Governor Douye Diri of Bayelsa state has tasked the federal government to empower the state governments to create local government areas through the state Assemblies in order to ensure that the third tier of government are truly autonomous.
Speaking in Yenagoa the state capital, Governor Diri said it was unacceptable that Bayelsa state still operated under eight local council areas since its creation, describing it as an aberration.
Created on October 1st, 1996, Bayelsa state has existed with eight local government areas, the least in the country.
This development has seen the citizenry lament about being short-changed in the sharing formula in the country.
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Governor Douye Diri joined the calls for the demand of an amendment of the Constitution to allow the creation of local government areas to be the sole responsibility of the states.
Governor Diri believes such action will enable the Local Government system to perform its duties that have been enshrined in the Nigerian Constitution with no interference.
Local governments were created with the ultimate goal of bringing government closer to the people at the grassroot just as Bayelsans hope for more LGAs for accelerated development.
Editor: Ebuwa Omo-Osagie
