Ondo State Government, yesterday, said the list of the recently created 33 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs), from the 18 Local Government Area of the state would not be made public until the law creating them was passed by the state House of Assembly and gazetted.

In the new local government reform, which has become subject of debate in the state, Akoko has five, Akure and Owo have four LCDAs 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 LCDAs each.

The move, however, sparked furore as some residents of the state took to their social media platforms, describing it as unjust and not equitably distributed.

A legal practitioner, Tolu Babaleye, said it was very unfair for Owo with 11 Wards to have four new local council development areas.

He said: “It is very unfair for Ose with 12 wards to have 2 new local governments, it is very unfair for Akoko Southwest LG with 15 wards to have only 1 new LG. Ose has more wards than Owo, yet Owo is now having LGs created for every street. The last has not been heard about this creation of new LGs.

“Akoko had 4 local governments prior to this time and Owo/Ose had 2 local governments prior to this time but with the new creation, Akoko now has a total of 9 LGs from 4 while Owo/Ose has 8 from 2. This is most unfair. I will advise the Ondo State government to please take it back and do necessary adjustments,” he said.

“We have three arms of government. When the executive has decided, it has to be ratified by the House of Assembly. So, giving it to the press was wrong. That is preemptive of the House of Assembly. The House can still thinker with the delegation, the areas.

In a related development, the state government has assured that the N10,000 unconditional cash transfer for 18,000 selected vulnerable people in the state would be fairly distributed across the state.

The State Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mrs. Bamidele Ademola-Olateju made this assurance at the maiden edition of the Ondo State Media Agenda organised by the state council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) on Monday

It would be recalled that recently, among other measures, the Ondo State Government promised to give N10,000 to 18,000 selected vulnerable people in all the local government area from August to December 2023 and free shuttle buses for students from resumption in September to December 31, 2023.

Olateju assured that the state has a reliable parameter for identifying vulnerable people in the state, stating that the register of vulnerable people was generated through enumerators hired by World Bank and the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) some years back.

Speaking about why the state government chose to bring back the free school shuttle buses that had been abandoned for long, she said that it is necessary for the government to come up with easier and faster measures to cushion the effects of the subsidy removal on masses in the state.

She said, “We are all feeling the heat of the effect of the subsidy removal but what can we do now to cushion the pain of citizens. It is easier to fix these buses than to keep waiting for delivery from manufacturers of vehicles. It is easier and faster to put them to use for the benefits of our people.”

Earlier in her address, Mrs. Ademola-Olateju commended members of the pen community, saying that the press had been very supportive of the Ondo State Government since the inception of the current administration.

In his opening address, Chairman of NUJ Ondo State Council, Prince Leke Adegbite, stated that the Ondo State Media Agenda was organised as a forum to hold public office holders accountable to the public, adding that more state government officials would be engaged subsequently.