Odeda local government elected their first female Executive Chairman, Hon. Folasade Adeyemo based on her campaign mantra “GBAYI”
Gbayi is a popular parlance amongst the people of Odeda which connotes something prestigious; hence the saying “Odeda Gbayi, O’gbeye”
But in the case of Hon. Folasade GBAYI mantra, she meant something even deeper than a mere prestige for the people of Odeda local government as she coined her GBAYI after the ISEYA mantra of Prince Dapo Abiodun; the Executive Governor of Ogun State.
She defined GBAYI as an acronym which stands for
G- Good Governance
B- Better and improved Quality Education
A- Accessible and Affordable Health Care
Y- Youth/Women Empowerment
I- Infrastructure, Agriculture, Security etc
Hon. Folasade Adeyemo have been able to give a good account of her stewardship within her 100 days in office as she laid a massive unprecedented landmark achievement that cut across her campaign promises to the good people of Odeda local government.
Let’s take a tour round her scope of work, as guided by the aforementioned GBAYI mantra.
Health/Sanitation
Immediately after she was sworn in, Hon. Folasade Adeyemo hit the ground running by launching KYECC (Keep Your environment Clean Campaign), KYECC addressed key issues in the area of Health, Environmental Sanitation and personal hygiene.
Haven just returned from a Nation-wide total lock down due to Covid-19 epidemics, the Chairman decided to prevent the breakout of Cholera in Odeda Local Government by mobilizing the OGWARMA team and the heath department of the council to a vigorous and thorough evacuation of all illegal refuse dumpsites across the local government.
KYECC exercise was kicked off at OLG pry school Obantoko where an illegal refuse site that has been constituting nuisance and health risk to the pupils of the school, and residents of Somorin area of Obantoko for years was evacuated, and the spot converted to a flower bed by the Hon. Folasade led administration; restoring normalcy to the atmosphere of OLG pry School Obantoko and their neighbours. .
Hon. Folasade Adeyemo therefore, declared war against illicit dumping of refuse by imposing a penalty up to the tune of Twenty Thousand Naira for the environmental sanitation violators.
The Chairman did not stop at just evacuating illicit dunghills, but she went further by engaging relevant professionals in the health sector to orientate and sensitize the people of Odeda local government on the hazards of proliferation and degradation of our immediate environments.
The Chairman partnered with Rural Water and Sanitation Agency (RUWATSAN), whose responsibility was to tour all the rural areas in Odeda local government, orientate and educate the people on how to maintain personal hygiene and warn the people to desist from Open defecation as that may lead to outbreak of Cholera and some other water-borne diseases.
Still in the health sector, Hon. Folasade Adeyemo personally joined the team of Society for Family Health (SFH) to monitor the door-to-door distribution of Mosquito Nets to all the inhabitants of Odeda LGAs; both in the rural and urban centres in a bid to eradicate Malaria in our local government.
The Chairman also ensures that there is regular supply of drugs and reagents in our health centres, and vaccines for the immunization of all the children in Odeda local government without any discrimination.
Hon. Folasade Adeyemo has also taken a tour round all the Primary Health Care centres across Odeda Local Government to ascertain both the physical and working conditions of the facilities, not only that, but to put all the health centres in perfect working condition.
Infrastructure:
Hon. Folasade Adeyemo has taken a very giant step in fixing a majority of the bad portion of Abeokuta-Ibadan Express way that span between Obantoko and Odeda town.
The Chairman and her team started the palliative repair at Kotopo/VIO office area, Camp, Odeda local government.
The bad portion of the road was fixed, and every blocked gutter around the axis was evacuated to give room for a good drainage system.
It was through this brave initiative that Ogun State House of Assembly decided to intervene on the issues of portholes repair across some key areas in Ogun State; and the road from Obantoko-Odeda town was listed among the roads to be fixed.
Hon. Folasade Adeyemo led administration has in place an agreement through Public-Private Partnership (PPP) to build 66 lock-up shops and 14 open Stalls at Gbonagun market on BOT (A Build-Operate-Transfer) terms.
The chairman has also approved the sinking of borehole and construction of modern toilet system at Kila market, Ilugun ward, in Odeda local government.
Construction and erection of 200 watts Double panel floodlights at Daboyin village, via Olugbo, Odeda LGA.
However, through her open system of governance, Hon. Folasade Adeyemo has been able to win the love of many sons and daughters of Odeda local government who have decided to join hands with her to make Odeda local government an envy of others, it was in this light that one of the daughters of the soil from Alabata village, Mrs. Bunmi Ibrahim née Sanusi lent a helping hand to the council by sinking a borehole at the secretariat, and she also helped in painting some offices at the council headquarters.
Hon. Folasade Adeyemo has also visited all the major markets in Odeda local government, on that particular tour, the chairman penned down the key area of needs in the market such as, renovation of damaged stalls and construction of new ones where necessary.
Agriculture
Odeda local government is the food basket of Ogun State and by extension, one of the biggest hub for farm produce in Nigeria, and for this reason the Chairman has within her 100 days in office engaged RAAMP (Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project) officers in a tour across all the villages to assess the condition of their roads in a bid to make them motorable for the ease of transporting farm produce to the market and thereby creating a perfect value chain between the farmers, the marketers, consumers, food processors and other people that fall within the value chain.
Good Governance:
The Chairman kicks off her administration by calling for reconciliatory meeting where she pleaded to all the political stakeholders in Odeda local government to desist from factional politics and embrace oneness and unity of purpose; which is to serve the good people of Odeda local Government
Still on her intervention on the welfare of the people of Odeda local government, Hon. Folasade Adeyemo in collaboration with NAWOJ (National Association of Women Journalist), Ogun State Chapter, organized a picnic for all the women in Odeda villages to mark this year International Day for Rural Women.
The Chairman ensured that the gathering addressed some critical needs of the women in the rural areas as different workshop was held to educate, sensitize and inspire the women in the rural areas to become better in their daily ways of life.
Every participant enjoyed a free medical checkup and a majority were given drugs to combat their heath challenges as guided by the medical experts.
Different medical lectures were delivered to the women on how to keep their body souls and minds together so that they live a healthy live.
In a bid to assure the people of Odeda that her administration will not neglect anyone in Odeda LG, Hon. Folasade Adeyemo also donated two (2) brand-new Wheelchairs to the physically challenged in Odeda LGA.
The agricultural department of the council also educates the women on how to go about their farming business without going through the rigours of the old way of farming by giving the women hints as to how they can use modern seedlings, farming with modern equipment among the rest.
The Chairman also showered the women with gifts such as Sanitary Pads, Cooking Condiments, Fabrics, and the logistics of participants that came from far distance was covered by the Chairman.
All these were done so that everyone in Odeda local government can boast of enjoying the dividend of democracy.
Different groups, political parties were involved in the peace-making program and that has really helped in uniting the people of Odeda local government.
Individuals, group of volunteers and professionals such as WICE (Women in Colleges of Education), APROCON (Association of Professional Counsellors), NAWOJ (National Association of Women Journalist), Spare Parts Dealers Association, The Progressive Teachers Forum and Representatives of Financial Institution in Odeda, etc have pledged their support to the current administration as they promised to do everything possible to support Hon. Folasade Adeyemo led administration in the key area of effective governance/development in Odeda local government.
Security:
Hon. Folasade Adeyemo inherited some Communal Crises within the local government, and as soon she assumed office, she called for urgent meeting among the concerned stakeholders and with the help of community heads and security operatives, peace is gradually returning to the affected communities.
The Chairman has also hosted all the security operatives assigned to Odeda and they charted the road-map towards securing Odeda local government.
Hon. Folasade Adeyemo led administration has taken a giant stride in harnessing our security operatives to function optimally, this can only be done when the security are provided with their basic needs.
This was well considered as the Chairman went out of her way to acquire two brand-new patrol motorcycles for our security operatives.
Education:
Hon. Folasade Adeyemo took it upon herself to motivate both the parents and the pupils in the rural areas to enrol for the new academic session and to support each household with educational incentives by her Education Empowerment Program which runs through a majority of all the Government owned primary schools in Odeda local government
Youth/Women Empowerment
Within the 100 days in Office, a lot youths and women have benefited from different empowerment scheme lifting the people of Odeda local government above poverty level
Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDAN) trained 85 youths and adult in Odeda local government on how to start and maintain Small and Medium Enterprises.
SMEDAN made available to all the participants a grant to the tune of Fifty Thousand Naira (#50,000) to either startup a new business or boost the already existing businesses.
Another batch of hundreds of participants also enjoyed trader/market moni ; A federal government scheme under the supervision of the Federal Ministry of Finance.
The Honourable Folasade Adeyemo led administration have sponsored five (5) young ladies to a training on the use of adire batik for souvenir; the training was organized by ministry of culture and tourism
The Chairman have also sponsored some youths/women to training/workshop on Agricultural extension as organized by NDE (National Directorate of Employment)
The Chairman organized women leaders and elders in the party into different structures and support them regularly in their various fields.
Hon. Folasade Adeyemo have been able to seal a mutually beneficial agreement with an NGO on vocational training for our youths in Odeda LG.
The Chairman constantly engage the youths, women and other stakeholders on Odeda developmental agenda.
In Summary, Hon. Folasade Adeyemo was voted as the Chairman of Odeda local government based on her GBAYI MANTRA, and within her first 100 days in office, she has been able to lay a very solid foundation around her campaign promises, by offering the good people of Odeda local government; Good Governance, Better and Improved Quality Education, Accessible & Affordable Health Care, Youth/ Women Empowerment and a very good foundation in the infrastructural aspect of her administration.
You will all agree that Hon. Folasade Adeyemo has given a good account of herself in the fulfilment of her campaign promises to the good people of Odeda Local Government.
The people of Odeda local government can only ask for the Chairman to consolidate on the already laid foundations in every sphere of her working scheme.
Odeda leads, Others Follow (Ni Ijoba Ibile Odeda, Asiwaju ni wa)
Igbega ijoba ibile Odeda Ajose wa ni
Odeda Gbayi, O’Gbeye!!!
Fasco New Media, 2021
