The Plateau House of Assembly on Friday extended the tenure of management committees of the 17 local government councils in the state by two months.
The extension was sequel to a motion by member representing Riyom Constituency, Danie Dem, who urged the assembly to determine the tenure of the committees.
The News Agency of Nigeria recalls that the councils’ committees were appointed by the state Governor, Simon Lalong, after dissolving the elected council members in the local government areas.
The chairmen of the dissolved councils proceeded to court to challenge the governor’s action, saying that their tenure had not elapsed.
While the litigation continued, the House of Assembly approved the appointment of the management committees on “doctrine of necessity”.
Dem, who is the Majority Leader of the assembly, pointed out that the 1999 Constitution as amended clearly stated the tenure of elected and appointed office holders.
He said lack of tenure stipulation for office holders could breed corruption, lack of accountability and total mismanagement of public funds.
He said: “The 1999 Nigerian Constitution as amended has clearly defined the tenure of every public office holder, whether elected or appointed.
“So, no public office holder in Nigeria that goes without its tenure being stipulated because the lack of it leads to maladministration and lack of accountability.
“In the case of the appointed council chairmen in our state, they have already stayed in office beyond stipulated time frame of three months and so I call on this House to resolve that their tenure must not exceed so.”
Contributing, the Deputy Speaker of the House, Yusuf Gagdi, said the motion was appropriate based on its content and expectation from the people of Plateau State.
Gagdi, representing Kantana Constituency, added that deciding the tenure of the councils’ chairmen and members was part of the assembly’s statutory functions.
He expressed concern over poor level of performance by various council committees and charged the assembly to rise to the occasion in that regard.
“I am not only concerned about the tenure of the elected chairmen, but my worry is that most of them are performing below expectations and I think that as representatives of the people, it should be our concern,” Gagdi said.
After the debate, the members resolved that the tenure of the committee chairmen should be extended by two months.
The House admitted that while approving caretaker committees for the councils, it did not specify the tenure, which by the law, must not exceed three months.
It directed its Committee on Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs to visit all the local government area to assess the level of performance and report back in two weeks.
NAN.
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