Abimbola Abatta, Osogbo
Osun State House of Assembly on Wednesday passed the Local Government Administration Amendment NO. 7 Bill 2021 into law.
The Speaker of the Assembly, Timothy Owoeye, sponsored the bill for a law to amend the Local Government Administration No. 6 law of 2016 and other connected purposes, which now empowers the Governor of Osun to fill vacant positions in the Local Governments.
The Speaker held that section 2 (a) of the Osun State Local Government Administration amendment No. 6 Bill 2016 is amended forthwith as “Where a Local Government Council, Local Council Development Areas or Area Council is dissolved and no election has been conducted to reconstitute the council or it has become impracticable to immediately conduct an election to fill the vacancies thereby created, the Governor shall appoint a Caretaker Management Committee to run the affairs of the council for a period not exceeding six months.
“The Local Government Caretaker Management Committee shall comprise the Chairman, Vice Chairman, Scribe to the Local Government and a member from each of the wards in the local Government Area or Local Council Development Area. In the case of an Area Council, an Administrator shall be appointed.
“The appointments shall be subjected to the confirmation of the House of Assembly.”
Meanwhile, the tenure of the elected officials of Local Governments in the state expired February 5, 2021 and Chairmen had since handed over the administration of local Governments to the most senior career officers of Councils.