COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT, MY INPUT, YOUR INPUT - OUR COLLECTIVE RESPONSIBILITY.

Paper Presented by Tunde Oluomo at Maiden Edition of Sonyindo Sustainable Development Summit. London - 10th of August 2019.

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT, MY INPUT, YOUR INPUT - OUR COLLECTIVE RESPONSIBILITY.

Good evening, Your Royal Highness - The Odofin of Sonyindo, Oba MSL Gisanrin - JP and eminent chiefs of Soyindo present and not present. All members of the Soyindo Community in London, across Europe and at home, everyone present here this evening. I must acknowledge and recognise the presence of representatives of notable associations such as :

·         Sagamu Union Great Britain

·         Sagamu Development Forum UK

·         Sagamu Youth Union UK

·         Remo and Ogun State Associations

The fact that you are sitting here right now or watching remotely means you are curious and want answers about our community, no doubt you have the interest of our community at heart. Many of you would rather be elsewhere right now but you prioritise to honour our people and community. I know you care about our community and people as much as I do.

Before I proceed - I have words from Hon.Segun Shitta to apologise for his inability to be here today, he meant no disrespect but busy with government business and pursuing our interest at the state level.

It is important that I introduce myself at this stage. I am Tunde Oluomo, the grandson of the Late Balogun of Soyindo, Chief Buraimoh Oduyebo a.k.a Anuoluwapo, may his gentle soul rest in peace. I am an I.T Consultant that has been fortunate to have worked with various top brands in Banking, Insurance and Telecom across Europe and currently working with Bank of Ireland as a Senior Analyst.

Now that salutations and introduction is out of the way - let's get down to the business of the day. I aim not to focus on our established and known problems in the community but the solutions and approach that would speed up our development which is currently at a standstill - It's like a case of one step forward and 5 steps backward.

Change, they say begin with me and you. 

By the time I walk out of this building, I hope to make more friends and not enemies. I intend to speak nothing but the truth at all times.

Admission - For us to address our problems, it is important that we admit to it and have a uniform agreement that these are problems indeed.

Planning - We can't get much done without documenting a plan on how we intend to solve these problems. In these plan, we must include the following in order to get it right and reach a successful delivery:

• Which people do we need to address these problems?
• What do we need to address these problems
• Do we need money? How much? How do we get this?
• How do we approach these problems?
• Who and who should NOT be included in this plan?
• How soon do we have to deliver the solutions to these problems?
• What is the backup plan if things doesn't work out as expected?
• What are the risks and challenges that we might encounter and how do we mitigate them?
• Execution

It's important to stay on track in order to achieve success as listed above.

Now - let's identify our challenges and propose a solution to them individually

Education - The current system is not working, we have a lot of Primary and Secondary schools that are not sustainable and in turn having a direct effect on their productivity and products. Have you been to any of these schools lately? Most if not all are not equipped to be called a school, they are not conducive as a place of learning for the students.

What we must do - Two options here, we can either return most of these schools to the missionaries who were evidently doing well before the schools were handed over to the government, majority of us went through these schools. The second option would be to liaise with owners of private schools to take over some of these schools and manage in a similar manner that they are managing their current schools - of course, with consideration to school fees where the government can come in to subsidise the fees in order not to disenfranchise  poor students from acquiring education.

Believe me - the government is already paying through their nose with no value being returned. Majority of public schools teachers don't even bother to attend their classes or even show up in their place of designation. You could have a Teacher who is meant to be teaching at Methodist Comprehensive sitting at her shop in Falawo market on a Monday at 10am, that won't stop her salary as long as she is in good terms with the principal who also get kickbacks now and then. Imagine the loss to the government across various schools where majority of the Teachers have turned into traders to supplement the salary they do not deserve in the first place. A fortune to be saved here that could be redirected for other developmental purpose, it's a win-win situation for both the students, the community and the government.

Successful private companies in the community can be approached to adopt some of our schools as part of their social responsibility - asking them to donate cash or boreholes is not enough and we deserve more than that as a community. We must prioritise the future generation over immediate self-comfort.

While we are still under Education - it's worth calling out that it's about time to bring back our technical schools, we are currently focussing on certificates acquisitions without skills - our younger generation are currently not employable because all they have is education but zero skills. I am of the opinion that graduates should be creating jobs and providing solutions to the challenges in our community - that's not what is happening as majority are only looking for jobs that are not available. It would have been a different story if they are armed with skills acquired during schooling or even by self. It's not too late to redirect our path towards skills acquisition over certificates brandishing.

You can't have Lafarge locally and be training people in Accounting and Law - how many of those would Lafarge employ?

Security - It is no longer news that our community is facing a huge challenge in this sector and sadly there is no solution in sight. We are a community of so much talks and very little doings. We must have over-flogged this issue on various whatsapp loops and physical meetings but without recording much success. Our community has become burial ground for younger ones killing each other and unfortunately the community is now accustomed to it like a sport.

What we must do - The United States currently has 29 states using capital punishment as a legal penalty for serious crime such as killing etc. The USA is just one out of 54 Countries around the world using death penalty - Saudi Arabia is one of those. For any community to be in peace, there must be laws in place. Each and every action much have active consequence placed against it. That is not happening currently where killers can kill and still live freely among us as brothers and cousins.

The Western Countries preaching human rights today went through their own phase of capital punishments. From Rome to London, from Belfast to Berlin, from New York to Amsterdam. People were being killed publicly for various vices, offences, public disturbance and acting against the law of the land. The implication of this is people understand the consequence of their actions and in turn the community was in peace and that has carried on ever since. Laws must be in place and active, the people must understand these laws and they must not be bent to favour the elites against the poor, it must be applicable to all including myself. We must declare public war on gangsters and prosecute offenders openly with zero exception. If I am found guilty please do the needful and end it.

Until we apply the above - I am afraid that security will continue to be a challenge.

Unemployment - No doubt, this is indeed a challenge to most communities - including in the Western countries. It is a global challenge, however - they have a social welfare system in place and that keep the rate in check and the effect to a minimal level. We do not have such system, so it is evident that our younger generation are idle and they have no choice than to engage in crime of various shades. Shamefully, this is becoming uncontrollable and spreading like a wildfire.

What we must do - It is no doubt that the government can't do it all, the current approach of the government employing people and the people finding ways to be government employee is not working as this is over saturating the workforce. It is not a rocket science when the workers are being owed salaries and pensioners are not getting their pensions paid. This is not sustainable and it's like a circle of debts, no government or business can survive on using nearly 80% of their income on paying salaries - whatever that is left is definitely not enough to provide people oriented projects and providing worthy services to the general people.

The government must be in cahoots with the private sector, they must be encouraged to create businesses in our community and keep the local employed. Public Private Partnership - PPP must be embraced, those who have business ideas that could provide jobs should be encouraged by the government to establish businesses in our community in order for money to circulate, that way our community can prosper.

Whenever we have the ears of the government officials and our political representatives, we should endeavour to present to them proposals of communal interest and not asking for personal favours - this approach is killing us and not allowing us to develop as a community.

Crowd-funding is another approach we can take, if a handful of citizens who are well to do in our community come together to establish a notable factory or manufacturing plant in our community to export a particular product or supply the nation - it's not a bad idea, we have the population of able bodied young men and women, we have the lands and most of the resources required locally - so why not? As we are always united during celebrations, we can as well unite to develop our community - if you ask me, I do not think we have anything to celebrate just yet if we have our priorities in order.

Our leaders should stop building hotels in a community that is struggling with social vices like gangsterism, prostitution, fraud, killings, money ritual and general anti-social behaviours. I plead that we should start building factories and businesses that would benefit the community. What is the population of Sagamu that we have hotels on nearly every street? From business perspective, you can still make your profit and contribute to the development of the community - no loss either way. This is a food for thought for our leaders.

Healthcare -  Currently, this doesn't exist. People are dying of curable diseases and those who are currently sick cannot afford to live. If there is an Okada accident in Kara this minute, it is a challenge to get the victims to OSUTH in Ita-Oba, the roads are deplorable, there are no ambulances on standby to help - victims may die during transport due to excessive pain and lack of access to immediate attention. This could happen to anyone living in our community. We should not even mention the aged ones in our midst, they have been neglected and uncared for, those who should live till 100 are in a hurry to leave this world as a result of lack of care. Some can't even leave their houses in years and nobody cares.

What we must do - We must work hand-in-hand with the private sector to operate ambulances, make use of student nurses to attend to sick people in their homes. Create health centres in every unit of the community with open and arranged agreement with OSUTH for referrals. We must value every life irrespective of their social status in our community. There are Non Governmental Organizations (NGO) across the world with funds and plans on giving a helping hand to such projects. Unfortunately, we won't get if we don't ask. We should have in mind that this arrangement will not only benefit the poor but the rich too, when one is sick - one becomes very vulnerable and being sick is not limited to the poor.

Environmental Sanitation - It is shameful how we ignore the state of our environment and wonder why we are sick, the current state of our physical environment is not acceptable and as humans we can do better, our houses, our sewage system, our roads etc are in a state of mess and chaos.

What we must do - We must introduce discipline, laws and new sanitation programme in our community. Our people must be sensitise and reoriented on the importance of maintaining a clean environment and household. Wherever there is no law - then there is no crime, we cannot continue with the current approach where anyone can do as they desire on the streets and in the community, their actions are having a multiplying effects on the community and the general standard of living of the people which unfortunately is contributing to the health challenges in the community. Whenever there is a huge rain - you can see the evident of our actions from the output from our gutters, it is an eyesore.

Taxation - The current ways of collecting taxes using private individuals is not working. Tax is a catalyst for infrastructural development and it is playing a major role on the worth and quality of services being rendered to the people in general. The current approach is returning about 10% of the actual collected taxes back to the government and after expenses, there won't be much left if any to supply services to the people.

What we must do -  Use technology to collect taxes and increase revenue for community development. It is 2019 and not 1981, technology has advanced so much that people can use their mobile phone to pay taxes, this wont only cut away middle men and block leakages but ensure accountability, traceability and increase revenue astronomically. You will be surprised on how much can be generated this way and the direct impact on provision of services to the public. We must stop creating wealth for individuals but creating a communal wealth for general people. This is how to create a conducive environment for businesses.

Communication/Information - Currently, there is breakdown of communication between the people and the community leaders. Our local council do not have a website/email system in the 21st century, this is absurd and a joke on us as people - as a local leader, one should be approachable, contactable, available, reachable, accessible and relatable. You don't have to travel to get information on local services where you have access to the internet and a mobile device. The world has moved on to digital information and sadly it seems we have been left behind.

What we must do - Our community leaders must not alienate themselves, they should give feedback to the community now and then and update the community on their progress, challenges and success. This would eliminate assumptions and allow the people to feel inclusive.  Having a town hall meeting once a month, active on twitter where you can be questioned, advised and you can also update the people on practically anything that concerns them. We must not cherry pick and use technology only when it suit us personally but also to the benefit of our community at large.

In the race to leadership in our community, we must prioritise Capacity, Competence and Commitment to service over personal gains. A lot is wrong presently but as a community, it's about time we come together to work on a plan on how to rescue, redirect and save our community. I don't know about you all but I am very afraid that we have failed the younger generation and there is still time to rectify our mistakes before it is too late.

Due to time constraint on my part and the general attendees - I would love to call it a day here and hope that we can all come together as a family to make a difference in our community. God is not coming down to save us, we would have to save ourselves - he already gave us the grace and the will. It's entirely up to us. God didn't build Saudi Arabia - the Saudis did, God didn't build Israel - the Israelites did, We must stand up to build our community by whatever means necessary.

I will end this speech with the words of Edmund Burke "The ONLY thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for the good men to do NOTHING".

I am Tunde Oluomo - My ONLY desire is to leave my community and people better than I met it, I do NOT value money but my name.

Long live the Odofin of Soyindo - Long Live Soyindo town and its people,

Long Live Sagamu town and its people - Long live the Akarigbo of Remo Land and Remo land.

REMO shall be great again.

Thank you all for listening and your time - I have a plane to catch. Good night.