The Abia State Government has announced plans to review and re-gazette autonomous communities across the state in a bid to restore order and tranquillity, noting that the last such exercise was conducted eleven years ago.
The Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Uzor Nwachukwu, disclosed this on Saturday in Umuahia during a meeting with Presidents-General of towns and development unions from across the state.
Nwachukwu explained that findings by the government revealed widespread irregularities in the previous gazetting process, including cases where a single village was mistakenly recognized as belonging to two separate autonomous communities, leading to persistent confusion and communal disputes.
He raised concern over the volume of complaints reaching his office, stating that no fewer than fifty petitions are received weekly from different villages. According to him, these agitations prompted the state government to establish conflict management and mediation centres in all local government areas to address disputes.
“You will find instances where one village is in one community but certain kindreds and families are in another community. Those are confusions,” he said.
The commissioner further highlighted situations where traditional rulers have lost control over parts of their domains due to flawed gazetting, resulting in some becoming subjects under other rulers.
“There are situations where a traditional ruler, in his domain, who is a custodian of an autonomous community, has his village ceded to another traditional ruler. So he has become a subject of that traditional ruler,” Nwachukwu added, stressing that the anomalies would be corrected through a comprehensive re-gazetting exercise scheduled for this year.
He also revealed that the state government plans to institutionalize town and development unions to ensure that community leadership structures are properly organized, formally recognized, and held accountable.
In his remarks, the Special Adviser to Governor Alex Otti on Security Matters, MacDonald Uba, urged community leaders to take security issues seriously and provide timely and accurate reports to authorities.
Responding to the government’s initiative, the President-General of Oro-Ibere Autonomous Community in Ikwuano Local Government Area, Greene Nwoha, expressed optimism that the policy would promote peace and reduce conflicts across communities in the state.
