Ibeju Lekki is a local government area in Lagos State known for its rapid development and growth, driven by its proximity to Lagos City and the Lekki-Free Trade Zone. (LFTZ) It is a highly developed area that plays host to Dangote Refinery & Petrochemical complex, Lekki Deep Seaport, Elegushi Beach, Lakowe Golf course, Eleko Beach and La Campagne Tropicana Beach Resort.
There are so many Real Estate projects and infrastructure in that area, like Lekki -Gardens, Richmond Gate, and Commercial Center like Lekki Mall, Shoprite.
Because of the huge flow of people into the area, there is a massive road network expansion going on there. The Lekki-Epe Expressway is being expanded. And there are so many upcoming mega projects like the Lekki Airport, Lekki Industrial Park.
A few days ago, City People Magazine team led by its Publisher, SEYE EKHINDE visited Kabiyeesi during which he spoke about his 2 years on the throne.
Below are excerpts.
Kindly introduce yourself sir…
My name is Oba Alayeluwa Waliu Olasunkanmi Rasaq, Onibeju of Ibejuland and the Chairman of Obas & Chiefs of Ibeju Local Government. It has been an interesting experience as King. Like they always say, uneasy lies the head that wears the crown. When I came in, 2 years ago we met a lot of challenges. One is the expansion of the number of Obas. At the time I came in, I came in with about 7 Obas. We faced a challenge there. Before now, we didn’t have too many Obas. At the time I came in many people didn’t know the difference between the paramount ruler and the Stool. We faced the challenge for almost a year.
Then came the issue of the rotation of the chairmanship of the Council of Obas. We battled that. We had to let them know that Onibeju is just not an ordinary Oba. It is a stool that has been existing since the 14th century. I am the 20th Onibeju. (Oba Ogun). To God be the glory, we were able to resolve it. The chairmanship remains with the Onibeju and it has remained permanent. There is no where you have contest for Obaship that would not bring controversy. When you contest for a post it usually brings controversy. The controversy is among all those who contested with me, among the Princes. They also feel it is their right and their turn.
That happened in this case. We went to court. As we speak our case is in the Court of Appeal. In Lagos State today, we have many of such cases in court. It will be amicably resolved. We are sure that things will get normal.
There are a lot of challenges. It is not easy to manage people. There is hunger in the land and we have to handle that. Once anything happens in our society or community, it is here they will come to. There is Monetary aspect, Security aspect and other issues. But we have been able to curb and take care of the Security issue. Some of our youths who are involved in crime have changed for good. We thank God for that.
As a leader, the 1st thing is to make Peace in the environment. Once everything has become stablised, then the next thing is how to make progress.
So, those are the challenges. We have the challenge of Unemployment. In Ibeju Lekki we have variety of big companies like Dangote Refinery, Deep Sea Port in our LG. But the problem is that the people of Ibeju Lekki are not benefitting from it. It is a big challenge to us. How can we have such industries here in Ibeju-Lekki and we would still be lacking jobs and there is unemployment in the land.
Ibeju Lekki is big. Can you tell us how big it is?
Oh yes. Ibeju Lekki is big. In size, we have the biggest LG, with the biggest land mass. We have Ocean, the Sea and Rivers. People envy us because of that. Awa la lokun, a wa la ni osa. We are rich in all these. Ibeju Lekki is big, very big. Thank God, the LASG has helped us develop our areas, and open so many corridors, that are part of Ibeju Lekki, area which many people did not know exist there, in those fringes and remote areas. There are so many rural areas in Ibeju Lekki that is being developed right now.
What is the difference between Lekki and Ibeju Lekki? Are they the same? Are they different?
They are different. Lekki is a town in Ibeju Lekki LG. There is a history attached to Lekki. That is why people hear about Lekki. There is a place in Lekki where they imprisoned late Chief Obafemi Awolowo in those days. That was why the name came out. That was why Lekki became well known. Lekki was a village in Ibeju-Lekki before now. But when we were going to have a Local Government we had to merge so many villages in Ibeju and Lekki together. There are many vollages in Ibeju Lekki LCDA. That is why they claled it Ibeju-Lekki. Lekki is like an umbrella name, for many of the villages under Lekki and because of the history of Lekki.
Ibeju-Lekki is the home for real estate. Many real estate companies play big in Ibeju-Lekki area. How do you cope with real estate activities in this community?
Yes it is big Business not only in Ibeju Lekki but in Lagos State now. That is one area I want to advice government on things that can be done. Real Estate is good. It lets a town to quickly develop with its modern day development. and modern layout. But if we continue to build houses and estates there, where will our children work? But if they can bring offices to this area, it will help employment. We need businesses that can employ our children and people. They need jobs. There is a huge unemployment population here in Ibeju-Lekki. We can’t just be building estates and estates. How many people can the estate employ? Out people are suffering here. No jobs. If they can achieve what was done in Victoria Island, in Lagos, where they here offices and businesses, it will be good. With the building of estates, the best job they can get is to be Security man at the estate. Let us open a place that will be convenient for business opportunities.
As it is, almost all the land in Ibeju-Lekki have been sold to Real Estate people to build estates. Though it is a good thing but lets look at the needs of our people also. They need jobs. Many families have 4, 5, 6, 7 graduates who are unemployed. If we continue to build estate, estate, estate where will they work? And it is their land, that we entrusted to government. You have taken their land, which their fathers gave to them, which they inherited, which they use for farming, they have given the land to government to use. You have to give something back to them in return that they can use, that they can depend on which will help their lives, it won’t make sense to them. What they are saying is that what government is using it for does not help their future. Government should please look into that area. We are not here to fight government. We are here to advice government. What we are saying is if you the government use the land for something, create jobs for them. Let them be employed. So they won’t become a nuisance.
Since you became Onibeju, what are the things you have been able to do in the community?
Like I said, stabilisation of the community first. We have to stabilise our people, Village Vs Village, community clashes. We thank God, we have been able to resolve all. We have a little left.
In terms of development, we have done a lot. We have our market that we would be opening very soon. We are building our own Fish market. Right now, there is fish market in Epe. We have land to do that here also. It is our people that will catch fish here and take it to Epe to sell. We now said to ourselves let us have our fish market. Let us open it to the world. We have done street lights. In terms of Education, we have given out Scholarships. We have sponsored some people. Almost all of them are in the University.
We have done a lot in various areas. We are happy that we have returned Sanity and Security back to Ibeju-Lekki. With Peace we can build on that.
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