Oyo Govt Trains 351 Councillors, 33 LG Clerks On Good Governance
The Oyo State government, today, conducted a training programme for 351 councillors and 33 clerks of the 33 local government legislative councils across the state.
The training centred on good governance at the local government levels and effective replication of the Four Point Service Agenda of the Governor ‘Seyi Makinde administration.
The training exercise was flagged off at the World Lilies Event Centre, Apata, Ibadan by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Legislative Matters, Honourable Samuel Adejumo.
As contained in a statement by the governor’s media aide, Taiwo Adisa, Adejumo said the training was initiated to update the beneficiaries on the relevant federal and state laws and reforms, as well as their application of the Four Point Service Agenda of the Makinde administration at the grassroots.
He admonished the councillors and clerks to truly represent the interest of their various communities and key into four pillars of the administration.
He said: “The training is meant to groom you on oversight functions and the laws they are supposed to make at the local council so that they can represent the people well.
“It is also aimed at giving them proper orientation on how to deliver dividends of democracy to the people. It is first of its kind in the history of Oyo State and the entire nation. So, I want to believe that it is a legacy.
“It is possible for us to organise this training because we have a governor who understands what he is doing. He has put a round peg in a round hole and I give him kudos for giving kind approval for this workshop.
“The message of His Excellency to the newly elected councillors and clerks is that they should avoid crisis at the local government level and replicate the things that have been done in the state in the past two years.
“The chairmen should allow the legislature to perform their oversight functions so that there will be no misunderstanding between the two arms of government.”
He expressed the hope that at the end of the training, participants would have been further equipped with adequate knowledge to discharge their duties effectively at their various councils.
Also speaking at the event, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, Mr. Segun Ajekiigbe, said the ministry has put together a three-day training to address a serious lacuna observed in the series of researches conducted on local government administration in Nigeria.
This lacuna, he said, bothered on identified wide gaps between the local government chairmen and councillors, adding that this has been seen as a major encumbrance to development at the grassroots.
He charged the legislative arm in the local government system to work in cahoots with their chairmen to bring a paradigm shift that would engender a workable strategic development plan in tandem with Governor Makinde’s mantra of education, health, security and economic expansion.
Dr. Stephen Lafenwa, a lecturer from the Department of Political Science, University of Ibadan, said local governments must be creative in assisting their communities to align with the four pillars of the Makinde administration and ensure that they promote grassroots development.
“It is very important we engage them because a number of them are new in the system and they have not familiarised themselves with the structure that we currently have in place.
“Since 1991, Nigeria has extended the presidential system of government to local government system and the way we have been running it when we transited to democratic system in 1999 has not portrayed that we have already entrenched that in our law.
“So, that is why we have to train the newly-elected local government councillors concerning the structure they are going to be working with and what it is all about and how they can perform their roles within the council areas, party and communities,” he said.
Honourable Musah Abdu-Wasii, Chairman, Oyo State House of Assembly Service Commission, spoke on the paper titled “Understanding the act of Law Making at the Local Government Level”.
He said his paper is basically on the act of lawmaking at the local government level, adding that the paper is an expose on the power of the local government councils and the lawmakers at that level.
The training was attended by the 351 councillors and 33 clerks of the legislative councils of the 33 local government areas in the state.
