By Bose Adelaja

THE Lagos State Government intends to register about 21 million residents of the mega-city in the ongoing residents’ registration exercise which was flagged off four months ago by Governor Babatunde Fashola. The State Commissioner for Information, Mr. Lateef Ibirogba disclosed this while reacting to our story ‘Echoes of pains as Lagos residents’ registration enters 4th month’ which was published on Friday January 24.

The Commissioner appealed to Lagosians to be patient with the exercise, promising that Lagos State Residents’ Registration Agency, LASRRA will use everything at its disposal to ensure a successful registration in all the nooks and crannies of the state. Ibirogba who said the Government is aware of some the challenges the residents are grappling with, assured that the challenges would soon be overcome.

Planning of programmes

“We understand that the exercise requires us to register 21 million people and we are not shying away from this. We want to ensure that all Lagosians are registered and whatever teething problem arises from this, shall be corrected.
Problems always arise whenever a new idea is introduced but we implore Lagosians to show understanding the same way they have been doing with all our programmes.

The LASRRA exercise will help all of us; when we know our residents as well as their geographical area, we will be able to site our projects and plan our programmes based on their need rather than get worked up. This will interest many of us to be part of the exercise,” he said.

He commended those who have visited the various registration centers but felt frustratedwith the slow pace of the exercise. “ They should not be discouraged in any way, rather, they should see it as a sacrifice,’’ he said.

Registration centers
The Commissioner disclosed that there are about 211 registration centres scattered all over the the state.
‘’Many Lagosians belong to one Local Government or the other and as a result, we have centers in all the 20 Local Governments and the 37 Local Council Development Areas, LCDA’s and we are making the exercise flexible to the best of our ability.

If we receive an invitation that there are about 100 residents who can come together for registration, we shall quickly deploy our officials to such locations. Perhaps you reside in an estate or you belong to a church, group or an association and you are about 100 in number, you can invite us and we shall respond immediately.
The only thing is that our officials are not permanent in such places; they leave the area to respond to invitations from others,’’ he clarified.

Operation in rural areas
Continuing, Ibirogba said, ‘’We don’t have difficulty in reaching the rural areas. The problem of  electricity is not a barrier as our machines have rechargeable batteries as well as back ups. Apart from these, all our machines have generating sets to power them; so that registration of people will not be a problem.’’

He explained that the response so far is a proof that people have confidence in the State Government. ‘’This is a proof that people have confidence in the government which will not disappoint them. We know that everybody belongs to a group; be it religion or social group. All they need to do is to write us and we shall bring the exercise to their doorstep,” he said.

The Commissioner enjoined Lagosians to take advantage of the mobile team in their areas. ‘’As our mobile team are going round, Lagosians only need to take advantage of their presence. Getting in touch with the various Local Council Areas should not be a problem to Lagosians. For example, Ikorodu has six LCDAs which has a registration centre each besides the ones in Ikorodu Central adjacent the General Hospital while another one was located at Ita-Elewa as well as Ayangburen area. We implore Lagosians to be patient and get themselves registered.

They should not allow unscrupulous ones to frustrate their effort. If somebody is on the queue, he should ensure nobody jumps the queue or frustrate others. Also, Lagosians should oragnise themselves and refuse to be intimidated in any way. We should understand that the programme is for all of us and no self centered ones should be allowed to frustrate our effort or jump the queue. Apart of the LASRRA officials, there is a team from Ministry of Information which are mandated to monitor the exercise.

I am in touch with leaders of various communities to ensure the exercise is a success. So far, no fewer than One million people have been registered and our target is to register about 20 millions more, so it will be immature to castigate the exercise in the fourth month,’’ he said.