The Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) will soon embark on a nationwide protest in support of the ongoing constitutional amendment by the National Assembly to grant autonomy to local government areas (LGAs).
Its President, Ibrahim Khaleel Abdulkadir, told The Nation, that the protest is one of the advocacy activities mapped out to ensure that the LGAs were autonomous in line with the global best practice.
“One of the demands at the United Nations meeting was that LGAs across the world should be made autonomous in line with democratic principles,” he said.
Against this backdrop, the NULGE leader said the union leadership had agreed to protest across the six geopolitical zones of the country at the designated centres.
The centres include Calabar (Southsouth); Enugu (Southeast); Osogbo (Southwest); Ilorin (Northcentral); and Jalingo (Northeast).
He urged the union at the state and LGA levels to conduct similar protests, adding that the union would collaborate with the National Assembly to ensure LGA autonomy became a reality.
Meanwhile, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, has said the House is working to grant financial autonomy to LGAs in ongoing constitution amendment exercise because that is the only way to guarantee development at the grassroots.
Dogara also charged local government workers to step up the agitation, saying only through their individual and collective efforts would the desired change be achieved.
He gave this charge when he received the national executive members of NULGE at the National Assembly.
The speaker noted that no progress can be achieved in the local government if the status quo of interference and administration by state governors is retained, adding that local governments must be financially and politically autonomous to trigger development in the rural areas.
He said: “It is a responsibility all of us owe to our people. As a matter of fact, we are not even doing it for you; we are doing it for the Nigerian people. And the way local government administration is in Nigeria, I must say it is truly a stab on the conscience of every true democrat. It doesn’t matter whether you are the president if you are a senator, a member of the House, a leader of any of these institutions or in the judiciary.”
Dogara said some governors opposed to local government autonomy fear that local governments would collapse if their administration is handed over to the elected chairmen.
He added that progress can never be madeby maintaining the status quo adding that the House has chosen to ensure that ongoing constitution amendment exercise captured the yearnings of Nigerians for development in the grassroots.
“For us as representatives of the people, we have heard the cry of the people and we know that the only way we can add value to local government is by giving them political and financial independence. This will expand opportunities in the grassroots,” he said.
The NULGE delegation commended the Speaker for leading the campaign and advocacy for local government autonomy and described him as a patriot and statesman.
He called on Dogara to ensure that the ongoing constitution amendment captures local government autonomy, adding that he should involve all stakeholders that can bring it to fruition, including President Muhammadu Buhari, who is best-placed to ensure that governors stop the violation of the constitutionally provided roles of local government officials.
(TheNatiion)
