Ejigbo and her under-development

By Olaide Usman Atanda

Prior to the article I wrote in October 2014 about the state of under-development of Ejigbo Local Government in the State of Osun, expectedly and interestingly, my article was bombarded with complaints, criticisms and questions which are quite welcoming, the saddest part of it is that, most of us still find it hard to believe the picture the article portrays~which is the horrible condition that Ejigbo Local Government finds her self at the hand of her leaders, most especially, the political leaders.

I do research everyday, I surf the web and spend my free hours on internet to look for the needful series of information, most importantly, on how to broad my thinking abilities, we all know that knowledge is power, information is liberation and education is the foundation. There are many things to learn on internet. Honestly, Ejigbo is one of the oldest Local Government Areas in Nigeria,but Ejigbo is still among the under-developed Local Government Areas in my country. The foundation of the development of Ejigbo was laid on political affiliation, self-interest, selfishness, hypocrisy, greediness, lack of love, witch-will-kill-me and lack of fear of God.

The Local Government, the closest tier of government at the grass roots doesn't close to our people in Ejigbo, the masses only eat the crumbs left by the political leaders in two months before election, people benefit nothing from them in 3 years & 8months, but when election comes, they'll know that Apanla's farm road is bad, they need to grade it, also, suburb need to be visited, ah! should we be having elections in every year?

Ejigbo, the headquarter of the Local government cannot boast of a functioning bank, many lies had been told about the efforts they say they have been making, how fast and far can we move by deceiving ourselves on daily basis? Yes, we have Skye Bank in the town before, the bank was robbed more that three times consecutively by the men of underworld, this led to the relocation of the bank branch to Timi's Market in Ede. The State Of Osun claimed in June, July,August campaign adverts that, the crime rate in the whole state has drastically reduced to 2%, and the armoured tanks has been provided for police for security purposes, I think this is cogent enough for the bank to come back. Ejigbo's armoured tank painted with red colour having no work to do, they only park it and moved it around for demonstration only. Unequivocally, We are in a country where our achievement(s) doesn't go beyond paper, you find many things on hand bills, posters, newspapers, tv adverts etc, you cannot see & feel most of them physically & sensibly, as for me, I call them 'ghost achievements' the propagandists like them see & feel them, can we call this as a development? The bank is a profit-making institution, I as a person cannot invest where I know my money is not safe. Government should guarantee the security.

The bank as a financial institution is very important in the people's existence, you easily make transactions, pay your bills (Electricity, water, etc) You can also get loan from bank for business capital. We cannot count the number of lives Ejigbo has lost on this bank's issue, many bloody accidents occurred along Oko Road few months ago, I don't know if another accident(s) had happened, we lost our precious lives to avoidable deaths, the risk we take to a village in Oyo State to make transaction is bothersome. The economy of Ejigbo is retrogressing, having no functioning bank contributes to the problem on the ground, it's saddening that my town has no bank.

More so, our roads have gone to ruin, the five well-laid major roads lead to Ejigbo had gone, they are now death traps for road users. Last year, I watched His Excellency, the number one citizen of the State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola on Channels tv, when he was on his campaign's train to Ejigbo, he was with Governor Ajimobi of Oyo State in his convoy, this shows that, they are coming from Ibadan, they couldn't pass through Iwo/Ejigbo road, they entered Ejigbo via Masifa's road (the road that's currenty going to ruin). If you want to catch my lies, kindly go to Youtube, search for 'Aregbesola in Ejigbo' the video is there to watch free without any charges. The road contracts were awarded by him, still, yet to be constructed since years ago, the concerned-indigenes have met with the Governor on these roads, he promised that, the roads will be fixed after this upcoming general elections, we are hopefully waiting, may we not wait in vain.

The development had fled-off from our land, and paced on the high mountain over-head, only the brave but selfless ones can go and bring back the development, who is ready for the journey? Our politicians pollute our land, the more they do, the more the development flies

Hmmmm, our Local Government belong to all of us, our political leaders are being given resources to bring true development to their people, it's not their money, it's public funds, and anything public is for the masses, having estate(s) in Ivory Coast, having investments in Lagos is not a sin, but your scorecard, the part you take on the development of your land suppose to be your number one priority, if you do this, you have satisfied many souls, your name will forever be an indelible mark on the sand of time. Chief Obasanjo finished his tenure, he went back to his home, Abubakar Atiku, Turaki of Adamawa did same, by His grace, coming May 29 this year, Pres. Jonathan is going to Otuoke also. My honourable senator, my honourable speaker, Ejigbo as it is today is not good for retirement o, things need to be fixed before your tenure expire o, you shouldn't leave Ejigbo the way you met it o, we'll be glad you did o.

The man looked into my eyes and confidently said "Your indigenes are in Ivory Coast, carrying money and down, balling with the Kings, lavish money on material things, without bothering about their home, their source, their Ejigbo" If we can contribute little out of our toil and sweat to the development of Ejigbo, if we can cultivate the habit of sponsoring programmes that will change the situation of Ejigbo for better, we all will have peace in our minds that, we have already built a very good home for our resting days.

We youths as a bridge that connects today to future, we have many works to do, our political affiliations result to nothing if we can't look beyond the politics and look for the way to develop our land, we shouldn't be okay with stipends we are being given today as a party member, slogan chanter, and leader loyalist, it's our inalienable right to belong to any party of our choice, but what's the essence of our membership if all end in our stomach? Like I said, being a slogan chanter, media aide, campaign director is not a sin, and we mustn't lose our sense of knowing what's right & wrong along the line. We are worshipping these same icons without better plan(s) for our future, our greatness, our tomorrow should be important to us than anything, the development of our land must be non-negotiable in our precious hearts, never be daunted to say the truth when situation demands it, we can be anything we want to be, we can do anything we want to do, there are not limitations, it's all start with indomitable spirit, and by nurturing it daily, we can go far and fast more than we ever think of, may God help us, may God safe our land.

(Olaide Usman Atanda. E-mail: [email protected])

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