Members of the Enugu State House of Assembly, Tuesday, passed into law, a bill that will regulate the registration and administration of Town Unions in Enugu State and for other Connected Purposes, House Bill, No. 9, 2025.
The bill when accented to by the state Governor, will help regulate the activities of Town Unions in the state and curb frequent crisis that usually occur in several communities in the state.
Commenting on the merits of the bill before it was passed, Leader of the House, Hon. Desmond Iloabuchi Aniagu, explained that the bill would resolve a lot of problems in the communities, where at times, the Town Union leadership clash with the traditional rulers of their communities or subvert the peace in their towns.
Aniagu said that the bill would entrench peace, progress and orderliness in all the communities, pointing out that, “where there is peace, progress will come to that area.”
Hon. Aniagu added: “The bill will curb some of the crisis between Igwe and Town Union heads.
“A lot of problems in the communities will be solved by this bill. We shall reduce the crises that often take place in some of our communities and entrench peace among the community people.
“I urge my colleagues to look into this bill critically because this will bring peace to several communities”.
He explained that the law would checkmate unwholesome activities of the Ministry of Rural Development to ensure that peace reigns in various communities.
Because of the importance of the bill, the House quickly dissolved into a Committee of Whole where they unanimously agreed that the Ministry of Rural Development is having overbearing influence on several communities by setting up caretaker Committee’s instead of organising peaceful elections to minimize crisis of leadership in such communities.
Members who spoke during the debate on the Bill agreed that tenure of Caretaker Committees should not exceed six months before an election is conducted,if at all there should be a Caretaker Committee, pointing out that some of such committee members colluded with the Ministry of Rural Development to extend and possibly perpetuate themselves in office.
The member representing Isi-Uzo Constituency, Hon. Gabriel Lebechi Eze, in his contribution stated that the tenure of Caretaker Committees should be between three to six months and no more.
“This will check the avarice of Caretaker Committees from extending their tenure,” he stressed.
