By Demola Akinyemi

The chairman, Offa local government area of kwara state Hon Saheed Olalekan Popoola of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN is the only opposition party member among the 16 local government executives in Kwara Sate.
In this Interview with Vanguard’s Demola Akinyemi,in Offa, the council chairman, narrates his experiences thus far since he assumed office some few months ago.
Excerpts:

What was the journey like in your quest for this office?

I need to first and foremost let you know that among other towns and even local government in the state, Offa has its own peculiarities, in terms of politics, ideas, tradition and customs among others which make it entirely different from others.

This has been widely acknowledged over the years by the stakeholders, in terms of  high profile political principle, and independent mindedness, which sends a seemingly wrong impression that an average Offa indigene is stubborn. You cannot lord your opinion on an average person, because they know what they want. I am a product of the choice of the generality of Offa among others irrespective of my party affiliation, because of certain qualities, they found in me. They know my antecedent, and what I am capable of doing, and by the grace of Allah, I will not disappoint them.

What is your opinion of the continued existence of the Joint LG account?
Well, the issue of joint account has been on in the state before my election, and above all, it has been legislated in the State House of Assembly.

It will also take the majority of the State Assembly to disband the joint allocation if they so wish, so no opposition local government can exist in isolation. But the truth is that joint allocation should be scrapped so that the council’s allocation from the federation account could be getting to the councils directly for development to get to the grassroots as expected.

In the interest of the purpose for which local governments area created, they should be made independent. Offa local government, because we are of the Action Congress of Nigeria cannot disjoint from the joint allocation account in Kwara State.

How far have gone in fulfilling your commitments to the people of Offa local government?
Offa, is blessed with many people in high places, we have contacted them for help and they have been of great assistance .

Already, we have asked the unemployed to be submitting their credentials. I am glad to inform you that a large number of them have been gainfully engaged, and we are not relenting in our efforts to ensure that more unemployed are employed. Our major target is roads, and water. To this extent, we have repaired 80 boreholes that have been damaged over the years, and sunk 10 additional ones to ensure that our people have water to drink. Our major problem here is road, so when we came we set up committee that embarked on rehabilitation of roads.

We also have a plan to celebrate the creation of Offa local government, which will be twenty by 28th August, 2011. We will seize the occasion to look at the journey so far and project Offa in the next twenty years and give award to indigenes like Ambassador Tuni Olagunju  and others who have done the town proud in one way or the other. Already, we have set up a committee headed by Alh Hassan Oyeleke, the first chairman of this council.

What is your reaction to the ongoing minimum wage crisis?

I am in full support for better life for my people, the pay is nothing to write home about. And I want the federal government to empower the 776 local governments to pay by increasing our allocations by 200% that is when we can be able to pay.

We cannot pay with the present allocations because after the minimum wage pay, the whole councils will be grounded financially. So that needs to be looked into urgently.