By Adenle Ahmed Abiola
Copyright theeagleonline
Governor Biodun Oyebanji of Ekiti State has mandated local government chairmen in the state to always hold citizens’ engagement before preparing their budgets as done by his administration at the state level.
This, according to the governor, is to ensure that initiatives and projects that speak to the needs of the people are included and executed.
Governor Oyebanji gave the directive on Thursday during the Town Hall Meeting and Citizens’ Engagement with the people of Ekiti North and Ekiti Central Senatorial Districts towards preparation of the 2026 Budget in the state where he also restated his commitment to always connect with the people in the grassroots to involve them in governance.
At the town hall meeting held in Otun Ekiti, representatives of communities from the five local government areas in Ekiti North-Ido/Osi, Moba, Ilejemeje, Oye and Ikole-tabled their requests while the representatives of communities cutting across the five local government areas in Ekiti Central-Ijero, Efon, Ekiti West, Irepodun/Ifelodun and Ado Ekiti-also submitted their requests for submission info the 2026 Budget in Ijero Ekiti.
The forum afforded the representatives of each of the council areas to appreciate the Governor for various completed and ongoing projects which they noted have changed the face of the communities and various empowerment programmes and policies rolled out to boost their standards of living.
However, they seized the opportunity to table many requests including township roads, inter-town and inter-community roads, electricity, potable water, hospitals and health centers, palaces, schools, ambulances, empowerment of citizens, security of lives and property, among others.
Representatives of artisans and the people living with disabilities also tabled their requests for inclusion in the 2026 Ekiti State budget.
Responding to requests from many communities for transformers to boost power supply, the Governor noted that local government chairmen should be able to provide transformers for towns and villages in their domains on the strength of improved allocations now accruing to them.
The Governor subsequently charged the Chairman of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) who also doubles as the Chairman of Ekiti East Local Government, Hon Segun Ojo, to rally fellow council chairmen to key into citizens’ engagement before preparing their budgets.
Oyebanji specifically directed the chairmen to invite community leaders and stakeholders in their council areas to town hall meetings to receive their requests in terms of projects in the grassroots into the budgets for the councils to be in sync with what the people want.
He said: “I agree with you that the state of our township roads in many parts of our state are unacceptable and we are going to find ways to attend to them. But is not too much for the local governments.
“Local government chairmen, you can still buy transformers from what comes into your coffers.
“ALGON Chairman, this is my advice: the same way we (the state government) visit our people to ask of their requests to be included into the state budget, the local government chairmen should do the same.
“The local government chairmen should sit down with their people and consider their requests to be included into council budgets.
“I now direct all chairmen of LGAs and LCDAs to hold meetings with traditional rulers, community leaders, party leaders, representatives of interest groups and I want to see the reports of such meetings. This should form part of oversight functions of the House of Assembly.
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“The 2026 budgets of the local governments should not be prepared without consultation with people living in such local government areas. This is very important and I want our council chairmen to consider doing what we are doing in terms of citizens’ engagement for budget preparation.”
Oyebanji said he was duty bound to connect with the people in the grassroots from time to time to give account of stewardship and to always ask of the needs of the citizens to be incorporated into the budget since his assumption of office in 2022 because he holds the mandate of the people to whom he must give account.
The Governor explained that he holds his regular interface with the people as an important project which speaks to his commitment to uphold the covenant he made with them at his inauguration expressing satisfaction that the annual engagement on budget has yielded many dividends in terms of projects and better standards of living.
“This shows that this meeting is not a waste. There is no budget year that we have not implemented one or two things requested by each of our communities.
“We may not have attended to everything but we have attended to a good number of requests of our people which can be seen in every part of the state.
“You have a governor that listens, you have a governor that cares and you have a governor that knows where the shoe pinches.
“This is why at the fullness of time, we will come back to request for your votes and we will point to those things we have done and the promises we have fulfilled,” he added.
He promised to devote a chunk of the 2026 Budget to provide credit facilities to artisans and the informal sector to boost the grassroots economy but he expressed dismay that the micro-credit loans rolled out by the past administrations were not returned by beneficiaries leading to a repayment of over N2 billion of unpaid loans by his administration.
The Governor disclosed that his administration’s investment in commercial agriculture has yielded dividends with young farmers in one of the five clusters making over N1 million in three months adding that clearing of more hectares of land has reduced kidnapping and other criminal activities.
He urged residents who are yet to register as voters to do so and obtain their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) in order to exercise their franchise in the forthcoming governorship election expressing confidence that his performance in the last three years are enough to sell his candidacy to his party and the electorate.
Earlier in his remarks, the Chief of Staff to the Governor, Mr Oyeniyi Adebayo, explained that the budget town hall meetings have become integral parts of governance in Ekiti to render account and feel the pulse of the populace on their needs for successive fiscal years.
Adebayo said Ekiti under Oyebanji has been widely acknowledged as a state that upholds probity, transparency and accountability which have deepened good governance and warned the Governor and the state prestigious awards.
The meetings in the two locations were attended by the Deputy Governor, Chief (Mrs) Monisade Afuye; Deputy Speaker, Ekiti State House of Assembly, Mrs Bolaji Olagbaju; the Head of Service,Dr Folakemi Olomojobi; the Oore of Orun Ekiti, Oba Adekunle Adeagbo who led other traditional rulers in Ekiti North; the Owa Ajero of Ijero Ekiti who led other monarchs in Ekiti Central where the Ewi of Ado Ekiti was represented by his chiefs, local government chairmen, community leaders and various interest groups.
