THE Insight Initiative for Community and Social Development (IICSD) has raised alarm over the prolonged closure of local government areas in Osun State, describing it as a major threat to grassroots development and governance in the state.
According to the statement signed by the Executive Director of the Organisation, Jare Tiamiyu on Tuesday, today makes it 162 days since local government areas in Osun State, have remained shut.
The statement further reads, “Since February 17, 2025, development at the most crucial tier of government has been halted, denying many indigenes and residents of the state the opportunity to access various critical services at the needs at various secretariats and offices.
“While the situation has remained purely political with the seizure of funds accruing to the council areas, our organisation – Insight Initiative for Community and Social Development (IICSD), championing open governance through the Osun Open Local Government Programme (OsunOpenLG) has watched with keen interest the mortgaging of the future of the state, particularly its young people, by the continuous crippling of the local government system.
“We also note with grave concern, the political back and forth that have arisen from the continuing crisis, as well as the many deaths that have followed the struggle for power.
“At IICSD, we call on all men of nobility, traditional rulers, religious leaders, the founding fathers of Osun and everyone who has the best interest of the state at heart to prevail on the federal government, political gladiators from both sides to let our institutions work genuinely in the best interest of our people.
“It is alarming that our allocations that should have been used to build more schools, repair and reconstruct our feeder roads, used to empower our market men and women, pay the salary and recruit more workers into the system, and beneficial to the overall good of our state is truncated due to the selfish reasons of some principal actors.
However, Tiamiyu urged the federal government and political actors from both divides to put aside their differences and work towards reopening the local councils for the benefit of the people.
“We hope that men of goodwill and conscience rise up, especially among young people who are always the drivers of societal change to further propel the developmental aspirations of our people, by relentlessly seeking the resumption of council areas to addressing urgent governance needs
“The time to reopen our councils is now. We cannot continue to kill governance at the grassroots of Osun State.
“IICSD will continue to update our daily counter and appeal to the gladiators to facilitate the kick-off of activities at our local governments again. We cannot continue this way, he concluded.