Anambra Commissioner for Local Government, Chieftaincy and Town Union Matters, Mr. Tony Collins Nwabunwanne, has said the local government system in the state was moribund for 12 years before the advent of the Governor Chukwuma Soludo administration.
According to him the Local Government (LG) administration in Anambra was marred with absenteeism, absence of basic office tools and overgrown bushes with the Secretariats before the coming into power of Soludo.
Nwabunwanne who spoke at a forum organised by the Correspondentsâ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Awka noted that most Local Government workers could not operate computers.
According to him, the local governments for more than 12 years lack good offices for the workers, basic tools to work with, records and files almost do not exist.
He however said the government of Soludo is revamping the Local Government system for an all inclusive development.
The Commissioner said Soludo administration has initiated Information Communication Technology training for local government staff.
âWorkers do not know the Local Government Commissioner because there were no oversight visits.
âSo, we started to revive the LG system by ordering the clearing of all Secretariat premises, we also embarked ICT training of staff and equipping of the Offices.
âSo far, we have trained staff in 12 LGAs of the 21 we have, our target is 5,000 staff, we are also training them in the management of administrative matters, communication, filing of documents and storage of information,â he said.
He said the government, through his ministry, had normalised the town union leadership of most communities by holding elections to take over from the various caretaker committees existing before the administration came on board.
Nwabunwanne said about 75 per cent of communities in the state did not have duly elected Town Union leadership but instead had caretaker committees constituted for them.
He said the development was responsible for the crisis in those communities because they were not allowed to choose their leaders themselves.
The Commissioner, who blamed the trend on influential members of the various communities, said his ministry was also ensuring that all existing court judgments on traditional rulers and town union matters were enforced
âCommunities are very important component of this administration because that is where development takes place. Our desire is to ensure that these communities have the leadership that is most popular among them.
âWe discourage imposition and caretaker committee that is why we provide an enabling environment for them to hold elections to get leadership that represents their collective wish,â he said.