The newly sworn-in council Chairman of Ekiti local government area of Kwara State, Com. Yinka Dallas has promised a complete turnaround of the LG under his stewardship.
Dallas made this disclosure at his official inaugural address at the local government secretariat, in Osi, stressing that with a meticulous implementation of his blueprint tagged ‘5 point broad Agenda’s, the fortune of the LG will turn around for the better.
According to his speech themed ‘towards building a prosperous future’, he promised to face Security, Agriculture, Education, Health and Sport, stressing that with these 5 broad sectors, the narrative of Ekiti LG will change for the better, he however solicited the support of all stakeholders especially the opposition towards actualising this plans.
The speech reads “I stand here today humbled and elated, but uncertain of what the future holds, for our dearly beloved local government of origin. I am humbled for the fact that, looking around towns and villages making up Ekiti LG, we have abundance of human resources as symbolised by thousands of sons and daughters of EKITI Kwara descent, making waves across the globe, who could have been standing here today addressing you as the executive Chairman of this historic geographical enclave called Ekiti LG.
“The council under my leadership will not operate on the basis of partisanship, the task ahead is onerous, it requires the collaboration of all and sundry, the political parties (APC and opposition parties especially the PDP), organised labour with special preference for NULGE, whose members’ll be the drivers of our programmes and policies, the traditional institution, religious authorities, market associations, Youth and Students groups among other important stakeholders will all be needed towards bringing to reality our vision for this Local government.
“It is an over-flogged reality that the local government system in Nigeria as presently constituted, is almost comatose, elementary responsibilities like salary payment is now a hard nut to crack by LG administrators, revenue accruable to LGs from the federation account is not enough to even pay salaries talkless of embarking on some other necessary projects especially infrastructural facelift, which is badly required in an agrarian local government like ours. With this sad reality, the only way out is for us all to work with unity of purpose, eschew and move away from our fault lines, downplay our divides and pull resources together towards bringing about the prosperous LG of our dreams.
“It’ll be foolhardy for me to claim to know it all, I can’t in all sincerity claim to have the monopoly of repository of ideas which is required to change the tide of our LG and that is why we all must come together by pulling resources (human, natural and liquid) in a pool, towards assuring a prosperous future for ourselves and the generations to come. All hands must be on deck across political lines, if this must be achieved and that’s why we can’t afford to work at cross purposes, if all we truly care about is serving our people.
“Under my watch, the incessant farmers/herdsmen clash will be banished from Ekiti LG, we’ll make both sides see reasons why they are both important towards actualising the Ekiti Kwara of our dreams. We’ll sitdown with all relevant stakeholders, with special focus on Farmers and herdsmen and workout a mutually beneficial co-habiting relationship, where nobody will be above the law, we’ll not hesitate to implement the laws to the fullest when needs be, the era of encroachment by cows will be banished under my watch” he stressed.
Speaking on how to tackle unemployment, he promised to engage the youths through Agriculture, adding that he’ll encourage farmers to form corporative societies.
“Our Agricultural interventions will be multi-faceted, it’ll be aimed at ensuring food security and fueling Agriculturally induced commercial activities, whereby we’ll provide the food requirements across Kwara and beyond in partnership with relevant stakeholders with special preference for the Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed led Kwara State Government’s Off-takers demand driven Agriculture serving as a template, thereby saving the farmers the stress of searching for market for his farm produces” he added.
On how to achieve a turnaround in the education sector, he promised improve the education standard through Education revival crusade (EDUREC), stressing that absentee teachers will be shown the way out of the system.
He however promised to operate an open door policy, stressing that the task ahead is daunting, but surmountable with all hands on deck.