Oba Adedapo Tejuoso
The Osiele of Oke-Ona Egba, Oba Adedapo Tejuoso and a number of stakeholders yesterday disagreed over the propriety of creating 37 new local council development areas (LCDAs) in Ogun State.
The state governor, Ibikunle Amosun, had sent a bill to the state House of Assembly seeking approval in that regard.
But at a public forum organised yesterday by the House to sample opinions on the issue, stakeholders were divided in their stance.
While the monarch and a number of people fully endorsed the move, a community leader, Omotayo Roberts, however, differed, saying the exercise was unnecessary, especially this austere time, as it would amount to waste of resources.
“We don’t need new LCDAs now. We are copycatting Lagos State without depth study of what Lagos State did. What we need is a state capital authority similar to the Federal Capital Authority. The territory should include the urbanised contiguous area from Ojere to Osiele, from Aro to Kemta, from Kobape to Akomoje.
“This territory should have as its political head, a Commissioner for the state capital. The state capital will be charged will all those functions that one local government has not be performing,” he also stated.
To a popular lawyer in the state, Benjamin Ogunmodede, the exercise was welcomed, he, however, frowned on the way Orile-Oko was carved out of Obafemi Owode Local Council.
In his remarks, the Speaker of the Assembly, Rt. Hon. Suraj Adekunbi, said that the proposed LCDAs would provide an opportunity to tapping from the abundant resources available within the nooks and crannies of the state.
Guardian