Kunle Adelabu
Performances of the six Council Chairmen in Ikorodu Division of Lagos State, Southwest, Nigeria, came under scrutiny recently when the Ikorodu Division Youths Initiative made public the report of its field survey conducted last year.
The survey covered performances of the councils’ administrations under Hon. Wasiu Adeshina (Ikorodu Local Government), Hon. Jumoke Jimbo – Ademehin (Ikorodu West LCDA), Hon. Adeola Banjo (North LCDA), Builder Sesan Daini (Igbogbo/Bayeku LCDA), Hon. Wasiu Agoro (Imota LCDA) and Hon. Fathiu Salisu (Ijede LCDA).
According to the youth group, qualitative approach was adopted for the exercise which appraised the councils’ performances in the area of Education, Security, Good Governance, Accountability and Stewardship, Youth Development and Health.
In a report made available to THE IMPACT, closed – ended questionnaires totaling 500 were distributed to the target audience in each of the six LG and LCDAs.
According to the report, the target audience included residents of various age group among who wee market men and women, artisans, students and civil servants.
The report also stated that closed ended questionnaires were supplemented with the online questionnaires and interviews conducted for the council chairmen.
During a session on the IDYI WhatsApp platform on Friday, April 9, 2021, where the group made the report public, the Secretary of the IDYI Board of Trustees (BOT), Mr Olusola Sokoya, said that the exercise, which divided into two phases and lasted for four months.
“The exercise lasted for four months and was divided into two phases”, he said.
“The first phase was an online survey form which was targeted at the strata of the society that are well lettered and in tune with the use of modern simple technology. This was done with the aid of the Google form.
“The second phase was an on-field exercise where we distributed questionnaires to the populace. This was directed at the informal strata of the society. We made sure that artisans and market men and women were not left behind. Assistance was rendered to those who were not well lettered in filling the questionnaires”.
According to the report on the “Performance Evaluation from 2017-2021 using ‘The Statistical Analysis Of The Public Poll Response’, the findings were reproduced below on Council by Council basis:
IKORODU CENTRAL LOCAL GOVERNMENT:
In the public poll conducted, 52% were males, while 48% were females. This shows that we have more male respondents. It also shows the age range of the respondents. Age 18 to 29 is 35%, age 30 to 49 is 37%, 50 and above is 28%. This also shows that the youths participation is Poor.
Education: The respondents admitted that he is 36% poor, 27% Fair, 34% Good, 2% Very Good , 1% Excellent, that is, his competency in this sector is Poor.
Security: The respondents admitted that he is 21% Poor, 23% Fair, 39% Good, 3% V. good, 14% Excellent. That is, his competency in this sector is Good.
Good Governance: The respondents admitted that he is 42% Poor, 40% Fair, 18% Good, 0% Very Good, 0% Excellent. That is, his competency in this sector is Poor.
Accountability and Stewardship: The respondents admitted that he is 41% poor, 50% Fair, 4% Good, 5% Very Good, 0% Excellent. That is, his competency in this sector is Fair.
Youth Development and Empowerment: The respondents admitted that he is 23% poor, 32% Fair, 43% Good, 0% Very Good, 2% Excellent. That is, his competency in this sector is Good.
Health: The respondents admitted that he is 29% poor, 32% Fair, 39% Good, 0% Very Good, 0% Excellent. That is, his competency in this sector is Good.
IKORODU WEST LCDA:
EDUCATION: The public poll responses show that 65% of respondents rated the present administration Poorly, while 34% rated the administration Fairly, only 1% rated the administration Good, while 0% rated it Very good and 0% excellent respectively. Based on the result, majority of the respondents believe that the executive chairperson has performed poorly in this area.
SECURITY: Owing to the statistical table above, 56% of the respondents rated the administration poorly in the area of security, 44% rated it fairly, 0% good response, 0% very good response, 8% excellent response. Based on this report, larger percentage of respondents believe the administration performed Poorly.
GOOD GOVERNANCE: As shown in the table, 51% of respondents rated the administration poorly, while 49% rated it fair,0% Good, 0% very good and 0% Excellent. The report, therefore, shows that majority of respondents believe that the administration has performed poorly in this area.
ACCOUNTABILITY AND STEWARDSHIP: The public poll responses scored the administration 55% poorly, 44% rated it fairly, 1% good response, 0% very good and 0% excellent response from the public responses. Based on the analysis above, many of the respondents rated the chairperson of IKORODU WEST poorly in accountability and rendering of stewardship.
YOUTH DEVELOPMENT: Using the above table, 41% of public poll responses rated the administration poorly, 30% fair, 20% good, 7% very good and 1% excellent. The majority of the respondents believe that the chairperson performed poorly in this area.
HEALTH: The above table analysis has revealed that 52% of the respondents rated the administration fairly in the provision of health services, 43% rated it poorly, 5% good response, 0% very good and 0% excellent. It is, therefore, using the public poll responses, gathered that majority of respondents believe that the chairperson performed fairly in this area.
The statistics shows generally that the chairperson has performed poorly in education, good governance, Account & Stewardship and Youth Development while she has performed fairly in Health.
It is, therefore, advised that the IKORODU WEST LCDA chairperson needs to double up for a good and better governance.
IKORODU NORTH LCDA:
In the public poll conducted, 49% were males, while 51% were females. This shows that we have more female respondents. It also shows the age range of the respondents. Age 18 to 29 is 11%, age 30 to 49 is 55%, 50 and above is 34%. This also shows that the youth participation is Poor.
Education: The respondents admitted that he is 63% poor, 37% Fair, 0% Good, 0% Very good, 0% Excellent. That is, his competency in this sector is Poor.
Security: The respondents admitted that he is 73% Poor, 26% Fair, 1% Good, 0% Very Good, 0% Excellent. That is, his competency in this sector is Poor.
Good Governance : The respondents admitted that he is 80% Poor, 16% Fair, 4% Good, 0% Very Good, 0% Excellent. That is, his competency in this sector is Poor.
Accountability and Stewardship: The respondents admitted that he is 79% Poor, 18% Fair, 3% Good, 0% Very Good, 0% Excellent. That is, his competency in this sector is Poor.
Youth Development and Empowerment: The respondents admitted that he is 71% Poor, 15% Fair, 2% Good, 0% Very good, 0% Excellent. That is, his competency in this sector is Poor.
Health: The respondents admitted that he is 71% Poor, 26% Fair, 3% Good, 0% Very good, 0% Excellent. That is, his competency in this sector is Poor.
IGBOGBO/BAYEKU LCDA:
In the public poll conducted, 45% were males, while 55% were females. This shows that we have more female respondents. It also shows the age range of the respondents. Age 18 to 29 is 7%, age 30 to 49 is 63%, 50 and above is 30%This shows that the youth participation is Poor.
Education: The respondents admitted that he is 86% Poor, 14% Fair, 0% Good, 0% Very Good, 0% Excellent. That is, his competency in this sector is Poor.
Security: The respondents admitted that he is 81% Poor, 19% Fair, 0% Good, 0% Very Good, 0% Excellent. That is, his competency in this sector is Poor.
Good Governance: The respondents admitted that he is 95% poor, 5% Fair, 0% Good, 0% Very Good, 0% Excellent. That is, his competency in this sector is Poor.
Accountability and Stewardship: The respondents admitted that he is 95% poor, 5% Fair, 0% Good, 0% Very Good, 0% Excellent. That is, his competency in this sector is Poor.
Youth Development and Empowerment: The respondents admitted that he is 95% poor, 5% Fair, 0% Good, 0% Very Good, 0% Excellent. That is, his competency in this sector is Poor.
Health: The respondents admitted that he is 75% Poor, 25% Fair, 0% Good, 0% Very Good, 0% Excellent. That is, his competency in this sector is Poor.
IJEDE LCDA:
In the public poll conducted, 49% were males, while 51% were females. This shows that we have more female respondents. It also shows the age range of the respondents. Age 18 to 29 is 55%, age 30 to 49 is 44%, 50 and above is 1%. This shows that the youth participation is Poor.
Education: The respondents admitted that he is 10% Poor, 28% Fair, 52% Good, 9% Very Good, 1% Excellent. That is, his competency in this sector is Good.
Security: The respondents admitted that he is 14% Poor, 44% Fair, 38% Good, 4% Very Good, 0% Excellent. That is, his competency in this sector is Good.
Good Governance: The respondents admitted that he is 26% Poor, 32% Fair, 35% Good, 5% Very Good, 2% Excellent. That is, his competency in this sector is Good.
Accountability and Stewardship: The respondents admitted that he is 17% Poor, 41% Fair, 36% Good, 6% Very good, 0% Excellent. That is, his competency in this sector is Fairly Good.
Youth Development and Empowerment: The respondents admitted that he is 16% Poor, 35% Fair, 41% Good, 7% Very Good, 1% Excellent. That is, his competency in this sector is Averagely Good.
Health: The respondents admitted that he is 8% Poor, 47% Fair, 35% Good, 8% Very good, 2% Excellent. That is, his competency in this sector is Good.
IMOTA LCDA:
Education: Based on the above table, 39% of respondents gave the present administration good scores in their performance in the education sector. 25% of the respondents rated the chairman fairly, 23% rated him poorly, 8% rated him very good, while 5% rated him excellent. It can be deduced that majority of the respondents believe that the chairman performance is good in this area.
Security: In the area of securing lives and properties in Imota LCDA, 29% of the respondents rated the chairman fairly, 27% rated him poorly, 27% rated him good, 9% rated him very good and 8% excellent. It can , therefore, be deduced that majority of respondents believe the present administration performed fairly in this area.
Good Governance: Based on the public poll responses, 34% of respondents scored the administration good in provision of good governance, 23% respondents rated it fairly, 23% respondents rated it poorly, 12% respondents rated it very good while 8% respondents rated it excellent. This analysis shows that a large percentage of respondents believe the administration performed good in this area.
Accountability & Stewardship: The public poll result shows that 32% of respondents in IMOTA LCDA scored the chairman Good, 26% Poor, 19% Fair, 15% Very Good and 8% Excellent. Therefore, majority of our respondents believe that the chairman performed good in this area.
Youth Development: Based on the above table, 31% of respondents rated the administration Good on youth development,26% Poor , 20% Fair, 12% Very Good and 10% Excellent from the public poll. The public poll responses shows that majority of respondents believe that the chairman has given the youths an average attention.
Health: The above table analysis has shown that 35% of respondents rated the chairman good in the provision of quality health services, 22% rated him fairly, 17% rated him poorly, 16% rated him Very Good and 10% rated him Excellent. Therefore, majority of the respondents believe that the chairman of Imota LCDA has done well health wise.
The statistics shows generally that the chairman has good performance in education, health and good governance, while he has performed faily in terms of accountability and stewardship, youth development and security.
Samson Bisiriyu, the Executive Secretary, IDYI, in a release after the WhatsApp session, emphasized that the need to give people a say in governance necessitated the poll so as to know how much residents are being carried along.
He also said that the group sought audience with the Council Chairmen after the conduct of the survey but that only three made themselves available.
“The beauty of any administration is not only based on execution of projects but also ensuring proper representation of the people and leaving no gap in dissemination of information and also ensure proper communication with the people being governed.
“However, this can only be made possible if the people being governed can be given opportunity to express themselves. Hence, the need for feedback.
“Knowing fully well that Ikorodu Division Youth Initiative is apolitical and basically concerned about the interest of the division at large, the necessity to create a platform for the people to express themselves on how they’ve been governed by their respective chairmen became a child of necessity.
“While considering the need to give room for the denizens of Ikorodu Division to outpour their mind and rate their chairmen, it will be unjust to leave the chairmen of the division out of the process as this will only give a one-sided information and process.
As a result, the executive members of Ikorodu Division Youth Initiative requested to see the chairmen of the division and the following chairmen granted us audience. In no particular order: Hon. Wasiu Adesina, Chairman, Ikorodu Local Government, Bldr. Olusesan Daini Mayokun, the Executive Chairman, Igbogbo/Bayieku LCDA and Hon. Wasiu Kunle Agoro, the Executive Chairman, Imota LCDA.
“The above named council Chairmen only granted our audience for interview on Accountability and Stewardship report”.
In the release, it was also stated that the three Council Chairmen spoke on their efforts in the six areas of consideration and complained about limited resources at their disposals.
“They made known their efforts and achievements in the following areas so far; Education, Security, Empowerment, Youth Participation, Health and Infrastructures.
“They also made known their challenges regarding low internally generated revenue (IGR).
“As well as Ikorodu being one of the LGs getting low allocation from FAAC, Hon. Adeshina further emphasized that local government teachers’ salaries are deducted from the allocation and that the net is what is shared among the 6 LG and LCDAs without disclosing the amount each of the six councils gets”, the statement added.
Criticisms:
While many commended the efforts of the IDYI and described it as laudable and suggested that it must be encouraged, some criticised the survey due to the perceived loopholes found in the findings.
A social media activist and community developer, Mr Monday Ohi Obadan, contributing to the public presentation of the report, commended the initiative but expressed concerns over the period the survey was conducted and the report that was released.
“You have done fairly well within a limited perspective. It can be improved upon”, he said.
“I am only worried with the timing of the poll which was during the Covid-19 lockdown and restrictions period.
“So, responses could be jaundiced or premeditated or biased. Howbeit, it is a wakeup call”, he said.
Mr Mojeed Sanni, a blogger, queried why infrastructure development was ignored and not considered as a separate issue in the survey.
He further argued that the Chairman of Igbogbo/Bayeku LCDA is considered as one of the active chairmen in the division, especially in the area of infrastructural development, and wondered why he was rated poorly by the IDYI’s survey report.
“I am personally of the view that infrastructure is vital to be ignored in a survey of this magnitude. That @IgbogboBaiyeku is rated poorly in all segments is quiet worrisome considering that the Chairman is considered one of the active ones”, he said.
Some participants also queried why the survey did not conduct research to show the correlation between allocations and internally generated revenues and projects executed by the council chairman.
Others demanded to know why the report of the survey was released at this time among other criticisms and observations.
Meanwhile, Mr Oke Godwin Olaoluwa, a public commentator and economist, was of the view that the performance report should be a wakeup call on the council chairmen to improve on their communication.
“This should be an eye opener to the chairmen to improve on their communication channels to their constituents”.
IDYI BOT Chairman and Member, Board of the Lagos State Sports Commission, Dr Abiodun Fatai – Abatan, also contributing, said that the group can also conduct a separate research to show how incomes are expended by the councils.
“We can embark on another research to see the correlation between allocations to the councils and development in their various local government…”, he said.
