Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas, the Sole Administrator of Rivers State, has instructed the Heads of Local Government Administration (HLGA) in the state’s 23 local government areas to submit comprehensive reports on the activities of their councils.
The directive, issued in a letter dated March 24, 2025, was signed by Itong Awani, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Local Government Affairs. The report should be submitted to the Permanent Secretary’s office by March 26, 2025, for review and forwarding to the Sole Administrator at the Government House in Port Harcourt.
The requested report must include details such as the functions of the councils, a list of staff on the nominal roll, sources of revenue, as well as ongoing and completed projects from the past two years. The report should also highlight the council’s achievements, challenges, and provide recommendations.
This action follows the Supreme Court’s ruling that nullified the 2024 local government elections conducted by the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC), after which the former elected council chairmen were instructed to hand over to the appointed HLGAs by the suspended Governor Siminalayi Fubara.
In the meantime, RSIEC, before Ibas’s appointment as Sole Administrator, had scheduled new local government elections for August 9, 2025, after consultations with political parties and other stakeholders.
