History was made on Thursday 29th August,2024 as Honourable Bode Obanla,the Senior Special Assistant, SSA to Gov.Lucky Aiyedatiwa on Community Engagement for Ondo North officially presente the reports of the just concluded integrated conversations exercise to the Advisory Committee.
The official presentation holds at Bon.Hotel,Ijapo Estate,Akure has in attendance eminent political leaders from Ondo North.
The event was Chaired by Hon.Timilehin Adelegbe, Member House of Representatives for Owo/Ode Federal Constituent and Hon.Kolawole Babatunde as Chairman and Secretary respectively of the Advisory Council.
According to Hon.Obanla the Community Engagement exercise took him and his team 15days transversing the nooks and crannies of over 2,185klm into the entire 67 Communities and kingdoms in Ondo North.
According to Obanla in his opening address said it is very important for him and his team to lay the reports of the community engagement at the desk of the leaders of Ondo North.
Obanla explained that,” it’s the duty of the 23-Men Advisory Council to scrutinize and harmonize reports from various community as collated in the compendium reporting conduct of the exercise and transform it into an implementable document for the governor.
Obanla underscored the critical importance of the committee’s work saying that the report contained over 100pages the Chronological Order of the itinerary and his first assignment as an SSA to Gov. Aiyedatiwa.
‘it was the governor who tasked me to go and convene a strategic conversations with the people of Ondo North, to assess their immediate needs across all the communities to prioritize their concerns and recommend process of a systematic executions or solutions.
To this end, Obanla convened the first genuine truthful self appraisal known as OSSACE Community Engagement exercise interfacing with the respective community leaders.
In order to deliver on real time on this mandate Obanla immediately Constituted three strategic Committees, with the the Advisory Council of eminent Citizens of Ondo North who are leaders in their own rights as the Apex decision making body.
He also Constituted Local Government,LG Engagement Committee drawing members from across various wards and Communities as well as setting up the Media cum Publicity Committees respectively.
He did not forget to mention how he formed an alliance with the Local Government,LG and the Local Council,LCDA’s in conjunction with the Party Chairmen in tow who helped him draw the itinerary.
In his inaugural address, Hon.Adelegbe praised Obanla,the SSA’s for this highly innovative initiative which he described as as a significant departure from our mediocrity past and practices.
Adelegbe said, this is the first of his kind initiative from an Office of Government or a political office holder to organize an all encompassing community engagement to find out the people’s need before government projects often lacked community input.
He emphasized that this administration, under Gov. Aiyedatiwa’s visionary leadership, has proving to be responsible and sincere by adopting the bottom-up approach to governance also ensuring that community voices are heard and their needs addressed.
Adelegbe emphatically admonished the members of guest at the event that their doors are still open for memorandum and advice as the Advisory Council will immediately commense on streamlining the bulky report into an implementable document
He promised that he will hold Gov.Ayedatiwa accountable for all the requests made by the people of Ondo North Communities.
Adelegbe concluded that what Obanla has done with his team is highly unprecedented and it just an affirmation that both Gov.Ayedatiwa and Obanla are fully prepared for the task ahead to transform Ondo State.
A member of the Advisory Council who is high profiled Akoko born but Lagos based politician,Dr.adipupo Okeyomi observed that the bottom-top approach will not only promotes inclusivity but also enhances the effectiveness of government interventions, ensuring they are tailored to the pressing needs of the populace.
Okeyomi popularly refers to as Carry- Go by his political admirers noted that he doesn’t expect anything lesser from Obanla that it is now the responsibility of the Advisory Committee’s to properly analyze the Feedbacks from the engagements and lobby governor to integrate it into government plans and policies in a way that resonates with community aspirations.
Another respectable leader and member of the Advisory Council,Dr.Igbekele Daodu who shower compliments on Obanla for the taken such an initiative to quietly revolutionalised the entire Ondo North.
Daodu gave different appellations to the various strategic Committees Constituted by Obanla by calling the Advisory Council as ,”Aiyedatiwa Implementation Force” and the LG Engagement Committee as “Aiyedatiwa Integrity Force” promising a final delivery of the document to the governor.
Hon. Kolawole Babatunde, the Advisory Council’s Secretary, expressed confidence in the ability of members to deliver on this important mandate.
Amechi as Hon.Kolawole was usually addressed also commended Gov. Aiyedatiwa for the shift towards a more participatory project formulation and execution model, highlighting the necessity of a bottom-up approach for driving development, especially in rural areas.
In his closing remarks, Hon. Babatunde thanked all representatives from the Six Local Govt. Areas of Ondo North for their dedication and urged participants to intensify their efforts in supporting Aiyedatiwa’s upcoming re-election bid on November 16.
To the people of Ondo North the inaugural session marks a crucial advancement towards fostering stronger future community engagements and ensuring that government initiatives align with the genuine needs of the people of Ondo State.
The entire landscape in the Ondo North Senatorial District is now enveloped with excitement and renewed hope as they optimistically looks forward to the implementation of their needs to ameliorate their various sufferings and peculiar community related challenges.
