Fashola vows action on wards delineation

The Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola (SAN), on Friday received the report of the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission on delineation of wards and creation of additional polling units in the state, affirming that the State Government would take all further actions necessary on the report.
The governor, who spoke at the Lagos House, Marina, added that he would not only read the report, he will also ensure that members of the government that are tasked with the responsibility of taking further action on reports of commissions and investigations swing into action.
Fashola stressed that the work of the committee has been brought about through hard work and that the present administration in the state has also shown that it is not afraid to take on challenges, which is also a character demonstrated members of the Commission.
He expressed gladness that some of the other State Independent Electoral Commissions have followed in the footsteps of LASIEC by making enquiries about the success of the delineation of wards exercise in Lagos State, hoping that they would make some success from the undertaking.
While reiterating the importance of delineation of wards and creation of additional units for election purposes, Fashola said it ensures that people who have moved into new communities, who have built new estates, would have an opportunity to participate in how decisions affecting their lives are taken, which is in itself the guarantee of participatory democracy in the state and country.
He said: “For those who may not know, every state, country and community is a continuing work in progress and so new towns, new communities spring up in what used to be forests, areas that used to be rural become rapidly urbanized and so it is not just enough to build roads, build schools and hospitals there.
“It is also important to take that civic right very seriously and that is why we have undertaken this process to see what has happened over the last few years.
“We know that many estates have sprung up in the last seven to eight years and on election days we want to be in a position to ensure that they do not have to now travel long distances going back to their old addresses and agonizing about where they should vote.
“This is the primary purpose of the delineation exercise and to ensure that where certain places have become densely populated, what was put in place to let them vote may become insufficient, overcrowded and in the event people may be disenfranchised and this is important.”
Governor Fashola also expressed the hope that the series of meetings of LASIEC with the Independent National Electoral Commission would be fruitful and successful to understand and see the value added to their own undertaking that the state’s delineation exercise can bring.
He added: “Nobody would know a community better than the people who live there.
“I think it would be important to them to understand that this can only be helpful to their work.”