14th October, 2011
Hon. Emmanuel Olarenwaju Bamgboye is seeking a second term in office as vice-chairman of Mushin Local Government. In this interview, he reflects on the first three years in office, the achievements of the administration and why the electorate would return the Action Congress candidates in the forthcoming election
The entire team, including your Chairman, Hon. O. Adepitan were returned by the Action Congress to contest the forthcoming election. How come we have not heard any voice of dissent as in other local governments?
First, I need to tell you that you don’t change a winning team. It’s like the story of the agama lizard that fell from the top of a palm tree unhurt and said if nobody hails it, it will blow its own trumpet. What I mean is, we have put in our best in the first term that the electorate are appreciative and are ready to give us a second chance. Again, the case of Mushin is a unique one. Since our leaders agreed among themselves and decided that the entire cabinet be given a second chance, we have no choice than to toe the party line. The acceptance of the entire cabinet for a second term by the people is a reflection of our performance during the first term.
Talking about achievements, can you quickly list what you did in the last three years?
We did lots of construction work on various road networks. For example, Akinboyode, Papa Ajeno, all together six roads in that zone, and Alfa-Nla where there are also five roads in that axis. In total, we have constructed 14 new roads in the local government and resurfaced quite a substantial number.
In the area of education, we constructed six classrooms in Ejirin Primary School. Also at Odo-Abore we constructed and renovated classrooms in various other places, including Itire Senior Secondary School, which falls directly within my constituency. Also, we supply exercise books and books to primary schools in Mushin. We obtain GCE and JAMB forms for our students and organise coaching classes for them on a yearly basis. On the issue of health, we renovated public Health Care centres, bought ambulances and introduced free health care for the old people. We also have free eye-care programme for the people in the local government.
Let’s talk about your constituency, Itire
We have a lot of plans for Itire, but unfortunately we couldn’t implement them during our first term in office. We have not yet started executing them, but if re-elected, we intend to construct 30 streets within the area. We proposed 42 streets but 30 were approved under the World Bank Project facilitated by Governor Babatunde Fashola. There is this World Bank/Lagos Metropolitan Development Government Project and Governor Fashola has created a board to oversee its activities. The reason they created that board was to save the lives of the people in the swampy areas. We are happy that Itire is one of such beneficiaries. So, Itire should thank the Fashola administration in Mushin Local Government led by Honourable Adepitan. We are also going to upgrade some markets in Itire. For example, we are upgrading the Ola market to a modern market. The two secondary schools in Itire, that is Itire Senior Secondary School and Igbo-Owu, are receiving a face-lift. We have serious plans for Itire. If all these things are completed during our second term of office, it will change the entire landscape. It will be a serious development and it will boost employment.
We also plan to upgrade Odo-Eran market. In fact, there are so many things we are going to do that I cannot unfold here.
The question agitating the minds of those in Odo-Eran area of Itire is, why is the place not linked to Apapa/Oshodi Expressway?
There has been mixed reactions to the issue of linking the area to the express, while some argued that it will open up the area and accelerate development, others expressed fear that it will escalate armed robbery attacks. But we are seriously studying the situation.
What are the chances of your party in the forthcoming local government elections?
We have a 100% chance of winning. The voters know we are performing. We have 100% assurance that we are going to receive our mandate from the electorate. There will be landslide victory for ACN in Mushin. We have been enjoying enormous goodwill from the people. Again, we are not relenting. We are holding meetings with different groups and the responses have been favourable. I cannot mention names here, but we are confident we shall win. My advise to the voters is that they should come out en-masse and vote for us. We don’t want violence before, during and after the election. I want to make a promise that by the grace of God, if they vote us back to power, we shall not disappoint them.