Service Delivery Not Negotiable, Says Fatigun Hon. Akintoba Adeniyi Fatigun is the chairman-elect for Ekiti Local Government Council Area of Kwara State in the just concluded election. A journalist and former Special Assistant, Media and Communications to former governor BUKOLA SARAKI, Fatigun spoke with journalists in Ilorin, the state capital, on the outcome of the council polls as well as his plans. Hammed Shittu presents the excerpts: What is your blue-print for the people of Ekiti council? You know that the state government and the ruling party in the state, PDP, have their own policy and programmes, so we are going to key into that and domesticate the policy in our respective councils. Apart from this, when I went round the communities in my local government council during my campaigns, I was able to get the direct needs of the people which are different from an individual community. While some are asking for water, some are asking for roads and health care provision among others. I have taken note of all these and I will ensure that their demands are adequately met so as to move the council forward. I want to tell you that our people are peasant farmers, so I will make a deliberate effort to ensure that agriculture in Ekiti local government is revolutionalised in all manners possible. We will support the farmers with farm implement and fertilizers to increase their productivity and also facilitate easy transportation of their farm produce to the nearby market for sales How do you intend to increase IGR in Ekiti to assist you meet your programmes? I want to say that our people are peasant farmers so we cannot impose taxes on them. They are mostly farmers and traders and it will be a major burden to impose taxes on them but what I plan to do is to partner the Bank of Agriculture and Bank of Industry to make loans accessible to my people in order to help them in the agriculture business and also boost their trading enterprise through this, we will be able to get taxes to complement our monthly internally revenue from the federal government Would you canvass for an increase in the federal allocations to councils? It is the duty of the government of the federation to share allocations, and I am aware that there is an existing sharing formula. If it is increased, it is better for the councils as this would go a long way to assisting the councils in adding values to the socioeconomic wellbeing of the rural dwellers. Besides, local government councils remain the closest government to the people at the grassroots in the country. How would you describe your party’s victory at the polls? For over a decade now, the PDP has been the only visible party in Kwara State. We are the only party with structures and as such, PDP was the only party that the people of Kwara saw in the last local government councils polls in the state. For instance, in my own case, I went round the nooks and crannies of Ekiti Local Government Council to meet with my people and I was the only person they saw and they poured their hearts to me, telling me about their hopes and aspirations. The PDP structures in kwara state also confirmed that the leadership qualities of SENATOR BUKOLA SARAKI are not in doubt because he has laid a good example which we are all following in the state. How do you describe the exercise? From my own point of view, the turn-out was massive and very impressive. In my own local government, the turn-out was unprecedented to the extent that I wondered where the people came from. The election was peaceful and the people were very happy as they cast their votes. I commend the good conduct of the Kwara State Independent Electoral Commission (KWASEIC) because they did very well in ensuring that the conduct of the election was without any problem. I also commend the good people of Ekiti Local Government Council because they came out en masse to perform their civic right.
Posted on: Fri, 01 Nov 2013 11:38:52 +0000
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