Face off in Adiyan

So the residents of Adiyan Local Government in Ogun State are taking the local government authorities there to task (see The Sunday Guardian of 13 September). Members of the community have complained about the poor state of roads in their area despite their own efforts to undertake manual repairs to the road with shovels and hoes. The Community Development Association (CDA) has added its voice to these complaints and has decided to stop implementing community projects until the local government authorities take their responsibility to work in the community seriously. CDAs were originally established to implement community projects with the support of the local government, not to supplant the role of the local government administration. I’ve often thought that having CDAs simply burns the candle at both ends, if people pay their rates and dues to the local authorities, have councillors to represent their interests within the council, why should they be the sole funders of development projects? It’s a bit of double jeopardy and means that the public has to take on the additional role of administering local government despite having elected representatives. In this situation it seems that the CDA fully recognizes its role as an institution of support and not one which replaces the local government. Let’s see who will blink first.

- Lanre