Nasarawa Assembly approves three-year LG tenure

Nasarawa State House of Assembly

The Nasarawa State House of Assembly has approved a three-year tenure for elected local government chairmen and councillors in the state.

The assembly also detached the Ministry of Local Government, Local Government Service Commission and LG Pension Board from the affairs of local government in the state.

Also, it renamed the 18 Local Council Development Areas as Area Administrative Councils, to be headed by Area Administrators instead of Overseers.

The Area Administrators and four other members each for the 18 administrative councils are expected to be appointed by the governor, with the approval of the House of Assembly.

The Speaker, Danladi Jatau, stated this when the assembly deliberated and adopted the report of the House Standing Committee on Local Government, Community Development and Chieftaincy Affairs.

The deliberation was on a bill for a law to repeal and re-enact the establishment, structure, composition, finance, and function of the local government system in Nasarawa State 2024 and other matters connected thereto, during the House proceedings in Lafia, on Tuesday.

The Speaker said the bill would pass through a third reading and final passage today (Wednesday).

He explained that the bill was apt, especially now that the Federal Government was making efforts to see that local government areas achieve full autonomy and, going by the fact that the local government election was near in the state.

“If the law is passed and assented to, the state shall contribute 20 per cent as grants to the Area Administrative Council Development Account for the purpose of rural infrastructural development.

“And each local government may make contributions in the form of grants or counterpart funding to the Area Administrative Councils for infrastructural development for the Area Administrative Councils.

“There shall be a department in each Local Government and Area Development Council to be known as Traditional Remittance Allocation Fund (TERAF) into which all remittance and disbursement shall be made directly to traditional councils.

“There shall be no deduction or charges in whatever form or name in the TERAF,” he said.

The Speaker commended the committee for a good job and appreciated all the lawmakers for their positive contributions to the bill.

Earlier, the Chairman of the House Committee on Local Government, Community Development and Chieftaincy Affairs, Musa Ibrahim Abubakar, while presenting the report, said the bill, if finally passed, would promote grassroots development.

In all, he presented 20 recommendations in the report of the bill where the House stepped down two of the recommendations by the LG Service Commission from the affairs of the LGAs completely.

The Deputy Majority Leader, Abel Yakubu Bala, moved a motion for the adoption of the committee’s report.

Hon Luka Iliya Zhekaba, the Minority Leader, seconded the motion.

The House also approved that the appointment of clerk and deputy clerk of the legislative council shall be made by the Director of Personnel Management and forwarded to the chairman for approval and the clerk and deputy clerk must have cognate experience in legislative practice and procedure.