THE INTERVIEW PART 1: INSIDE AYOBO/IPAJA'S N8.99BILLION 2026 BUDGET EXPENDITURE; THE EXPO FROM FULL INTERVIEW WITH AGBAJE

By Razaq Adedeji Jimoh

ON Wednesday, November 28, 2025, Civics Weekly had the opportunity to explore the working mind of Hon (Dr.) Agbaje Abiodun Lukmon, the Executive Chairman of Ayobo/Ipaja LCDA. It was meant to be a presentation of his scorecard for the past three months he had been in office. But gracefully, no single part of his fielded question failed to reveal a reasonable insight to what the people of the LCDA should be expecting in the coming year 2026. And interestingly while talking on his delivery of seven standard organic road constructions within the 100days, he categorically declared in his words in that interview: “Ayobo/Ipaja people have not seen anything yet”.

In the current edition of Civics Weekly magazine (January 6, 2026) – a comprehensive ‘Spotlight Publication’ on his administration so far still in circulation – the full interview content as published in the hard copy is hereby published online in the interest of all residents of the LCDA and for a lesson of ideas to share with his colleagues across the State. It is Dr. Lukmon Agbaje talking directly to his people in the interview below

In today's world, conscious development and empowerment of youths is the in thing for any community wishing to have a stable and secure future. What plans does this administration have for the youths?

For everybody in this world, life is in stages of growth. Before you become an elder, you were once a youth. And in a Yoruba adage, a query goes that 'So se e ri?' – meaning: ‘has it ever happened to you’? Vividly, boldly, I can say it categorically that I was once a youth. And with my personal and vicarious experience of that, I know what the youth could be passing through all in the sense of looking for admission after secondary school – with many of them staying at home for like 2, 3 years before getting the admission. So, I have the consciousness that not 100% of all the secondary school leavers will get admission at the same time.

Given this fact, what I think I should do as a government is that within that period of waiting for admission, they should be equipped with skills of their conscious preferences. By the special grace of God, this administration has it in plan, with utmost determination, to make this take effect from the first quarter of next year. A series of programmes will be introduced to engage the youths. This is such that every secondary school leaver would be able to go for training of 3 months, 6 months and 18 weeks in handworks.

The direct objective is that even every youth going into the four walls of higher institution would have been equipped with skills that could assist with a partial stream of income to help their course of studies.

Further to that in the area of sport here in Ayobo/Ipaja, we have a Sport Centre which we are looking forward to develop. The first constraint we have is that officially, it does not belong to the LCDA. Nevertheless, the Local Government has approached the State to give us the total control over the Centre. When we have this in place, it will enable us to give our holistic programme package we have for the youth. Our plan with this is that when fully developed, it will serve them in various ways that include a place for talent hunting in sporting careers from this LCDA by the special grace of God.

Talking about the road infrastructure, it should not be seen as embarrassing but one would always be tempted to ask it. You came in and within 100 days, you achieved the starting and completion of seven standard roads. Of course, we went round to see things for ourselves. Victor Street is about the shortest of all and it could not be less than 90 to 100 meters. In all, however, we could be talking about 2kilometers stretch of standard road construction with covered drainage channels and standard culverts where necessary. Evaluating this alongside the works of other council chairmen and to cut off unreasonable indulgence for indolence, they are not anywhere 20% of this as a benchmark. Thus to ask sir, are you on loan to achieve this or it is the prudent management of improved federal allocation that we are seeing here?

You see, all these infrastructure you are seeing in Ayobo/Ipaja; it's not that they (comparable council chairmen) are not capable or they are not able to do it. But when it comes to construction, Yoruba says: ‘Omi la ma n te ka to te yanri’– literally to mean an event will always presage an event. All this that happens, apart from being asked whether the construction is being done with loan or federal allocation, one thing I want you to understand is that when you are going into a project, it is not that you have to pay 100% of the cost. The money you are going to pay will be based on the arrangement you have and at stages of the construction. But then, it all depends on the mindset you bring into the office – whether you are determined to achieve a set of goals and that was to be our own starting point.

What makes it easier for this administration is that ever before we were voted into office, we have already gone round to observe and assess what we needed. This gave us the opportunity and the edge such that as soon as we assumed office, we already knew what we wanted to do. We had prepared ourselves. So, immediately after the swearing in, the Tender Board, being led by the Vice Chairman, rolled into action. We listed out the roads and we went to work. So, there is no magic in all of this. It's just that we know why we are here.

In the course of introduction when the Information Officer was introducing the Chairman, she said I've lived within". The implication of this is that it gives me the edge and the opportunity to know how to start and how to go on about it.

Let me also say it again for the emphasis, it is all about something of the mind. This is because when I was not in the government, I was part of the community people that were complaining about the roads – that how were we going to do it? This had already given me the mindset that if I had the opportunity, this is what I'm going to do. And these seven roads you have just mentioned, they are just a tip of the iceberg. So, you haven't seen something yet. All this achievement is because we are determined and we believe we are here for a purpose; we believe, by the special grace of God, we still have much more to deliver.

But let me quickly say it to correct an impression in line with the text of your question – trying to compare us with other local governments; all this we are doing, we do not have the mind of competition with anybody. We are not doing it to be rated the best in Lagos State. We are doing it so that the people of our community will have to give glory to the Almighty Allah that they made the right choice by voting APC.

The environmental sanitation in Ayobo/Ipaja is getting more precarious with indiscriminate dumping of refuse, even though we understand that it is not solely peculiar to the LCDA. What are the strategic plans you have to curtail this? Or better said, what is your policy direction in this sector?

Everybody knows health is wealth and cleanliness is next to Godliness as it is being said. In Ayobo/Ipaja LCDA, even before this administration, we have been trying to see that all over the place, our environment is free from dirt especially on the Road Median. When we came in and discovered that this habit of putting refuses on the Road Median was not about to abate, we decided to set up a Taskforce Committee to address it. And before we did that, we convened a stakeholders' meeting to discuss our policy direction on it. We emphasized it that this administration would no longer condone indiscriminate dumping of refuse. We told them our plans to meet offenders with drastic penalty if apprehended. We also informed them of the coming taskforce to let them know our resolve about cleanliness.

In the last four to five days, we have set forth about enforcement after inaugurating the Taskforce. To make their work easier, we have to equip them with effective mobility by purchasing patrol vehicle for its operation. To complement our efforts in this regard; as at yesterday, we introduced 'waste pack to be given out free to the residents. This is to ensure that our government has fulfilled its own obligation to ensure that people would not have any excuse to default.

Why did we have to introduce the waste pack? We discovered that apart from putting the refuse on the Road Median, there was also the problem of cart pushers and scavengers dispersing refuse indiscriminately in their course of trade. Even when you put the refuse bin in front of your house, they will come there to scavenge and in the process scatter it. This is because the refuse bin is open. This is the problem we have tried to solve with introduction of the refuse pack. They will be able to tighten it and put it away from the reach of the scavengers or goat to scatter them.

The third aspect of our efforts is to see how we could be of help to the PSP operators for them to improve their efficiency. We have been having a series of engagement with them. We are working to see that they go out to collect refuse as and when due.

The Ayobo/Ipaja Council Chairman, Dr. Agbaje presents the Appropriation Bill to the Leader of The House

With all this in place, we are now poised to enforce sanctions on anybody now violating environmental laws. And to tell you, we are going to follow the rule of law in our enforcement. This is why our legislators had to rework on the existing environmental laws so that we could domesticate all the relevant aspects as our by-laws in Ayobo/ipaja LCDA. This is to show that the Local Council would have the powers to prosecute anybody that dumps refuse indiscriminately. The penalties for violators range from fine to compelling community service.

As shown in your score card for the education sector, you have distributed 300 GCE forms to the needy teenagers. There's also indication that you have equipped some key council departments with laptops. The question to follow is this: what is your administration's plan for enhancing these kids' knowledge in ICT so that they could keep pace with evolving innovations and advancement in technology?

This question is about our education sector. First of all, I must tell you that being a local government, we can only cater to primary school. And as a local government, we are only a supporting agency to them as well – to put it that way. This is because there is an established agency that is fully in charge of Primary Education. That is SUBEB – State Universal Basic Education Board. Then as a government, I mean as a local government, you might not have policy initiatives as a direct support for the primary school because from SUBEB, they already have the standard they intend to follow. But from our own end, I mean the local government administration, our routine roles appeared limited to giving out chairs, school bags, exercise books, uniforms and others for the students. The one we could have for capital expenditure is the building of classrooms.

The problem of waste disposal management Agbaje talks about. He had to mobilise some of his workforce to the road for the clearing in the first day of his resumption at office.

When you say you are going to introduce ICT form to the primary school, that means it's going to cut across all the primary schools we have in the local government (Alimosho Federal Constituency). The only thing we have in mind to do which we have been trying is to reach out to SUBEB Chairman The reason for it is that apart from building classrooms, giving chairs; we know there are some of the schools that already have technology center, that they are in need of laptops or any other ICT equipment. We are writing to SUBEB to let us know which areas we could be of assistance apart from those things we normally do as I enumerated earlier. We want to know as a government, what other areas of significant input we can partner with SUBEB in the policy of primary school education. This way, we would have our policy direction beyond the tradition of giving bags and uniform to pupils.

The supply of ten 500 KVA Transformers as your project in the energy sector, how did you do their distribution: was it by equity or there was a way you did it? CONTINUES IN PART 2