Former Governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, has said that partnership involving the government, traditional institutions and Community Development Associations will accelerate development faster than any other methods.
Daniel, who is the All Progressives Congress (APC) senatorial candidate for Ogun East, said the fact that traditional rulers and community Development Associations are closer to the people, they know where the shoe pinches and when they initiate programs that could be of direct benefits to the community, the job of the government is to support them with logistics and financial support.
He made the call on Tuesday at an empowerment programme held as part of activities of his ward-to-ward tour of Sagamu Local Government Area of the state.
The former governor stated that one of the reasons why he was contesting for the National Assembly seat is to find solutions towards bringing about accelerated development to the various communities in the Ogun East Senatorial district and Ogun State in general.
He promised to deploy his wealth of experience especially as a former Governor as well as his Constituency projects and oversight functions towards designing a Constitutional framework for a robust partnership between government, the traditional institutions and the Community Development Associations.
He appreciated traditional rulers and Community Development Associations in Sagamu especially for their steadfastness at initiating laudable projects, which he said the government should be ready to collaborate with them.
Daniel reminded the audience that during his administration as governor, he conceived the idea and created the Ministry of Cooperative and Community Development which served as a bridge between the government and the various communities.
According to him, “During our administration, we built not only the Oba’s Complex which we conceived as a meeting place for all the traditional rulers in Ogun State, but also to bring in the traditional rulers as another arm of government so that they can contribute their quota into the process of decision making and governance.
“We then went on to create the Ministry of Cooperative and Community Development which serves as our initiative towards bringing governance closer to the people through our direct engagements with the Associations.
“Our initiative paid off greatly because we have first hand information on what is going on in every community and to also appreciate all their various needs and be able to attend to them promptly”.
He called for the people’s support on his Senatorial bid, promising to stand up for their interests.
A major highlight of the ward-to-ward tour is the raffle where a branded Nissan Primera saloon car, 240 litres deep freezer and 2.5KVA generator were won as 1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes as well as over 500 other items, including sewing machines and grinding machines, were also won while 21 indigent students from the local government bagged scholarships.
