The Okeigbo Concerned Youths has commended individuals who have continued to demonstrate genuine commitment to the development of Okeigbo through projects and interventions that directly touch the lives of the people, describing such gestures as investments in the future of the community.
The group particularly eulogised Mr. Akintayo Adefiranye for the completed Information and Communication Technology (ICT) project at Olorioke Grammar School, Okeigbo, undertaken in honour of his late wife, Pamo.
According to the youths, the initiative represents a thoughtful combination of remembrance, education and community development, providing students with greater access to digital learning and opportunities in the technology-driven world.
The group also commended Princess Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), for the 40-bed hospital project in Okeigbo, describing the intervention as a significant contribution to healthcare development in the community.
The youths equally appreciated President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for supporting an administration through which development interventions can reach communities at the grassroots.
The Okeigbo Concerned Youths stressed that community development should not become a contest over who receives credit for a project. Rather, the emphasis should be on identifying the true source, acknowledging the individuals or institutions responsible, and encouraging more people to do more for the community.
Against this backdrop, the group urged the Okeigbo Youths Parliament to make objective recognition of community development a consistent part of its activities.
According to the group, those who use their resources, influence or public offices to bring meaningful development to Okeigbo deserve to be acknowledged, irrespective of political affiliation.
The group further called for proper attribution of projects in the community, noting that every development intervention should be credited to the individual, institution or government agency that actually initiated, funded or implemented it. Such clarity, it said, is essential for accountability and for preserving the true development history of Okeigbo.
The youths also charged elected lawmakers representing Okeigbo and its surrounding constituencies to make their constituencies the centrepiece of their development efforts by showcasing their Constituency projects with respect to o huge money being given to them yearly
According to the group, lawmakers should not merely speak for their constituents in legislative chambers; they should also use the opportunities available through their offices to attract meaningful interventions in education, healthcare, roads, water, youth empowerment, skills acquisition and other areas of community development.
The group maintained that every elected representative should have a verifiable development footprint that the people can identify with. It stressed that the measure of representation should ultimately be the positive impact that reaches the constituents.
For the Okeigbo Concerned Youths, the completed ICT project at Olorioke Grammar School and the 40-bed hospital project demonstrate that meaningful development can come through different channels.
The appropriate response from the community, it said, is to give honour to whom honour is due, encourage those doing well, and constructively challenge those entrusted with public office to do more.
As Okeigbo looks toward a stronger and more prosperous future, the group called for a culture in which community builders are celebrated, development efforts are properly attributed, and elected representatives are encouraged to leave tangible footprints in their constituencies.
“Let every good work receive its rightful recognition, and let every representative be challenged to do more for the people.”