Constitutional role: Ajero hails FG 'Wants potable water, electricity in his domain

The Owa Ajero of Ijero Kingdom, Oba Joseph Adewole, has commended the Federal Government for its plan to create roles for traditional rulers in the country.Oba Adewole, who stated this when speaking with Community News at Ijero-Ekiti, headquarters of Ijero Local Government Area of Ekiti State recently, said the constitution, before now, had created the role of advisers for traditional rulers and said it was only proper that this role be restored.'The constitution has always given the role of adviser to traditional rulers and that is the role I think we should still continue to play. But the 1999 constitution fashioned by the military removed that role and we want that role restored. We cannot hold more than the role of an adviser, but we want that role restored in the constitution,' Oba Adewole stated.Reiterating his earlier call for improved electricity to Ijero-Ekiti, the traditional ruler said it was important that Ijero be connected 'to the national electricity grid that serves Ado-Ekiti and environs,' pointing out that 'electricity here is still epileptic and we have pleaded with the state government to connect us to the grid in Ekiti.'Oba Adewole also repeated his desire to see water supply improve in the community, saying 'even our water supply is still epileptic.'These things are very basic and we want government to urgently look into them because Ijero Local Government lacks these basic needs.'The traditional ruler also said 'the government should also note that Ijero-Ekiti is ripe for a tertiary institution.'Speaking on the recent meeting with teachers in the state following the teachers' face-off with the state government, the traditional ruler said 'it is not correct to say that there was a deadlock in the meeting between the traditional rulers and teachers.'He explained that 'what happened was that we have listened to the government because we had to ask them what was happening and the government told us their side. The teachers were not there then. So, we decided to convene another meeting with the teachers and the outcome of the meeting was the formation of a committee. We did this because all of us cannot sit there and finish the job. The committee is made up of members from Nigerian Inter-Religious Council (NIREC), the teachers themselves, the state Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Teaching Service Commission (TESCOM) and other stakeholders connected to teaching at that level.
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