Edo State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole yesterday gave his nod to the resolution passed by the State House of Assembly dissolving the eighteen Local Government Transition Committee Chairmen, asking the Head of Service in the various local governments to take over the day-to-day running of the Local Governments.
The governor at a meeting with the former Transition Committee Chairmen and the Head of Service of the Local Governments at the Government House said that after examining the resolution of the House of Assembly, he is satisfied that it is in the best interest of the state.
He however told the Head of Service of the Local Governments that they are to ensure that only the salaries of teachers and local government employees are paid, stressing that they are not to run those local governments as if they were sole administrators.
“I have invited you to brief you about a recent development. You are aware of the resolution passed by the House of Assembly as regards the tenure of the local government transition committees. We have considered the resolution which has since been transmitted to my office and we have examined it and we are satisfied that it is done in good faith and in the best interest of our state. Accordingly, we have resolved to accept the dissolution of the transition committees, which means the chairmen of the transition committees, the councilors and the supervisors’ tenure have come to an end, by reason of this decision”, Comrade Oshiomhole noted.
While commending the transition committees caretakers, the governor said, “I want to place on record my appreciation of the transition committees for the leadership they provided within the Local Government Areas in the last two years and a month.
“Everything considered, I am convinced that the chairmen have given a good account of themselves and they have impacted in various ways in the life of the people in their respective local governments. I have seen schools that have been built by some of the local governments, I have seen health centres and a couple of other development projects, even street lights in some cases,” he said.
He further added that, “overall when I look at the score cards of the transition committee chairmen and compare it to those of their predecessors who were elected, I believe these set of chairmen have done better that their predecessors, but as they say there is time for everything and by the nature of caretaker leadership there is no defined tenure of office and it is meant to be a stop gap depending on when elections are conducted.”
The governor disclosed that, “now that we have cleared the coast, we are sorting out the remaining legal issues as regard to the State Independent Electoral Commission and we believe over the next few months election to local governments would be conducted, but before then we have asked the transition committee chairmen to hand over the affairs to the Head of Service in their respective local government areas.”
Warning the Head of Service of the Local Governments not to act as sole administrators, Oshiomhole said: “If there are specific development that requires their actions or further actions, those specific developments will be discussed and specific approvals will be given. Anything you want to do ensure you have approval in black and white to avoid misconception. Our instruction is not that you should go and pay for contracts or pay contractors. You must now give priority to payment of those accumulated salaries.” he added.
According to him, some of the local governments for one reason or the other and the way which the State Universal Education Board SUBEB posted teachers some local governments have been overloaded, such that after the payment of salaries in some cases do not have enough to pay salaries of local government employees.
