The Nation Newspaper

Tag: grassroots development

  • ‘We are committed to grassroots development’

    Ojokoro Local Council Development Area (LCDA) has vow to be committed to grassroots development.

    The chairman, Hammed Idowu Tijani, who spoke during the public hearing on the passage of six bills, promised to live up to expectations. He assured the people that his administration would spare nothing to make governance at the grassroots vibrant and responsive.

    Tijani said the bills were another step by his administration to deliver on its promise of a government of inclusion where no one is left behind.

    He said: “The hallmark of any good government is provision of basic services to the grassroots. This is the only way the real dividends of good governance can spread downwards and touch the hearts and minds of its people.

    “Our state is growing so fast that the concept of the rural area will not be applicable to any part of Lagos very soon. Our government is working hard to meet the yearnings of our people who live in what I term semi-urban areas by providing them with services like water, good roads, street lights, efficient refuse collection, cleaning of drainage and roads, primary healthcare, recreational parks and sports facilities to make those areas livable and economically viable.”

    The chairman said his administration remains committed to reforms that would make Ojokoro community more responsive to the people’s needs.

    Six bills were introduced during the hearing – regulation of activities of motorcyclist; regulation of road/walkways usage; environmental sanitation; compulsory fumigation of all buildings (residential and non-residential); enforcement of public safety bill on usage of pedestrian bridge; establishment of primary education monitoring committee.

  • How efficient is RAMP in grassroots development?

    RURAL Access and Mobility Project (RAMP) is the World Bank-assisted project in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development. It has the backing of the French Development Agency.

    The states participating in the second phase of the project — RAMP II — met at a retreat recent in Yola, Adamawa, to assess the efficiency of its development across the country.

    Mr. Ubandoma Ularam, the National Coordinator of the project, promised participants that the RAMP would meet the yearnings of rural dwellers in terms of road networking.

    He claimed that the project had constructed more than 4, 000 kilometres of rural roads in the first phase — RAMP I.

    According to him, Kaduna State and Cross River benefitted from the first phase of the project. He listed Osun, Adamawa, Enugu, Imo and Niger as the states to benefit from RAMP II.

    Directing the participating states to ensure transparency in the management of resources, Ularam said the motivation behind the meeting was to present progress reports on specific projects and review some of the challenges encountered in Phase I.

    He said RAMP has as one of its objectives to improve road transportation in the rural areas through the rehabilitation and maintenance of rural roads, adding that rural roads had been constructed in Enugu and Imo states.

    Assessing the progress of the project, Mr. Abbas Adamu, the Project Coordinator of RAMP II in Adamawa, said the rural roads construction had enhanced the economy and livelihood of the citizens in the state.

    He said 201.4 kilometres of rural roads had been constructed in 13 different locations across the state.

    Adamu said: “Apart from the road projects executed in the first phase of RAMP, the construction of another set of 140 kilometres of roads in various communities is ongoing.

    “The projects have facilitated the efforts of rural farmers to convey their farm produce to the market in good time and reduce post-harvest loss.

    “RAMP II is, indeed, doing a great work by consolidating and supporting the efforts of the Adamawa State Government in roads construction, rehabilitation and maintenance.

    “The projects have positively affected the lives of the rural dwellers, who are the major producers of food produce, on a daily basis.

    “Hundreds of communities are being linked up with good access roads and we have so far achieved 70 per cent completion in the second phase of the roads construction project.’’

    The project coordinator commended Adamawa State Governor Jibrilla Bindo for transforming the state’s infrastructure with quality roads in collaboration with RAMP programme.

    The RAMP Coordinator in Niger State Mr. Ibrahim Nmadu, also noted that more than 176 kilometres of rural roads and bridges had been constructed in the state in the RAMP II projects, observing that more than 776,000 rural dwellers were directly benefiting from the projects.

    “The project has helped significantly in exploring and harnessing the agricultural potential of the state by facilitating the transportation of farm produce to markets’’, he said.

    Nmadu said RAMP road projects had been designed to cover 500 kilometres of rural roads in Niger, noting that the state was one of the largest in the country with about 76,000 square kilometres.

    He said: “We are currently working towards the construction of more roads based on request by the state government to the World Bank for an increase in the scope of coverage in the state.

    “We are designing more roads; we are targeting, 1,000 kilometres of roads and the design of about 800 is ongoing.’’

    Sharing similar sentiments, Mr. Adelere Oriolowo, RAMP Project Coordinator in Osun, said the state government had paid more than N1.4 billion as counterpart funds for RAMP projects covering the year 2013 to 2017.

    Oriolowo said the move by the state government had qualified the state for the next stage of the project, claiming that the state was ranked top among other benefiting states in the RAMP projects.

    Governor Rauf Aregbesola shed more light on project, noting that his administration had paid N1.5 billion out of its N1.9 billion counterpart funding share for rural road projects in the state.

    Represented by his deputy, Mrs Titi Laoye-Tomori?, Aregbesola said his government was fulfilling its counterpart obligations in spite of scarce resources to ensure successful implementation of the projects in the state.

    He said: “We have paid about N1.5 billion out of the N1.9 billion share of our counterpart fund and I have approved the balance of N400 million which will be paid as soon as fund is available.’’

    Aregbesola indicated his government’s interest to participate in the third phase of the project to further take development to the grassroots.

    He said RAMP had become a household name due to its huge contributions to the country’s development through rural road construction.

    Appraising the progress of the project, Mr Tesfamichael Mitiku, the World Bank Task Team Leader, called for the collective efforts of all the stakeholders to execute RAMP projects across the country.

    Mitiku said: “RAMP is a project that we ought to be proud of and this is an avenue to address some of the issues that are slowing some states down in their efforts to meet up with other states.

    “Our project, which involves road construction, is huge but together we can achieve our set goals in rural roads construction across the country.’’

     

    • Attah and Okon are of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)
  • Handball coach tasks schools on grassroots development

    Handball coach tasks schools on grassroots development

    Dikko Danjuma, a retired handball coach on Tuesday advised the Lagos State Sports Council (LSSC), Schools Sports Federation and Federal and state ministries of Education to collaborate in promoting the development of handball in schools.

    Danjuma, who retired from LSSC told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that the promotion of handball in schools would develop the sport at the grassroots.

    “It will also facilitate the faster identification budding talents. There is need to go back to schools if we are serious about the development of handball. Most of our players are aging and there is the need to replace them. The raw talents can be identified from  schools,’’ he said.

    Danjuma said that a large number of schools in the state had teams that represented them at the grassroots competition, IBILE and DAWN Games, organised by the LSSC.

    “Handball is not new to some schools in Lagos; some schools had teams that participated at the IBILE and DAWN Games. The sports council just have to encourage schools to develop the game by organising competitions and providing technical support,’’ Danjuma said.

    NAN reports that the all the south west states participate in the DAWN Games.

    “There is the need for more handball competitions at the grassroots, because previous IBILE and DAWN Games held, indicated that we identified many potential talents. It is obvious that the only way to identify more of these talents and encourage them accordingly is to organise series of age-grade competitions.

    The coach also urged the LSSC to collaborate with various local government areas and the development centres in Lagos to initiate competitions among schools.

  • ‘Council workers are engine room of grassroots development’

    ‘Council workers are engine room of grassroots development’

    Council workers as the engine room of grassroots development have been charged to redouble their efforts at bringing the dividends of democracy to the people of Lagos State.
    The Executive Secretary of Ifako-Ijaiye Local Government Area Rotimi Adeleye, dropped the charge in his message on the New Year prayer/award giving ceremony of workers of his council, held last Tuesday at the council’s area office.
    Adeleye who assumed office 43 days ago said if government must succeed in its commitment to improve the infrastructure and state of social welfare of the people, it must have the backing of a workforce that is ready to eschew civil service mentality and be service-driven.
    He said: “As the engine room of this administration, the task before us is enormous and I would implore you all to key into the vision of Governor Babatunde Fashola who by example has convinced us that every good thing is achievable through determination, unity and perseverance. Let us work as one indivisible entity to place this council in an enviable position among other local governments.”
    He also charged them to go and collect their permanent voter’s card and support the All Progressives Congress (APC) party in its determination to bring the good things of life closer to the people of the area.
    In his welcome address, the Chairman of the council’s branch of the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) Comrade Mayowa Morakinyo said the workers’ forum was organised to motivate all workers to continue to put in their best, adding that series of awards were introduced this year to boost worker’s morale and enlist their commitment to the continued growth, success and development of the council.
    He listed that his leadership has achieved a number of successes within his short tenure in office, ranging from upward review of monthly imprest, continuous assistance to members during promotional examinations, conversion and confirmation, and the acquisition of land for members’ estate.
    He called for the prompt completion of the proposed council secretariat which he said would resolve the lingering issue of office accommodation, even as he challenged the management to provide the workers with new staff bus, more work tools and make the present offices more worker-friendly.
    The workers under his leadership he pledged, would continue to renew their efforts in making the council a reference point in the delivery of government’s programmes and manifestoes in the grassroots in the state.
    He said over 40 retirees and 22 outstanding workers drawn from all the departments and agencies of the local government would be celebrated for their diligent service to the people of the council and the state.
    The Council Manager Alhaji AbdulAfeez Adeniyi Otuniyi lauded the NULGE leadership for putting the event together and adding to this year’s package, an award ceremony, which was targeted at not only all outstanding workers across all the departments and agencies of the council but also retirees.
    He described workers welfare as being very critical to the government adding however that the only way a worker can show appreciation for all that have been done for him is to throw everything to the job that gives him his sustenance and provides him with daily living.
    He said the council will no longer brook absenteeism and will continue to reward diligence, and hard work, adding that besides the Christmas benefit, the council has put in place a welfare initiative to take care of the financial needs of its workers.
    He assured that all within the council’s financial capacity would be done to ensure that the ongoing secretariat building does not become an abandoned project adding that when the secretariat is completed the council would be able to have all its workers in one place, which he said would enhance the workers’ productivity.
    In his goodwill message, the Human Resources Officer Alhaji Yusuf Ibitoye called on all workers to be more dedicated as the wind of reforms sweeping through the state’s civil service has berthed at the council and will likely affect all truants and those handling their official assignments with levity.
    He said: “Let me warn all of you that attendance at work is now compulsory and part of your assessment. Anyone who wants to be promoted must come to the office as this now carries 50 percent of your total assessment.”
    Highpoint of the event which was attended by the over 1,000 workforce, top management staff of the council and the four council-management team were the prayers from Christians and Moslems and gift awards to all retirees and best workers of the council.