In a bid to foster sustainable development in the local government areas, the Oyo State government on Wednesday organized the first inaugural meeting for the newly sworn-in local government chairmen.
The meeting which was geared towards welcoming officially the council bosses was also aimed at giving them tips and orientation on how to govern their local government areas.
The Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, Hon Segun Olayiwola stated that the meeting was held for the purpose of puting the council bosses on track and also to share experiences with them.
He said, “We thank God for yet another opportunity to swear-in a set of 33 local government chairmen in Oyo State. You will recall that immediately after the resumption of office of His Excellency Governor Seyi Makinde, he conducted an election into the local government of Oyo State, and promptly he swore them in. As at that time the tenure of the first batch of the chairmen elected under the platform of all parties in Oyo State sworn in, and at the expiration of the tenure of office, another election was conducted, making it the second in the series of this administration, and which has never happened in Oyo State.
“A governor swearing in two batches of chairmen and by the grace of God, I assure you, before the end of this administration, this one also will end, and we’ll swear in the third batch of chairmen in this administration.
“We have come to welcome them. We have come to give them tips. We have come to give them orientation on how to govern their local government.
“We have come to share our own experiences with them, and to make sure we put them on the right track before they move, and by the grace of God, with what we have been doing since morning, we are sure that they are going to do their best to see to the development of their various local governments.
Speaking on the ones returning and other plans that the administration has for the council boss, Olayiwola said, “We have less than one third of them. Only 12 of them returned out of 33. So 11 did not return. So, I can assure you, they will share their own experiences with their colleagues that are just coming in, and with the tips that we have given to them today, I can assure you, the sky is the limit to their developmental activities that you will witness in Oyo state during this tenure. And I can also assure you that very soon, you will join us, we are going to do induction training for all of them.
“All the elected councilors, 351 of them, all elected chairmen, and all elected vice chairmen. We will be giving an induction course that will span through three days, where we will intimate them with their responsibilities as they resume Office.
“It will commence as soon as approval is granted by His Excellency, you will be invited,” he said.
Speaking on behalf of the 33 local government Chairmen, Hon. Sikiru Sanda appreciated the Governor, Engr. Seyi Makinde for the opportunity given to them to be sworn in as local government Chairmen and also assure the people of Oyo state to expect bigger dividends of democracy in their tenure.
“We want to show our appreciation to the executive governor of Oyo State for giving us this opportunity to be sworn in as the elected Local government Chairmen.
“Today is our first Inaugural meeting and the commission for Local government and Chieftaincy matter in person of Chief Segun Olayiwola has really charged us. This is a kind of speedy commencement of the new administration as far as local government is concerned.
“We want to assure the good people of Oyo State that they should expect a bigger dividend of democracy from all the local governments because with the crop of the chairmen here today, they are ready for the job, we have plans for the job, we have the blueprint already and I’m assuring you that we are going to perform excellently even beyond the expectation of the electorate.
“I believe that all of them are competent and I don’t have doubt that they are going to perform excellently well.
However, there is going to be training and retraining and the commissioner has even assured us that a 3 day induction programme would be organized and which will come up shortly,” he added.