BY DEMOLA AKINYEMI
ILORIN—Mr.Saheed Popoola of Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, and Chairman of  Offa Local Government Area in Kwara State has charged his colleagues across the country to   deliver dividends of democracy to all and sundry and fulfill their  campaign promises.

He said they should   look inwards  to generate  appreciable funds,  and bring fresh approach into governance, saying that period of dependence on federal allocations is gone forever.

Popoola said this  at the weekend in Offa, the council headquarters during the special prayers organised for the remaining second batch of  162 muslims intending pilgrims to this year pilgrimage to Kingdom of Saudi Arabia who he charged to pray for peace and development of the nation and appealed to them to be good ambassador of the country in the holy land..

According to him,” experience has shown that a time for our total dependence on federal allocation for everything has gone because the grant coming from the federal allocation  is grossly inadequate to meet the needs of the local government councils in the country so all efforts should be put in place so as to bring succour to the people of the grassroots”

He said, ”it is  based on this, the present administration in Offa local government  council has considered it important to embark on a more aggressive revenue generation drive in order to help the council to meet all the needs of the people and thereby providing avenue to add values to the socio well being of the local government”.

The chairman stated that, apart from this, it would also assist the council to aspire to  be self financing and self sufficiency towards having durable structures and amenities that are revenue-yielding capable of taking the council into a greater  height.

He added that, “ we have also  identified new sources of revenue which our task force on Internally Generated Revenue will examine and recommend how these can be effectively and efficiently harnessed for the economic prosperity of the council”.

While soliciting the support and cooperation of the people of the council for the task, Popoola however promised that, all revenue generated would be used to bring more dividends of democracy to the people of the council.

His administration, according to him,”has made it a matter of deliberate policy to infuse the principle of egalitarianism into governance to ensure fairness, gender equality,equity and justice in the distribution of dividends of democracy in Offa LGA.

Anyone that knew the condition of Offa local government area’s roads eight months ago  will now appreciate  the efforts of our administration in the area of road construction and rehabilitation.There are also remarkable achievements in the areas of education, sports, electricity, water and health.All these we have done to show our commitment to the people of the local government.