TheCable

The Ondo house of assembly has passed the bill for the creation of 33 additional local council development areas (LCDAs) in the state.

According to NAN, Rotimi Akeredolu, the governor of Ondo, had earlier transmitted the bill for the creation of the LCDAs to the assembly for ratification, after which it was subjected to a public hearing and committed to the committee of the whole.

Presenting the report of the committee at the plenary on Tuesday, Abayomi Akinruntan, deputy speaker of the house, said there is a need to consider the cultural homogeneity of the people in boundary demarcation of the new LCDAs, urging the state’s surveyor general to take note.

Akinruntan spoke in respect of protests by some communities that kicked against the creation of the LCDAs, as a political exercise aimed at ceding their ancestral lands to other communities.

On his part, Oladiji Olamide, the speaker, said the bill was in line with the state government’s goal to fast-track development at the grassroots.

Olamide said he is optimistic that the observations and recommendations of the assembly will be effected by the government.

He appealed to Ondo residents to be hopeful and eschew acts that could generate undue rancour and jeopardise reigning peace in the state.

“Let me appeal to the good people of Ondo state to please keep their hope alive as the current position of the house is not an end in itself but a means to a positive end,” he said.

In the new local government reform, Akoko has five LCDAs, Akure and Owo have four each while Ondo and Ilaje have three each.

Also, Idanre, Ose, Ile-Oluji and Okitipupa have two each while Ifedore, Ese-Odo, Odigbo and Irele have one LCDA each in the reform.