SAVE OUR SOUL MESSAGES TO SANWO OLU: Ijagemo Residents To Begin Hashtag Movement Over Lack Of Social Amenities

Residents and stakeholders of Ijagemo  have  vowed by all means to draw the attention of the Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo Olu on the reckless marginalisation by past administrations over lack social amenities in the community.

Ijagemo is a hugely populated community in the Ijegun , under Alimoso Local Government Area of Lagos State.

A cross section of stakeholders who spoke with DAILY FOCUS NIGERIA during week , lamented that since the return of democracy in 1999, people of the community are yet to feel the presence of the government.

They threatened to use all forms of campaign and communication strategies to draw the attention of Governor Sanwo Olu to at least visit the community in order to have a feel of the situation faced by residents .

The community stakeholders decried that lack of secondary school, roads , police station and general hospital is bane for socioeconomic development, even as they also accused past state governors of promising to provide amenities during election campaigns without fulfilling their pledges.

They also  described  the All Progressive Congress (APC) as a promise and failed political party.

According to High Chief Abdul Balogun Olayinka, a community leader, harped on the need for the current state government to visit the community adding that hashtag movement would soon come to play by residents of the community to attract the governor’s attention.

He said”The problems of the government are many and they do not care about getting to familiarize with the people and community. How do they know what to do when they know nothing about the community.

“We have to get them to come and see for themselves in the community.  None of the elected officials have visited Ijagemo to familiarize with the people on issues bothering them all they want is our vote. Even some of the councillors don’t know the number of villages here in Ijagemo.

“We have to start by trying to get them here to familiarize with Ijagemo. This is not the first time they are making such promises of fixing the roads.”

On his part, Mr. Patrick Valentine a church clerk stated that ” First of all, we need a good leader in the community then we need to unite amongst ourselves so we can mount pressure on our leaders. We should also make maximum use of the social media and if this does not work we protest.

Similarly, Olaiwola Olaiya an undergraduate, reiterated that the best way to drawn the attention of the government is to commence an online protest .

“We should engage ourselves with social media engagements on the government’s social media handles.

We should also speak to the councilors and let him see reasons why the government should visit this community. With this we can hopefully get the government to look into the situation of Ijagemo road.

While responding , an official of the state government name withheld called  on Governor Sanwo Olu to establish a Local Council Development Area  (LCDA)in order to draw government closer to the people.

He said “A L.C.D.A should be built in this community so the voice of the people can be projected through them. Building government secondary school and police station for the community and women empowerment scheme. The land project by The former governor Fashola should be built.

A bricklayer simply identified as Mr Lukman said ” I don’t know what we can do to get the attention of government. They always do whatever they want. I pray Allah touch their heart to remember the road.

“We in the community have been trying to do our bits but that road is not something that can be done by the people.”he lamented.

However, Mr Pius, A land owner: we just have to continue using every available means to tell them about the bad roads. It’s not as if people have not been talking but we should not give up let us continue using every available means to make our voices heard. The government always make promises. We hope they work the talk this time because fixing of this road is long overdue.

The World Bank had estimated a whooping $ 200m for Lagos State project for Development Policy Programme.

The Lagos State Development Policy Program consists of a series of two programmatic operations (second and third lagos state development policy operation) that supports the Lagos State Government (LASG) in its endeavor to improve public finances and the investment climate in support of sustained rapid growth and poverty reduction in a fiscally sustainable manner. The program encompasses four pillars of the development policy operation.

By Wisdom Eboigbe