Enugu State LG chairmen hand over as tenure expires

The 17 Local Government Chairmen in Enugu State on Tuesday handed over to their various Heads of Personnel Departments (HPMs) after the expiration of their two-year tenure.

The ceremony took place in a closed-door meeting with Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi at the Government House, Enugu.

The governor is expected to announce the list of caretaker committees to run the affairs of the councils pending the conduct of local government elections in the state.

The governor had met with stakeholders across the state during the public holidays to constitute the committees.

He had announced at an expanded meeting of stakeholders last month that local government caretaker committees would be constituted in order to avoid a vacuum.

The governor gave two reasons why the local council polls would not hold before the expiration of their tenure.

According to him, the first reason is the ongoing local government staff audit and other reforms.

He explained that the state government wanted to fish out ghost workers said to be prevalent in the system.

He, therefore, directed that all activities towards the local government elections be put on hold, to enable the committee handling the exercise to conclude its assignment.

“It indeed appears to be a widely shared view among our people that it will be unwise and imprudent to conduct elections for new councils when this very important exercise has not been concluded.”

Ugwuanyi explained that the second reason for the postponement of the council elections was inadequate funding for the exercise as it was not properly provided for in the 2015 budget.

“We, therefore, expect to address this deficiency in the 2016 budget,” he explained.

The decision to constitute caretaker committees was approved by Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, a former Minister of Power, Prof Barth Nnaji, and a former Information Minister, Chief Nnia Nwodo, who led the people from their respective senatorial districts.

Meanwhile, Prince Cornelius Nnaji, the former Chairman of the Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON) in the state, confirmed that the handover was peaceful.

“The handover was peaceful; there was no problem,” the ALGON chairman said.

Nnaji thanked the governor for the opportunity given to the chairmen to serve the state in that capacity. (NAN)