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History is Made as Nasarawa Integrates Traditional Rulers into Local Administration.
Thursday, November 17, 2005
 A fresh lease of life was brought into local administration today in Nasarawa state with the signing into law a bill for the integration of traditional rulers into state and local administration. The ceremony which saw Governor Adamu assenting to the bill as passed by the state legislature was attended by traditional rulers from across the country.
In a speech at the ceremony, Governor Adamu said the bill was initiated by the executive arm of government to end the isolation of traditional rulers in this democratic dispensation. In his words, “Our traditional rulers have for long been isolated in the backwaters of our democratic dispensation. This law ends that isolation in our state. Their winter of irrelevance ends and their summer of relevance begins today. It closes one chapter of social instability and opens a new one in co-operative partnership between the custodians of our culture and tradition and our political administrators at the local government and state levelsâ€
The objectives of the law according to Governor Adamu, is to enable the traditional councils advise on matters relating to:
1. customary law
2. cultural affairs
3. conflict resolution and management as it relates to inter and intra-communal conflicts
4. chieftaincy matters
5. security matters
6. community development programmes
7. collection of community taxes and development levies
8. education
9. agriculture and natural resources
10. general matters on traditions and customs
11. religious matters where appropriate
12. environmental sanitation
13. matters of public interest
In order to ensure the smooth functioning of the bill, Governor Adamu directed that all traditional rulers in the state will be exposed to refresher courses to enable them understand the intricacies of the relationship between traditional rulers and democratically elected officers to avoid friction.
The ceremony was attended by almost all the traditional rulers in the state with many coming from other parts of the country
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