—- 22 hours daily electricity by 2025 underway
Ondo state government on Tuesday explained why it would not publish the list of the newly created 33 LCDAs for now.
It made the explanation against the backdrop of criticisms that trailed the creation.
It will be recalled that a list which leaked last week after the government announced the creation of the 33 new LCDAs was rejected by notable personalities across the state who alleged favouritism to council areas particularly where political leaders of the ruling APC in the state hail from.
The state government immediately disowned the list because of the backlash and accused some aggrieved politicians of leaking the list to the public.
Making the clarificatio in Akured duringa Media Agenda programme organised by the State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, the state information and Orientation commissioner, Bamidele Ademola-Olateju, said that the State Assembly can still tinker with the original list of the LCDAs, hence the need to for government to still keep it secret.
Her words: “You know, people will leak information but it’s inappropriate.
“LCDAs have been approved by the executive, we all took oath of secrecy while taking this job and I think we should express fidelity to the oath we’ve taken. I don’t know who leaked it but I condemn it and I say it is inappropriate.
“We have three arms of government. When the executive has decided, it has to be ratified by the House of Assembly.
”So, giving it to the press was wrong. That is preemptive of the House of Assembly. The House can still tinker with it.
“For instance, let’s say Akure South Local Government has been demarcated to three LCDAs, when it gets to the House, you know, there are political interests and other considerations, they might decide to say we can only have two.
“So, if we had released it to the public, we would have to go and change it again. That is why it was not given to the press or made public.
” The fact remains that 33 LCDAs were created in addition to the 18 local government areas, but it is still subject to debate, ratification and the governor will assent to it.
“So, the list you are seeing, we completely disown it, it’s inappropriate.”
On electricity supply, she pointed out that residents in Akure, the state capital and environs would soon enjoy 22 hours of electricity supply by 2025 when its planned power project comes on stream.
She said: “The power plant would gradually extend the electricity from the gas-powered plant to the hinterlands of the state.
” Turbines for the electricity project would soon arrive the state.”
On the planned cash transfer to selected vulnerable people in the state, the commissioner assured that the N10,000 unconditional cash transfer for 18,000 selected vulnerable people in the state would be fairly distributed across the state.
She added that the state has a reliable parameter for identifying vulnerable people in the state, stating that the register of vulnerable people was generated through enumerators hired by the World Bank and the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) some years back.
Speaking earlier, the Chairman of the state’s NUJ Council, Prince Leke Adegbite, said that the Ondo State Media Agenda was organised as a forum to hold public office holders accountable to the public, adding that more state government officials would be engaged subsequently.
