A civil society organization, under the aegis of Concerned Human Rights, CHR has said that it is taking an independent assessment tour of projects across Lagos State to evaluate the performance of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode in office for the last three years.
The organisation said the assessment tour was informed by series of endorsements of the governor for a second term by different groups across the state.
CHR noted that its decision to carry out the assessment on Ambode’s performance was in line with the “tenets of democracy” which calls for evaluation of elected officers.
Speaking at a press conference to herald the assessment tour, CHR Convener, Declan Ihekaire said the organization has taken up the “responsibility in line with its role as watchdog” to evaluate Governor Ambode-led administration in the last three years.
Ihekaire said through the assessment, the group would be able to determine if the government has been able to impact on the life of the people.
He said this would be determined by interacting with members of the public across the 30 local government areas and 27 local council development areas of the state.
He added that the assessment, which would last four weeks, would commence on May 1 to end on 29 to mark the country’s Democracy Day.
“We have taken up this societal responsibility in line with our role as societal watchdog to be able to assess how the government has impacted one the life of the citizenry in the last three years.
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“In the recent weeks and months, there have been a lot of endorsements. Hence, we embark on this to know whether the endorsements really worth it. If it does, we will support and if otherwise, we will not support it.”
The convener explained further that during the assessment tour of the projects which include health, infrastructures, education, security, environment, social welfare amongst others, the organization would engage the service of experts to ensure that proper evaluation is done.
He added that the tour is being utilized not only to inspect projects, but also to interact with the people and get their feedback the impact of government to their lives.
“We are using this tour not only to inspect projects, but to also interact with the people to get their feedback on how the government is affecting their lives as well as identify areas of need to help deepen our democracy.”
Also speaking, an executive member of the organisation, Nelson Ekujumi maintained that the assessment was necessary in order to ensure accountability.
“Democracy is about accountability. There is a need to start doing serious evaluation of our leaders who are elected in various political offices. It won’t be good for us as electorate to sit back and fold our arms and watch the leaders come back in office without evaluating their performance to determine if they are fit or not.
“So beyond the assessment tour our organization is about to do, this is also a wakeup call for all of us to evaluate our leaders if they are truly living up to expectations.”
Meanwhile, the group said the assessment tour would not be limited to Lagos alone, as efforts are underway to replicate the move in other states of the federation.
