Lagos State House of Assembly, Committee Chairman on Economic Planning and Budget; Hon Saaid Olumoh, representing Ajeromi Constituency 01, has come under heavy criticism from some sections of his constituents for the politicization of his constituency projects.
According to them, rather than consult with people from his constituency to know the road projects to prioritize, he sent his cronies who don’t even live in these areas and brought the supervising agency. “Nobody knows the parameters he used to choose the projects and the people that were picked to supervise the road project”, one of the residents said.
A community leader who spoke on condition of unanimity said, the lawmaker didn’t want the people to accord glory to the community leaders.
A political leader in Ward A said, he appreciates the massive projects attracted by the lawmakers to the ward but, he is not happy with the way the road projects are selected especially coming from the people they least expected, who are now the ones informing them of what’s happening in their area.
For the Councillor representing Ward A and also deputy leader Ifelodun LCDA, Hon Hassan Sulaiman, “the entire Community is happy about the project Hon Olumoh attracted because it is part of the development of the area and the duty of the representative in government. However, that does not mean that people should overlook the breach of protocol which implies that the people should be carried along on the matters that concern them because the improper handling of the nomination was done in a manner that smacks of political sentiment.
He noted that he has a very cordial relationship with Hon Olumoh. Still, he wondered why his area was sidelined despite writing a series of letters to call the attention of the agency responsible for urgent attention. He stated further that his area had been mentioned among the areas initially slated to be done, but to his surprise, it was not included. Sulaiman said he would not complain much since the lawmaker’s action smacks of politics so it will not look as though he has issues with the lawmaker.
Former Supervisor for Works at Ifelodun Council, Engr Tunde Omojuwa said Hon Olumoh had earlier explained to him that the omission of the roads people complain about is not deliberate but promised that areas would be captured in the next round of intervention projects.
Omojuwa however explained that LASURA Projects are those initiated by Community Development Associations and not written or requested by individuals. He added that information revealed that Okoya CDA didn’t include Moshalashi Street in their request.
An executive of the Community Development Association whose area was excluded said, the excluded areas are even the most deserving to be done. However, in the lawmaker’s wisdom, he didn’t see it as such, he would not join issues with him.
Hon Saaid Olumoh in his explanation however appealed to the people for patience because there are criteria for considering urban renewal projects. He noted that most of the roads in the Okoya neighborhood lack proper drainage systems and that is the starting point. This obviously, refers to the recent agreement emanating from the meeting of Mr. Speaker Hon Mudashiru Obasa with the Senate and House of Reps Committee members on works that seek consent for Lagos state, to fix Federal roads in the state.
Hon Olumoh explained further: “How can I neglect the roads, we are doing drainage solution, the roads are of categories, the State is trying, taking over maintenance of federal roads and the local government will augment State’s efforts by maintaining some State roads and our Chairman has just recently awarded some roads there too. It will be better as we are hoping that our Honourable House of Representative member would attract some roads too,” Hon Olumoh said.
