Villagers Seek Government’s Attention

By Sola Jacobs

Residents of Lawoka, Lagaba, Olomidudu and Araromi villages in Ife South West Local Council Development Area in the state of Osun have called on the government and spirited individuals to establish school and health centre in the area.

One of the community leaders chief Adewole Adeoba said that the recent enumeration by the state government in the area revealed that more than 8,000 adults excluding children are living in the villages.

He continued: We are farmers, planting both food and cash crops, and about 50 per cent of the cocoa production in the state comes from these areas, while new cocoa, cashew and palm oil plantation is going on in the area.

“Moreover, lumbering activities as well as forestation to prevent dissertation have been our collective efforts with the state government.

“In the area of infrastructure, the residents, over the years, have opened up roads and maintained their roads with little or no assistance from government”, he said.

A women leader in Araromi village, Mrs Bintu Olubanwo decried the unavailability of portable water, as residents source water from streams which appeared dirty during this raining season.

She also lamented the unavailability of functional health centre in the area, as women need to travel to Ile-Ife and Ondo town for medical services.

She also noted that there are no school in Olomidudu, Araromi and Lagaba, as children of school age have to reside with relatives in Omifunfun or Garage Olode.

Most women who spoke with the medium said, their children have to live with relatives in the cities, as there are no elementary school either government or private-owned in the villages.

They therefore called on the government to establish, at least, elementary school in the area, to afford their children opportunity of schooling in the villages, while mobile clinic should be established to visit the village at least once in a month.