Residents of Sholu community in Asa local government area of Kwara state say they are now better informed on their roles as citizens and will henceforth work towards closing a widening gap between them and their elected representative at the state Assembly.
Some of the residents made the statement following a town hall meeting held at the community at the instance of Open Parly Nigeria, which is an initiative of Connected Development (CODE) aimed at educating Nigerians on the workings of the legislature and how citizens can demand effective representation from their lawmakers.
According to the chairman of Sholu community Abdulrahman Quasim, the town hall meeting couldn’t have come at a better time as residents of the community continues to yarn for quality representative.
He said ‘‘this is indeed a meaningful gathering and we have indeed learnt a lot on the responsibilities of our elected representative at the Kwara state House of Assembly towards us and our own obligations as well ,henceforth we as a community will take the right actions.’’
In her remarks , Lucy James Abagi Director of Programs Connected Development (CODE) noted that almost a year now CODE through the support of National Endowment For Democracy (NED) launched a Sub National Project focused on state parliament which is in three state for now (Kwara,Oyo,Yobe).
She revealed that town meeting brings the citizens and the parliamentarian to know if citizen know their roles and the place of the parliament in the community.
Lucy said “CODE has been engaging the principal officers of Kwara state house of Assembly, attended public hearing but this time the advocacy is at the community level to empower them with the required knowledge to hold their parliaments accountable and to play participatory roles in governance and democracy .”
A member of the 9th Kwara state House of Assembly representing Ilorin South constituency Hon.Jimoh Raheem Agboola who was present at the town hall meeting said the platform Connected Development (CODE) provided has helped to re-awake residents within community level on their participation in democracy which is a pointer to good things Nigeria is yet to witness .
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