Akeredolu pledges to create LCDA in Ondo

Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo state

Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo state has expressed his administration’s readiness to create Local Council Development Authority areas in the state in the next few months in order to move the government closer to the people at the rural areas.

Akeredolu who stated this in Akure, Ondo state capital while receiving the report of the Committee on Creation of LCDA  said the proposed LCDAs were meant to fast track development and bring the government closer to the grassroots.

The governor assured that his government would not create LCDAs which number would be more than necessary, saying his government was determined to make necessary moves that would accelerate all-round development of the people at the grassroots level.

While appreciating members of the committee for a good job done, Akeredolu said he would subject the report to thorough scrutiny before presenting it at the state executive council meeting for ratification.

The governor said he was aware that the task the committee undertook was not the easiest anybody could do because of the seriousness the people attached to the issue of local government creation.

“We will look into this and make sure that in a few months, we create the LCDAs. It’s usual we still subject it to scrutiny before exco looks at it,” he said.

The chairman of the committee, Lanke Odogiyan, while submitting the report, said his team received 94 memoranda requesting for 105 LCDAs.

According to him, the committee had to painstakingly go through the huge documents before coming to a conclusion.

Odogiyan said, “After collating the requests and dissecting them, we embarked on a statewide public hearing which afforded sponsors of memos the opportunity to defend and present their memos.”

He said the tour that took the committee across the state was enlightening, adding that the committee resolved various age-long rivalries among some neighbouring communities which were not in good terms.

He said the huge crowd that turned out where the committee had a public hearing and the calibre of the dignitaries that attended was a testimony to the yearnings of the people of the state for good governance at the grassroots.

The committee chairman, however, expressed hope that the governor’s decision to create LCDAs would address the failure of governance at the grassroots.

Akeredolu had on March 21, 2019, constituted the committee to take memoranda from communities seeking LCDAs.