The adoption of the Parliamentary system of government to deepen and entrench genuine democratic practice at the grassroots in the State of Osun has started to bear good fruits. At the last plenary of Ilesa North East parliament, Mr. Adejire Adebiyi the Director of Finance of Ilesa North East LCDA made an appearance before the council's legislature presided over by the Leader of the Parliament, Hon. Femi Olowe. Other members in attendance were the Vice Chairman Hon. Mrs. Funmilola Ayoola, the Deputy Leader Hon. Sunday Adekanmi, Hon. Mrs. Elizabeth Adetunji and Hon. Tunde Fagbemi. The council's chairman Hon. Olaniyi Oladipo (aka Oluyi Blow) was on official engagement and could not attend the sitting.
Recall that at the Parliament's sitting of Tuesday the 7th of August, 2018, the House agreed to invite the Head of the Finance Department to appear at the chamber by their next sitting to shed light on monies generated as IGR this season, how much of the money was spent without the knowledge of the parliament and what moves can be made to increase the IGR of the newly created Local Council.
Mr. Adejire Adebiyi submitted that the council has internally generated about 2million Naira this season and what the council needed most is the political will. According to him "there is nothing we can do without the backing of the political elites". One of the issues militating against the effective generation of revenue by the council is mostly the boundary issue. "As at the time the Local Council was created, most people didn't understand the difference between electioning boundary and the administrative boundary. We know the boundary of this Local Council by the gazette released from the state. All Local Governments were mandated to come over to Osogbo to purchase the gazette. But funny enough after the creation, we have been having problems with our Mother Council, the Ilesa East LG concerning the areas covered by our LCDA. There is the persistent encroachment of Ilesa East rate officers into our administrative territory claiming that those areas of electioning wards belong to the East and they have been carting away revenues that are supposed to accrue to our LCDA. I believe the weight of the political elites will be a great help for the resolution of this boundary issue. The mother council has relegated Ilesa North East LCDA to a very minimal position of revenue generation. Ilesa North East according to the Osun government gazette starts from a part of Ereja/Ogburu area to Ijebujesa road to Irojo left side to Stadium."
Also the Finance Department is short of staff as many of them that were transferred to the mother council (Ilesa East LG) were not replaced. There are only a few members of staff presently engaged by the department. One could imagine the limitations that this is causing the council's revenue generation.
In his contribution Hon. Tunde Fagbemi asked to know what are the duties of other members of staff in other departmentsvand why are workers that are redundant in other departments not involved in revenue generation for the council?
On the ideas that will help the council to move forward, the Vice Chairman, Hon. Mrs. Funmilola Ayoola and the Director of finance Mr. Jire Adebiyi reported their findings on how to control and generate revenue from the trailer and the commercial vehicles using the Brewery-Akure express roadside as park. "This road is a Federal road so we need to tread with caution. We need to collaborate with the Police and the Road Safety Corps located in that area for effective and meaningful operation Hon. Funmilola Ayoola noted. The Director of Finance gave an example of when he was at Ife North referring to the roundabout in front of Oduduwa University which is also a federal road and despite that the Ife North LG is generating fund from this location up till now and this feat was achieved in collaboration with the Road Safety and Police Station located at that area. Same process to be adopted to fashion out the modality the Ilesa North East will adopt to generate fund at Imo/Brewery-Akure express road spot.
The Head of Works Department Engr. J. A. Adetayo was also at the plenary to shed light on the numerous ongoing projects of the council particularly the construction of the council site fence and the permanent secretariat foundation. Hon. Mrs. Elizabeth Adetunji asked to know how far the council has gone on these projects. The HOD explains that the project is delayed because of paucity of fund. That the project is supposed to gulp 68.5million Naira. So far the council has already spent 2.5million Naira. The clearing of the site, the excavations and the setting up of foundation concrete and there are some materials like blocks and granites on ground. Also the Council's Secretariat surrounding fence is supposed to gulp 2.4million Naira.
The House under the leadership of Hon. Femi Olowe asked the Head of Department of Works to appear with a comprehensive details of all the ongoing projects of the council at the next plenary.
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Oladimeji Lasore (07035105413)
Reporting from Imo, Ilesa
[email protected]
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