Task politicians on campaign promises –IPC

The International Press Centre (IPC) has called on the grassroots to task politicians on their campaign promises to them. Lanre Arogundade, Director, IPC, made this call while speaking during the public presentation of development charters for Agbede Oloshugbo, Gbasemo/Tuagaga and Offin-Lajo-Oreta communities of Ikorodu, Lagos. According to him, IPC, with the support of ACTIONAID and UKAID/DFID, came up with the charters so government can know the specific needs of the communities so as to know what to provide for them precisely. Speaking further, he called on the communities to always keep in touch with the government to task them on their campaign promises so as to why they’ve not implemented them, and if they have, at what costs and logistics. He added that they should use the media to task the politicians so as to keep the politicians on their toes and also because when they use the media to speak of their development needs, it might be easier for them to get those needs attended to as some of their needs can be addressed by the local government, some by the state and some by the federal government and when those needs are publicized by the media, then it’s easier for the appropriate arm of government to know about them. Also speaking, the presentation’s keynote speaker, Francis Abayomi, Executive Director, Peace and Development Projects, advised that the grassroots should not let their political interests clash with their communities’ interests as they can’t all belong to the same political party so they should be united in progress regardless of which party is in office.