Council chairman targets empowerment for 200 million people in Lagos 

…bags Best Local Government Chairman award 

CITIZENS COMPASS –The council chairman of Agboyi-Ketu Local Council Development Area (LCDA), Mayor Dele Oshinowo, has reeled out his achievements during his two-term regime.

Among these were financial empowerment targeted at 200 million traders, construction of a mini-stadium , an Information Communication Technology (ICT) hub and remodeling of the secretariat.

The council chairman reeled out the achievements during a tour of the projects by the members of the National Association of Security News Publishers (NAOSNP) who recently paid a courtesy visit to the Council.

NAOSNP members were led by its National President, Oki Samson.

On the team of Mayor Osinowo was his Special Adviser on ICT and Infrastructure, Tosin Ogundipe and Council Manager, Samson Akinbami, among others.

The courtesy visit captured some of the notable achievements of the chairman.

It highlighted the mini stadium, aimed at engaging youths and discovering talents.

Among the talents discovered at the LCDA was football star, Osaze Odemwingie.

The visit also captured Infrastructure development including the 1.2km Agboyi Odo Road which was completed within  four months in 2023 despite regulatory limitations. 

The project connects Alapere bus stop for easy access among residents.

Among other accomplished projects by Osinowo are 279 units Raymond, Greenwich, and Sterling estates through Public Private Partnership (PPP).

Recently, the Council Chairman received an award as the Best Local Government Chairman on Grassroots Governance of the year.

The award took place at the just concluded NAOSNP’s 2024 National Security Conference, Awards and Exhibition which was held at the Ball Room, Oriental Hotel, Victoria Island in Lagos.

Speaking about the idea behind the mini stadium, the Special Adviser said this was a child of necessity conceived during various sporting events organised by the Council.

Going down memory lane, he said the Secretariat did not have a convenient place to host such an event a reason it was temporarily held at Apollo Sports Ground in Ketu but gradually, a missionary church, The Apostolic Church(TAC) expanded and took over the venue and this temporarily suspended the sporting activities.

He said, “What brought about the mini stadium was that, some years back, sporting activities were held at Apollo Sports Ground, Ketu where we usually participate in different sporting activities, such as football, taekwondo, karate, table tennis drawing participants from Agboyi to gather but later, the missionary (The Apostolic Church) took over the place which simply means there was no place for the sporting activities.

“A football star, Osaze Odemwingie participated in Apollo which was a huge success to us.

“However, lack of venue possed a major challenge to us as we had to think behind the box to avoid wasting talents.”

To address this, the chairman opted for multiple mini-stadia across the LCDAS, including Agboyi, Olorunda, and Ajegunle.

“The stadium under construction is about 70-75 per cent fully powered with flood light.”

Osinowo also recalled his ambition to become a council chairman saying this is an opportunity to serve his constituents, “The award is a call to service and  something I have been looking forward to since 1998. I recall when I was working with late Tunde Braimoh, a former council chairman of Agboyi-Ketu and former member of the Lagos State House of Assembly, popularly known as ‘Big Daddy’ representing Kosofe Constituency 2,  I usually said within me that one day, I would become the council chairman to enable me serve my people.

“I started vying for the local government chairmanship position since 2010 and contested in 2011 but had to step down for a candidate and was given the position as Secretary to the local government under the late Mr Obafemi Durosinmi.

“In 2017, I won the All Progressive Congress (APC) primary election and became the flag bearer of the Party for the local government election which I eventually won and since then, we have been championing good governance in Agboyi Ketu which has recorded various achievements.

“In terms of Empowerment, we have empowered about 6,000 people in our relief program which started with empowering people with N50,000. We do on-sight assessment of market traders backed up with innovations.”

He said in 2024 alone, 125 traders have been empowered with about 1,500 people on the queue.

“Our target is to empower 200 million people within the LCDA..We have started gradually and will succeed.”

Apart from infrastructural projects, Mayor Osinowo said the Council had embarked on youth empowerment/skill acquisition program, “We have trained people in different skills.and thereafter empowered them with equipment and funds by dividing them into groups and providing shops for them to put the skills into practice.”

Corroborating his Special Adviser, he said,  “In terms of sporting activities, we are almost done with a mini stadium which will  be commissioned soon.”

The Community Development Associations are not left out in the area of development. “In terms of community development, we have organised community development programmes for our various residents associations  and this has brought about strong collaboration with them.”