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From Adanna Nnamani, Abuja
The National President, Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), Mr Akeem Olatunji, has again called for local government political and financial Autonomy in Nigeria.
Olatunji who spoke during a prayer programme organised by NULGE at the Abuja Municipal Area Council on Wednesday, described the Joint Account Allocation Committee as a conduit for stealing money meant for the third tier of government.
He said the appointment of surrogates and political jobbers into leadership positions in the councils was unacceptable.
According to the NULGE leader, the root of the insecurity and socio-economic challenges bedevilling the nation could be traced to the mismanagement of the local government system by state governors.
He said, “We need a politically-free and financially dependent local government administration. The local government has been raped over time; it has witnessed systematic destruction as a result of misrule and stealing of local government funds, thereby militating against progressive development at the grassroots level.
“No wonder as of today, we are bedevilled by insecurity and poverty. We are deprived and also encumbered by unemployment, homelessness just because we have a failing system in the local government. It is not the architect of the system.
“It was fostered on the local governments by state political actors led by the governors in this country. Money meant for growth and development, and dividends of democracy were diverted.
“They are doing that because of the lacuna in the 1999 constitution under section 162 that created the Joint Account Allocation Committee that has turned to a conduit through which money meant for development and growth are being siphoned.”
Olatunji further said that polls conducted by the state agencies were not acceptable to Nigerians, describing the exercise as a charade. He noted that council elections must not be conducted by state electoral bodies in order to fix the local government administration in the country.
He said, “And we say it is time to fix Nigeria; it is time to fix the local government system. Once you fix the local government, you fix Nigeria. Over 80 per cent of Nigerian problems are traceable to denial, administrative misrule and stealing of local government funds.
“Once you are able to achieve local government autonomy, all these problems shall cease automatically. Let the Independent National Electoral Commission conduct local government elections. The charade being called local government elections across the state are not acceptable to Nigerians, they are not transparent, they are not democratic.”
“The appointment, coronation and promotion of surrogates and political jobbers to man the leadership position in local government is no longer acceptable. We want a transparent process,” he insisted.
Also speaking, the AMAC Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu, who also supported the agitation for LG autonomy, observed that “everything is not prayers; he said “in fact, we pray too much in this country.“ He added that hard work and perseverance were key to attaining the goal.
