Odi-Olowo/Ojuwoye LCDA Sells Sallah Rams at Subsidized Rates to Residents

• Council chair, Rasaq Ajala, says 1000 healthy rams availabe for sale to Muslims

The Executive Chairman of Odi-Olowo/Ojuwoye Local Council Development Area, Honourable Rasaq Olusola Ajala, has explained that his Council decided to sell Rams to Muslims at subsidised rate to meet their religious obligations as part of his administration’s initiatives to ensure that the people feel the positive impact of democracy.

The LCDA Chair made this submission during the 8th edition of subsidised sale of Sallah Rams, which was held yesterday at the Council’s Secretariat, Town Planning Way, Ilupeju, Lagos.

The programme, which started eight years ago, held early morning yesterday with a huge crowd of the LCDA residents, intent on buying Rams for the eid el kabir celebration, in attendance.

In this year’s edition, over 1000 healthy Rams are up for sale at a subsidised rate of 75,000 Naira each for Rams that could ordinarily sell for as high as N200,000.00 and above in the open market.

According the LCDA Chair, ” This subsidised Rams sale is about meeting the needs of our Muslim brothers and sisters in accordance with the dictates of the Holy Quran, just as we sell chickens at subsidised rates during Christmas to our Christian brothers and sisters. Democracy is about people and their welfare, and this is what this scheme is all about”

To benefit from this scheme, the Chairman explained, you do not need to be connected to anyone in the Council. The only requirements are your voter’s card, which is to identify you as a voter in the local council development area and your radio and television licence, to show that you are a patriotic citizen of the Council.

The subsidised Rams sale event, according to participants, demonstrates vividly the organisational acumen of the Council under the leadership of Mr Rasaq Ajala.

Although a mammoth crowd had converged on the Council premises as early as 6am, the sale was so orderly that the possibility of stampede or any untoward occurrence was almost nil.

The buyers formed a long queue by the entrance to the gate and they ushered into the premises, in groups between 15 and 20, to a tent where their means of identification, voters’ card, is screened. Upon satisfactory screening, the buyer is given a number, and he then joins another queue from where he is ushered into another tent where payment is made. The receipt has the card number earlier given at the screening tent. It is this screening card number and the receipt he presents at the Ram Collection Point.

Tajudeen Ajagbe, a resident of Ilupeju and one of the buyers who arrived early enough to be among the second set of those who were ushered into the Council, described the arrangement as “seamless and commendable.”

“Hon Ajala, our able and capable Chairman has demonstrated superb leadership abilities. What you are witnessing now is a testimony to those leadership qualities. This delightful and commendable subsidised Sallah Rams sale, which started eight years ago, is a reflection of the Chair’s leadership style and his undying love for the downtrodden. He has etched his name on the right side of history, and posterity will remember him for his people-friendly programmes, one of which is what you are witnessing now.”