The chairman of Ojodu Local Council Development Area (LCDA), Segun Odunmbaku, says 14 mini-buses have been released to ease movement for residents in the LCDA.

Mr Odunmbaku said this in a statement while marking his second year in office on Saturday in Lagos.

He said the release of the mini-buses was part of the palliative measures taken by his administration to cushion the effects of the fuel subsidy removal on the people of Ojodu and its environs.

Mr Odunmbaku said to cushion the impact of the current economic hardship, plans were also underway to provide free shuttle buses for students and pupils when school resumed in September.

The chairman assured residents of the area that his administration was committed to improving their standards of living.

He said in the last two years, the LCDA, under his leadership, had carried out development projects cutting across sectors such as health, education, environment, youth empowerment, and social infrastructure, including road rehabilitation.

According to him, seven roads in the council area have been given face-lift, while over 2,000 youths have been empowered with skills as part of efforts to reduce unemployment.

“With the level of deficit infrastructure that we met, it was necessary for us to have a vision and narrow down our needs into these four acronyms.

“I have been privileged to be the secretary in Ikeja Local Government and Ojodu LCDA before taking up the mantle of the chairmanship.

“So, I gained one or two experiences and was prepared for the office by knowing that, if given the mandate, I would want to do things differently.

“In the health sector, we did a survey of the Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs).

“At that time, we had six PHCs in Gbadamosi, Aguda, Oluwole Ogba, Akiode, and Akpata, and we commissioned one, six months into this administration, then the new one at Agidingbi.

”Out of the seven, we have been able to upgrade two to 24-hour services, which are Akpata and Gbadamosi,” he said.

Mr Odunmbaku said that relevant stakeholders had been engaged, as plans were afoot to take the PHC in Gbadamosi and Akpata to full-fledged maternity.

He said that given the challenge of epileptic power supply, the council was planning to equip the PHCs with alternative power sources in terms of solar panels and inverters.

The chairman said the council had been able to do three while reaching out to multinationals to get three done in the next two years so that the PHCs could have sufficient power supply for their operations.

He also said that arrangements were underway, in partnership with the Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), to turn waste into energy and boost electricity supply.

The chairman urged residents of the area to be patient and continue to cooperate with the government at all levels while urging them against indiscriminate dumping of refuse

He said that residents should look forward to more poverty-alleviating initiatives from his administration, including the widows’ food bank and protein day, during which meat would be sold at a very low price.

Mr Odunmbaku said that on other palliative market days, all items would be sold at a subsidised rate of N1,000 for each product bought.

He added that his administration was planning to decongest the Ogunnusi Road by opening and upgrading inner roads.

On Corporate Social Responsibility, the council chairman berated some big organisations in the area for not engaging in such noble responsibilities.

Mr Odunmbaku said the council had raked in between N60 million and N70 million as Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) in the last year.

He added that his government was still trying to improve IGR.

Mr Odunmbaku also hinted at plans to redevelop the popular Sunday market to take in more people.

(NAN)