Sola POPOOLA
Yiaga Africa has inaugurated Peoples’ Assembly in Ado Local Government to deepen deliberative democracy at the grassroots level.
At the event graced by key officials in the Local Government, including the Vice Chairman and the Secretary of the Council, Yiaga Africa Programme Officer, Olaniyan Sanusi said Peoples’ Assembly is an initiative sponsored by Open Society Foundation.
He explained that it is a form of deliberative democracy fashioned to promote public deliberations at the local government level, information sharing and inspire confidence in democracy.
He added that it is designed to support government, people’s interaction and amplify citizen’s voices on policies in their community.
The participants were tutored how local government could be involved in the People’s Assembly meetings.
Stakeholders identified key issues in their respective areas which be fix by the local authority. Some of them included , poor road network, non-availability of public toilets, shortage of primary health care centres, among others .
“Today in Ekiti, we are establishing a People’s Assembly which is a form of democracy and what we are trying to promote here is a culture of public deliberation whereby citizens can contribute and influence the decision making process at the local government level such as Ado local government area that we are doing now.
“We are also trying to improve citizens participation in democratic governance as a whole. We piloted this initiative in 2022 in Lagos and Sokoto.
“Currently, we have People’s Assembly Group in six local government areas in Lagos and three in Sokoto.
“We are upscaling that to 12 LGAs across 12 states in Nigeria in the six geopolitical zones. We are kicking off with Ekiti and on Thursday, we are going to be in Ibadan for the Oyo state edition.
“In the coming days, we are expecting to see citizens under the Peoples Assembly Group in Ado Local Government deliberate on issues that have been identified at the meeting today and the recommendations of those deliberations will be passed on to the executive council of the local government area to take action upon.
“The executive council will incorporate those recommendations into decision making process, in that way, citizens are contributing to the decision making process”.
According to him, the Assembly is a three-man forum comprises of Gbenga Ariyo, Jane Adeyemo and Omodele Stella as members.
The special assistant to Governor Biodun Oyebanji on Youth Development, Olu-Ajayi Maxwell said the leadership of state government is making sure that all things are in tandem with the intention of making sure that governance is well rooted.
He added that Oyebanji through inclusiveness and involvement of grassroots in government, has given power to local government chairmen and other executives to discharge their official duties without hassles.
During the deliberations, stakeholders identified poor road network, non-availability of public toilets, shortage of primary health care centres, among others as challenges mitigating the local government and the state as a whole.
In his remarks , the director of Inspiration Care and Development Centre (ICDC), Lawrence Richies Olowolayemo said the establishment of the assembly will strengthen the principle of openness, inclusiveness and participation among people at the grassroots.