NEW COUNCILS NOT POLITICAL —FAYEMI • SIGNS 19 NEW LGS INTO LAW

Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State, on Wednesday, signed the bill creating additional 19 local government areas in the state into law.
While assenting to the bill passed last week by the state House of Assembly, Governor Fayemi denied that the policy was meant to set a political trap for the incoming administration of the governor-elect, Mr Ayodele Fayose.
At the ceremony held at the executive council chambers of the governor’s office, Fayemi said he initiated the policy as part of the fulfillment of his administration’s electioneering promises to the people.
He promised that his government would bridge all noticeable gaps in the policy for expeditious and smooth take-off of the policy before the expiration of his tenure on October 15, 2014.
Fayemi pointed out that the assets’ sharing committee of the assembly had visited the affected local governments and the reports were already before him, which he promised to implement thoroughly for the councils to come into being in due course.
Fayemi said: “This is a promise fulfilled, following the yearnings of the people. These yearnings predated my coming into government in 2010.
“The fist executive governor of this state, Chief Niyi Adebayo, attempted this policy before the end of his tenure but it never came to pass. Despite this, our people never stopped requesting for additional local governments for rapid development and for political independence.
“With this policy, we are not just making history but we are part of history. We have written our names in the book of history for taking this bold step. And I will do everything within the confines of the constitution for effective functioning of these councils before this administration effectively come to an end.
“Soon, we will appoint transitional political functionaries that would begin the process of the existence of these councils for rapid development at the grassroots where the bulk of our people live.”
Contrary to the criticisms by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that the policy was a flagrant breach of the 1999 Constitution, Fayemi, however, posited that all extant constitutional provisions were complied with in arriving at the conclusion of the exercise.
The speaker of the assembly, Honourable Adewale Omirin, said the assembly decided to key into the policy because of the enormous role the local government system played in the lives of the rural dwellers and the overall development of any society.
Lending credence to position canvassed by Fayemi, Omirin maintained that the policy is beyond partisan consideration but a feat targeted at turning around the fortunes of the state, as experienced in Lagos State he said had “effectively practise the system.”
The Speaker stated that “We have seen what the effects have yielded in Lagos State. We have decided to take this bold step some states had failed to implement because we knew local government forms a critical segment of our development strategy. We need to tap into our rural areas for revenue drive for development at that level,” Omirin said.
Source: Tribune