Ekiti State Governor, Biodun Oyebanji, on Thursday, urged the new chairmen of the 38 local governments and local council development areas in the state to place high premium on radical improvement of security of lives and property as well as revenue generation in their respective council areas.
He said they must work hard to consolidate the strong foundation laid by their predecessors, adding that his administration would not tolerate any form of security lapses.
The governor, represented by his deputy, Mrs Monisade Afuye, spoke in Ado Ekiti during the swearing-in of the new chairman and the vice chairmen.
The new council chairmen were elected during the December 2, 2023, local government election in the state.
Oyebanji, who restated commitment to stamping out bandits, kidnappers and other criminal elements out of Ekiti, charged the chairmen to prioritise security at all times, adding “You must be deliberate about this.”
“Your security plans and strategies should be communicated to me through the office of Special Adviser on Security as soon as you take over. I will not tolerate security lapses in your domains, therefore, ensure all critical stakeholders are carried along and are involved.”
He charged the new council bosses to be creative, saying, “You need money to run a successful administration. It is not enough to rely on federal and state allocations, you have to improve your internally generated revenue and ensure it forms a sizeable source of your funding revenue.
“One of your major performance metrics will be how much IGR you generate and how much it contributes to your project financing. The government will be looking at the possibility of giving conditional, mileage-incentive to councils with significant IGR improvement,” he said.
The Chairman, Ajoni LCDA, Michael Ogungbemi, who spoke on behalf of his colleagues, said the new council bosses would complement the governor’s move to rescue Ekiti from poverty, by replicating his policies at the local government level.
