The people of Owode-Ajegunle community, in Ikorodu Local Government Area of Lagos State, have expressed their dissatisfaction with the manner they were continually being neglected by the state government.
While they acknowledged the giant strides the current administration was making to improve the lives of residents of the state, they complained that they were being deprived of benefiting from such developmental projects.
They particularly cited as a sore point of concern, the brazen breach of promises made to them by Governor Akinwunmi Ambode during his electioneering campaign.
At a recent enlarged forum held in the community, which had in attendance the Baale (traditional ruler) of Owode, the Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Nigeria Police Force, Brethren of Elite Club and presidents of Community Development Associations (CDAs) of Owode-Ajegunle community, in the Ikorodu axis of Lagos, the gathering reminded Governor Ambode of his campaign promises to the people of Owode-Ajegunle, observing that, so far, the residents of Owode-Onirin are yet to be beneficiaries of the development agenda of Governor Ambode. This has forced many to view his promises as empty political boasts.
Many of those who aired their views at the forum noted that Lagos Island has been the major beneficiary of Governor Ambode’s development programme so far; and that since Governor Ambode has been elected Owode-Onirin Ajegunle has been neglected in terms of solid infrastructures, water and power supply.
They recalled that on several occasions, letters of complaint from aggrieved people living in the axis were sent to the Governor and other eminent functionaries in his administration.
The spokesperson of Brethren Elite Club of Owode-Ajegunle recalled that during the 2015 electioneering campaign, promises made by the governorship candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Akinwumi Ambode, now the Governor, and which was visibly embedded in the party’s manifesto, included his plan to embark on massive road construction across the state, environmental upgrading and beautification, maintenance of law and order, improvement in education provision in terms of children’s access to schooling at various levels and quality of learning. The club said that currently Lagos State and in particular Lagos metropolitan city was undergoing massive transformation, unfortunately, Owode-Ajegunle community is not included in the plan, making the people of the area increasingly worried, and shaking their trust in the present administration.
Noting that residents of Owode-Ajegunle were desirous of a better life characterised by a clean environment, motorable roads, good drainage system, potable drinking water, school for children, primary health care facilities and a healthy environment, Brethren Elite Club said it could authoritatively say that the community still lacks these basic amenities despite the fact that Owode-Ajegunle community voted massively in the election for the APC.
“It’s so sad and painful that the whole community does not have a single public school for her children. More seriously, there is flooding in the community occasioned by wholesale release of dam water from Oyo/Ogun states; absence of and lack of proper concrete-enclosed canals to channel the excess water to the lagoons, and the absence of potable water where the Water Corporation’s pipe terminates at Owode Elede.”
Listing the modest contributions of Brethren Elite Club to the development and security of the community to include “provision of a telephone line to the Owode Police Station and monthly recharge of N10,000; construction of a traffic control stand that was used for a very long time; and donation of money for the repairs and overhaul of the station’s operational vehicles, at different times” they said they had also engaged the different DPOs of the station on strategies for combating crime in the neighbourhood, especially during the time car snatching and early morning robbery was rampant.
They therefore beseeched Governor Ambode to take drastic steps to ameliorate the suffering of the masses of the community.