Q: Sir, you have just made history by visiting communities under your domain and we are made to understand that you are the first Oba in the history of Ipakodo Kingdom to embark on such historic visit. Sir, can you tell us what led to these visitations?
A: Well, that is a very good question. I will say that all along, I don’t know much about the whole of Ikorodu West. I only know Ipakodo. You know when you are coming from Lagos, when you get to Majidun, you see the land dredgers and we say we are in Majidun and I thought that’s the only place called Majidun, not knowing that Majidun extends far far behind.
The same thing people talk about Majidun Ilaje, Majidun Awori, coming down to Ipakodo, we have Ishawo, I don’t know where all these places are. We also have Owutu, I don’t know where it is either.
You can now see that being the Oba under whose control all these communities are, I kept wondering if it appropriate for me not to know the extent of my domain and the people l am governing and even not all the people can say that we know the Oba. Each time we are having meetings of Oba and Baales, I do ask them where their respective communities are located. One would say he is the Baale of Ishawo in Ishawo, another one would say he is Baale of Owutu and so on, whereas I don’t know those places they mentioned.
It’s a shame that I didn’t know these communities. Infact, I was feeling very bad for not knowing all these areas. The only place I know is Ipakodo and Ebute Iga. So, I called the Chiefs and told them it doesn’t speak well for an Oba not to know much about his domain and l asked them to let us go on familiarization tour to all the communities in Ikorodu West. All these towns and villages I have mentioned are all in Ikorodu West. So, that was why we decided to go on this tour. We have been on this case now for about four years and l have been on the throne now for almost five years but there were hitches here and there but we thank God we overcame all the problems and we started the tour and it took us about one or two weeks. Now, I can boastfully say that l know Majidun Ilaje, Majidun Awori, Oke Oko and others and I am happy I made this tour.
Q: Now that this visitations have afforded you the opportunity of knowing the extent of your domain, what can you say about the size of your kingdom and the people that are under your rulership?
A: Well, the size is even more than what I expected and the area coverage is more than what I can say. It is bigger than what I thought population wise and l am sure if the census is counted today, Ikorodu West would be nearing 1.2 million. That is my own rough estimate.
Q: Sir, you have been to these communities, how will you describe the level of development there and how do you intend to influence developmental projects into these places to make sure that the people live a better life?
A: Yes, on development, that’s another big issue because while we were on the tour, the people were always complaining about bad roads, lack of water and more and it is the same questions everywhere we visited. All they were saying was that they want good roads, water, health care centre and so on.
What we observed is also the same everywhere we went to, the roads are nothing to write home about and they need urgent attention. In this regard, our LCDA still have a lot of work to do considering the level of the complaints by the people. However, l advised the residents in each of these areas that we can’t leave everything to the government alone, we too must try and help ourselves. I told them that if you know you want a health cente, first of all, you should provide a land where you want the health center to be built and that’s where the CDAs have a lot of work to do. They are not meant to be collecting security levy alone because that’s what most of them go about collecting, but that is not the only main aim of having this CDAs.
They must look for ways to develop their communities. If you expect the government to come and manage and develop all the roads for you, build health centres for you, I don’t think that’s possible. In fact, I don’t agree with that, I have given them advice to call a stakeholders’ meeting in each community and table the project they want to embark on and start the project by putting a levy on every house in the community and by the time everyone agrees to pay about N500 naira or N1000 naira each every month, by the end of the year, they would have something that they can use to start putting up something on the land and later go to the government for assistance.
At this juncture, they should get councilor representing the community involved and let him know that this is a project that the community want to embark on and ask him how they can get the local government to come to their aid and they could also meet some of our people who live in Lagos and outside of it by calling them on phone or invite them and ask for their support. By the time you do this, you would have made an appreciable progress on that project and the government would be encouraged to render assistant. That’s my advice to them. On roads, I know it is not easy to do the road but they can embark on road patching, it saves the life of the engine of your car.
If you have done one or two things and you decide to meet the government for assistance, they would be willing to assist, but if you just sit down and fold your hands, nothing would be done. Some critics would say they are paying their tax and that the government must do what they want, I think that is not too good because the government has a lot of responsibilities to take care of and if you have been able to do the one or two things, you would see that both the government and other well-meaning people would come to your aid when they see that you have tried your best. Another thing is that the people (CDAs) handling the project should be people who are trustworthy and transparent so as to prove to other residents that monies entrusted in their care are being well managed and to encourage them to donate more.
Q: Some of the communities raised the issue about the Fulani people coming into their domains and that they are almost outnumbering the residents. They added that the situation is given them sleepless night in terms of security and they want your assistance. What do you intend to do in this regard?
A: I don’t know what to say about this issue. First, security problems are not peculiar to Ikorodu West and Ikorodu division alone, it is all over the country. It’s true that people talk about the Hausas and the Fulanis outnumbering our people. Yes, it quiet true and this is a matter of serious concerns and we should let the government know about this because it is the government that is going to take the necessary steps to address the situation. I don’t believe that we should drive them (Hausas and Fulanis) away, no, we are one country and we should learn to live together and we have been doing that for years, we should encourage that oneness. But this is not to say that we should lose our guard on the matter because security is a serious issue in the country presently and a lot of measures are being taken by the government on it.
Look at Ondo State, they have Amotekun and here in Ikorodu we have a lot of security outfits namely Oyanbo, Agbekoya and the newly established security outfit called Joint Task Force (JTF). These are some of the security measures that are being put in place to curb the menace of insecurity. This is a proof that the people are doing all they can to compliment the efforts of the police and the military provided by the government.
The problem of kidnapping is a big problem which I think the government have to take more seriously to travel by road now is a problem because of the fear of the kidnappers. See the train service that was inaugurated just a few years ago, look at what happened to the passengers traveling on it few months back. I pray God help us, the government is doing what they can but they still have to do more because it is only when there is peace in the country that the people can sleep with their two eyes closed. Also, the problem of our young ones engaging in drug abuse and crimes should also be taken more serious than before.
Q: Kabiyesi sir, it true that you advised the CDAs to work hand in hand with the Councilors and Baales in addressing developmental issues in their communities, still, we believe government has a role to play in bringing development to these communities. How do you intend to forward some of the complaints by the residents to the state government or local government for appropriate actions?
A: During the visit, l told the people that we are not politicians and that we have not come on political visitation. What l meant is that I say we, I mean the Obas, chiefs and the Baales, are not capable of addressing the complaints regarding what the people are lacking in their respective communities. The responsibilities rest with the politicians among us.
The councilors, honorable members in both houses, Senators, governors and the president are the politicians and they are the ones to provide what the people have demanded. What we can only do to assist and fast track these developments is using our influence and closeness to these politicians to lobby them into providing these needs.
Meanwhile, they also have to play their own part too by paying their tax regularly and promptly. When you pay tax, you make governance easy because it is part of this that the government will use to develop the country and if you don’t pay tax, how do the government get money to address all these developmental deficits that we are all complaining about?
Q: How would you describe the reception you received from the people at every community you visited?
A: Well, l am very pleased with that. The people were saying I am the first Oba to visit them and I made them realise that the throne was vacant for over 20 years before I came on board and that may be the reason.
At the same time, I made them realise that we are not on a political tour, we have come to know them and for them to know us. We also wanted to know their problems, though, we are not coming to do their roads or give them health centres but we can help in one way or the other to facilitate them. I am from the palace and the welfare of these residents means a lot to me, the development of their areas means a lot to me as well.
It is my responsibility, when I see the honourable members in the parliament, either the ones in the house of assembly or House of Representatives or Senate, to speak on behalf of my people that our people are going through a lot and ask them what they can you do to assist them. Oba will not do all these things for you but they can influence and talk and appeal to the people in the authority for help.
Q: Your Chief (Olisa of Ipakodo) said to the people that you only visited the residents to know them but that you would come back to spend more time with them. Does that mean you would be visiting this communities often?
A: It is true that we only went to briefly familiarise with the people that was why I went with my chiefs. All the Baales in my domain were also present and that is why the people were happy to see us. They wanted us to sit down and have cultural displays, talk to them like politicians and all the market women would come and be singing (laughter). But l told them that we just wanted to know you more, particularly myself, I wanted to know the extent of my domain and then later by the time we finally settled down and know everybody, then we can come around and visit them and it is at that juncture we would come in the morning, have breakfast, lunch and dinner as well (laughter) and also have fun.
Though, it is not that we are going to make it an habit but maybe sometimes, we can come around and relate with them. But sincerely, I am happy that we embarked on this visitations and I was surprised by the type of reception we had. Our intention was just to go round and within five minutes, leave for another place, but the Baales and their people really took things to another level, my chiefs and I are indeed very much honoured.
Q: Now that you are aware of the level of development in communities in your domain, what message do you want to send to the residents that better days are ahead during your reign?
A: It not like l am sending any message to them, but since we have seen the conditions they live in, when we have our meetings with the chiefs and the Baales, we would discuss all these issues and decide what we can do to improve the situation. You see, I was talking about people asking for health centres, we have some people among us who are in the medical line, we have teachers among us and we have professors amongst us and many other professionals in our midst. I am really happy that all those in our midst are educated. So, we are going to leverage on our respective professions to help our people, that’s the essence of education.
Already, one of our chiefs who is a school proprietress has been going round schools in the Kingdom to ask people what they need and very soon, the person would be donating some benches, chairs and books to schools in these communities. In the same vein, we are also planning to visit the hospitals and do anything we can to assist some patients.
This is how the palace is planning to effect positive changes in the communities and the Baales are already coming up with ideas on how to go about this because they are the ones that live among these esidents. And like l said earlier, l would occasionally go round just like the one we just concluded, maybe once a year, to feel the pulse of the people and also engage them on how to address the problems in their areas.
Q: Thank you Kabiyesi for giving us time.
A: You are welcome.