For many residents, the true measure of government is not found in speeches or official documents. It is seen in the road that no longer floods, the classroom that becomes more conducive to learning, the health worker who reaches a community, the young person who finds an opportunity, and the elderly resident who receives help when it matters most.
That is the story Ikeja Local Government Chairman, Comrade Akeem Olalekan Dauda (AKOD), sought to tell as his administration marked its first year in office. At a ceremony held at the council secretariat, residents, artisans, community leaders, market women, business owners, religious leaders, party faithful and council officials gathered as the chairman rendered an account of his stewardship.
But beyond the ceremony was a broader message: that grassroots governance, when it is deliberately taken closer to the people, can become more than the routine administration of a local council. It can become a platform for inclusion, opportunity and practical development.
AKOD assumed office alongside his deputy, Hon. Abiola Omisore, with a pledge to make governance work for all and bring better days to residents of Ikeja. That promise became the foundation of the administration’s IKEJA Agenda, built around infrastructural development and urban renewal, knowledge-based economic empowerment, environmental governance and healthcare initiatives, social services, accountability and good governance.
One of the most visible features of the administration has been its emphasis on education. Under its Back to School Programme, more than 30,000 exercise books, 1,000 mathematical sets, 3,000 school bags and 1,000 water bottles were distributed to pupils across the council. The intervention was designed not merely as material assistance, but as a way of easing the burden on parents and encouraging children to return to school with renewed confidence.
The administration also sought to make educational opportunity more accessible beyond the classroom. It organised a spelling bee competition won by Ismaila Zainab of St. Peter’s Primary School, who was subsequently given the opportunity to serve as One-Day Chairman. The council also distributed 250 free GCE forms to students, helping young people who might otherwise struggle with the cost of examination registration to remain on the path to further education.
Infrastructure has equally occupied a prominent place in the administration’s first-year story. Several roads, including Morenike Street, Aiyemojuba Street, Onipetesi, Balogun Street, Anifowoshe and Shanu Street, were reconstructed, with solar-powered streetlights provided to improve visibility and security at night. Other interventions included road rehabilitation at Seriki Aro and drainage works in parts of the council.
Perhaps one of the most significant infrastructure projects is the Olumo/Atiba Link Bridge, connecting Onilekere and Onipetesi. The bridge has provided an alternative link between the communities, with the potential to reduce travel time and offer safer passage, particularly for schoolchildren and other residents who regularly move between the areas.
The administration also turned attention to the less glamorous but critical infrastructure beneath the streets. Drainage construction and desilting were carried out on streets including Adekanmbi, Morenikeji, Egba, Johnson, Oluwaleyimu, Ireposun, Olowu, Muslim and Oriyomi. Box culverts were also constructed at several junctions, while sectional asphalt overlay and patching were undertaken on Irepodun Street, Oluwaleyimu, Ajao Road, Afariogun Street and a section of Obafemi Awolowo Way.
For a local government in a densely populated urban environment, these interventions speak to a fundamental reality: development is not always about grand structures. Sometimes, it is about ensuring that rainwater has somewhere to go, that motorists can navigate a road safely, and that residents can move around their communities without avoidable hardship.
Economic empowerment has also formed part of the administration’s strategy. Five hundred and fifty micro and small-scale business owners resident in Ikeja received cash grants ranging from N100,000 to N250,000. The initiative was intended to provide capital for business expansion, support livelihoods and contribute to local economic activity. The council also introduced a holiday job programme for young people, initially engaging 200 beneficiaries and increasing the number to 250 in 2026.
Healthcare has been another major component of the administration’s people-centred approach. Monthly integrated medical outreaches have been conducted across the council’s six wards, bringing screening, health education, preventive services and basic medical care closer to residents. The programmes have targeted different groups, including children, pregnant women, nursing mothers, adults and elderly residents.
The council has complemented these interventions with staff medical screenings, maternal and child health initiatives, breastfeeding promotion, polio outbreak response activities, measles and rubella vaccination, and free eye-screening programmes for pupils and teachers in public primary schools. It has also acquired land at Isale Awori in Ward A for the proposed construction of a primary healthcare centre. For 500 elderly residents, cash palliatives were provided as part of the administration’s social support interventions.
Yet perhaps the most defining feature of the first year has been the attempt to make residents participants rather than spectators in local governance. Stakeholder engagements were held across the six wards to obtain residents’ views, ideas and expectations as part of preparations for the council’s 2026 budget. Religious leaders, community representatives, traders, artisans, civil society organisations and other groups were repeatedly brought into the administration’s engagements.
At the first-anniversary account-of-stewardship ceremony, representatives of Muslim, Christian and traditional religious groups acknowledged what they described as a more participatory approach to governance. Their message was significant: they said they had been effectively involved in the council’s activities and appreciated the chairman’s efforts to bring different religious groups together.
AKOD used the occasion to reinforce the philosophy behind his administration. “When we presented the IKEJA Agenda, ‘Making Governance Work for All’, we made a solemn promise to pursue people-oriented, inclusive, transparent and development-focused governance,” he said. He added that the achievements recorded in the first year were only “a tip of the iceberg” of what was ahead.
The anniversary programme itself offered a practical expression of that philosophy. The chairman distributed food packages to people living with disabilities, members of the League of Imams, the Christian Association of Nigeria, artisans, civil society groups, members of the National Youth Council of Nigeria, residents, traditionalists and market men and women. Earlier in the anniversary activities, he had led more than 200 residents and stakeholders on a fitness walk and campaign against drug abuse, cultism and other illicit activities, urging young people to choose education, skills acquisition, sports and legitimate enterprise.
There is, therefore, a thread running through the first year of the AKOD administration: the attempt to connect physical development with human development. A reconstructed road matters, but so does the child who receives a school bag. A drainage project matters, but so does the trader whose small business receives a capital boost. A healthcare programme matters, but so does the elderly resident who gains access to preventive care. And a budget matters more when the people who will live with its consequences have a voice in shaping it.
As AKOD begins his second year, the challenge will be to sustain these interventions, deepen their impact and translate the foundation already laid into lasting improvements across Ikeja. The first year has provided a catalogue of projects and programmes; the years ahead will determine how enduring their impact becomes.
For now, however, the chairman’s first anniversary has offered Ikeja residents more than an opportunity to celebrate. It has provided a moment to look back at what has been done, listen to what residents are saying and consider what still needs to be done. In the end, the success of grassroots governance is not measured only by the number of projects completed, but by whether those projects and policies make everyday life a little better for the people they are meant to serve. And that, perhaps, is the most important journey AKOD’s Ikeja has only just begun.
Femi Moliki writes from Lagos
