The Sagamu Community Development Committee (SCDC) was established in February 1998 by the Late Akarigbo & Paramount Ruler of Remoland, His Royal Majesty, Alaiyeluwa Oba Dr Michael Adeniyi Sonariwo, FCA, CON, KJW, Erinjugbo II, to harness the support of the then West African Portland Cement Company (WAPCO) for sustainable development projects for Sagamu Local Government area.

Before then, the expression of the Company’s Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR) was decided without much consultation with any organized community representatives. Not unexpectedly therefore, many felt that the community was being exploited by the Company.

The Committee was reconstituted in 2003 with an enlarged membership which represented a wider spectrum of stakeholders and included prominent Sagamu citizens. From February 1998 to February 2011, the Committee under the able leadership of Asiwaju S.K. Onafowokan,
provided a valuable platform for Sagamu Local Government and Lafarge-WAPCO to jointly evaluate community needs and negotiate the contributions of the Company towards addressing those needs.

The Committee successfully negotiated an agreed quota of employment for Sagamu Local Government’s indigenes in the Company. Several capital projects were undertaken including the building and equipping of an Information Technology (IT) Centre for the training of community youths, refurbishing and equipping of a community library; provision of much needed equipment for the state-of-the-art Chest Clinic for Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital; provision of water from deep wells and boreholes for all public primary schools, markets, palaces as well as various town lets and locations in Sagamu Local Government Area. Annually, funding was also provided for the award of bursaries to indigent students in public tertiary institutions; supply of exercise books to pupils in all public primary schools in Sagamu Local Government Area, in addition to various forms of youth empowerment and skills acquisition programmes.

THE ADVENT OF RIDSCO

With Sagamu and its environs attracting more commercial interests and investments in new industries, as well as influx of financial institutions, there was the need for expanding the scope of advocacy efforts by the community with these new stakeholders for their contributions towards community development. This is because these new enterprises are obliged to discharge their Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR) to their host community, which in this case is Sagamu Local Government.

To this end, the late Akarigbo & Paramount Ruler of Remoland, His Royal Majesty, Alaiyeluwa Oba Dr Michael Sonariwo, FCA, CON, KJW, Erinjugbo II, inaugurated a Steering Group, under the Chairmanship of the indefatigable Asiwaju Solomon Kayode Onafowokan on 13 February, 2011 to do a spade work that was to guide His Royal Majesty in the onerous task of widening the scope of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives.