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The Ondo State Government on Thursday announced the creation of 33 Local Government Development Areas(LCDAs) in the state.
The decision was reached at the weekly Executive Council meeting, presided over by Acting Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa.
The State Commissioner for Information and Orientation Bamidele Ademola-Olateju, briefed journalists on the development after the meeting.
Ondo State currently has 18 statutory local government areas.
The Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Charles Titiloye, who joined the Information Commissioner at the briefing, explained how the newly created LCDAs operate.
He said they would perform the same functions with the existing 18 local governments in the state.
Mrs Ademola-Olateju added that the enabling law had been sent to the State House of Assembly for enactment.
Speaking more on the 33 LCDAs, Mr Titiloye, said that the newly created LCDAs would have equal functions with their own headquarters and operate side-by-side with the existing 18 Local Government areas in the state.
He said the approval followed the recommendation of the Committee on LCDAs set up by the State Governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu and which is headed by Lanke Odogiyan.
Mr Titiloye the bill will be signed into law as soon as the State House of Assembly passes it and that would begin immediate implementation.
“The procedure for Local Government creation will not be complete without an enabling law,” he said.
“The Council received today, the proposed Bill for the establishment of the 33 LCDA.
“This proposed Bill was approved by the State Executive Council, and is to be sent to the State House of Assembly for enactment to give necessary legal backing.”
In 2019, Ondo State Governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, received recommendations for the creation of more local governments to extend governance to the people.
The government then set up an 11-member Committee to work out acceptable strategies for the creation of LCDA.
The creation of the new LCDAs was a product of the Review Committee on Lanke Odogiyan’s committee’s report.
The creation of LCDAs was pioneered by the Lagos State Government under the administration Bola Tinubu, who action stood in confrontation of the Olusegun Obasanjo-led federal government.
Since then, the other South West states of Osun, Oyo, Ogun and Ekiti States had created their own local governments development areas and are fully functional.