nomination contained in a letter to Aturu signed by the Registrar and Secretary to Council, Mr Felix Aderinboye, stated that the expanded national executive of the alumni association nominated the legal luminary to the old students on the Council.

    Mr Aturu, a principal counsel of Bamidele Aturu & Co passed through the college in the 80s.

    As a student, Aturu was the president of the Students Union in the 1985/1986 academic session.

    He was the vice-president, National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) during the same period.

    His tenure is noted for its vibrant students’ unionism that was devoid of hooliganism and rascality.

  • Council organises workshop for staff

    n a bid to make staff of Eti-Osa East Local Council Development Area (L.C.D.A.) be more productive and efficient the council has organised a two-day workshop for its staff.

    Speaking at the workshop, the chairman Eti-Osa East L.C.D.A, Alhaji Owolabi Yisa said the workshop was organised to ensure that all staff take their job seriously.

    He appealed to members of staff to desist from the act of receiving gifts or other forms of inducement from contractors and customers as this is against staff code of conduct. He emphasised that any staff caught in the acts will be dealt with according to the rules and regulations of service. He also promised that the training will be a yearly event.

    He reeled off some of the projects which the council has completed to include block of classrooms at Okun Mopo and Olomu Primary School, Public Health Centre at Owode Langbasan, Sand Filling and Grading of Roads among others.

    The Council Manager, Mrs. Sanyaolu A.L advised the staff to take the workshop seriously in order to improve themselves.

    One of the facilitators who spoke on “Office Management and Personal Effectiveness” Mr. Oyetayo Popoola said the staff should embrace excellence and not mediocrity. He also advised the workers to develop themselves through reading.

    Speaking on behalf of other members of staff, Mr. Tijani Olatunji thanked the chairman and management staff for organising the workshop.

  • Council promises more

    I pokia Local Government Area in Ogun State has reiterated its determination to leave no stone unturned in ensuring rapid and even development of the council.

    The chairman of the council, Hon. Isiaq Aderounmu, made this known while inspecting on-going and completed projects of the local government.

    The tour took the chairman and his entourage to the electrification project at Iwuku, construction and asphaltic tarring of Odedina road Ago-sasa, renovation of V.I.P’s quarters at Ipokia, rehabilitation of a block of six classrooms at I.P.L.G. Primary School Ifonyintedo and a block of three classrooms with Head Teacher’s Office at I.P.L.G. Primary School, Idomogun.

    A press statement issued and signed by the council’s Director of Information, Mr. Oloyede Oyeniyi, quoted the chairman of the council as assuring the residents that their perseverance and loyalty to the Senator Ibikunle Amosun-led administration and governments at the grassroots will be highly rewarded.

    On youth employment, the council chief reiterated the determination of the council to create over 500 jobs to combat unemployment within the next few weeks.

    He admonished the would-be beneficiaries not to see their appointments as “job for the boys” but rather as a clarion call to service specifically packaged to make them well-integrated, functional and self-reliant citizens of the council.

    According to the council boss, the appointments were necessitated by the needs to compensate loyal party members and curb criminal activities amongst the teeming job seekers since “devil finds work for idle hands.”

    Aderounmu praised the governor for bailing out all the councils from their heavy debts and giving them a true financial independence to provide dividends of democracy to all the nooks and crannies of the state.

    Top political and career functionaries of the local government accompanied Hon. I Aderounmu during the inspection.

  • Flood control: Oyo council dredges rivers

    Oluyole Local Government in Oyo State has begun the dredging and de-silting of seven rivers to prevent flooding.

    The Transition Committee Chairman of the council, Mr. Ayodeji Aleshinloye, said this yesterday at a sensitisation workshop organised by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in Ibadan.

    He said the local government had spent over N7 million on dredging of seven rivers with the aid of the state government and companies.

    Aleshinloye went on: “We are talking about the Odo-Ona Elewe River at Akaraa community towards the Orita Challenge area and the New Express to Apata to New Garage River.

    “We are also referring to the Odo-Ona Kekere River linking Aba Bridge at Idi Ayunre, near CRIN. There is equally a place at Odo-Ona Kekere near Arapaja area, among others.

    “We have started dredging every river in the local government, which is a wise decision because the rivers in Ibadan terminate in Oluyole Local Government.”

    He said the council has started sensitising residents of the communities to maintain a clean environment and desist from blocking streams and drainages with refuse.

    “We have begun environmental sanitation in many areas. We are also demolishing houses on water channels, to prevent flood.”

  • Council chief’s wife helps widows

    Wife of the Bwari Area Council chairman, Mrs. Tamar Yohanna Ushafa has donated various empowerment items to over 65 widows in the area in a bid to make life more meaningful to them.

    The widows, selected from the 10 wards of the area council, were presented with sewing machines, grinding machines, hairdressing machines and knitting machines.

    Mrs. Yohanna Ushafa called on well-meaning individuals, non-governmental organisations and corporate organisations to complement the council’s effort in empowering the womenfolk.

    She also urged beneficiaries of the facilities to take good care of them as they are meant to improve their lives and those of the children left behind by their late husbands.

    Earlier, the women development officer of the Area council, Mrs. Laraba A. Zagi, enjoined the beneficiaries to put the facilities to good use and generate income to carter for their families.

    In his remarks, chairman of the Council, who was represented by the Council’s Secretary, Luku M. Zanishin said the administration is posed to deliver its electioneering promises and urged the widows to make good use of the items.

    Responding on behalf of the beneficiaries, Saratu Usman, thanked the chairman’s wife for the initiative.