Local govt financial autonomy: You have no excuse to fail – Labour groups to grassroots govt

By Henry Uche

The coalition of Amalgamated Union of Public Corporation, Civil Service Technical and Recreational Services Employees (AUPCTRE), the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria(TUC) and the Federation of Informal Workers’ Organizations of Nigeria (FIWON) has told the incumbent and incoming Chairmen of the 774 local government areas across Nigeria that they have no reason whatsoever to fail the people at the grassroots.

The labour unions made this known during a Campaign For Transformative Governance (CFTG) town hall meeting in Lagos, with the theme Transformative Governance for Human Development, in recognition and appreciation of the financial autonomy granted by the Supreme Court of Nigeria recently.

The General Secretary of FIWON, Gbenga Komolafe said, “Management of public financial resources and others is a critical task leaders across board.

“We know some state governments used to steal local government monies, but with this recent judgement, the state chairmen have direct access to their money, therefore they must show effective administration and proper management of their resources at the grassroots for the development of the people.”

Unanimously, the groups agreed to challenge the political power equation in the country, urging Nigerian workers to rise to reform and take over the political space with time. This, they said, must be done ahead of the 2025 council elections and 2027 general elections.

Speaking shortly after the session, the Chairman of TUC, Lagos Council, Comrade Gbenga Ekundayo, who is also the General Secretary of the aforementioned Joint Labour Unions, expressed the dissatisfaction of the labour groups over inadequacy of teachers in primary and secondary schools; poor learning facilities and infrastructure ⁠and indiscriminate act of renaming of public tertiary institutions without value addition.

On healthcare, they advocated free health for children, pregnant women and the aged, ⁠improve the quantity and distribution of primary healthcare institutions and demanded improved portable water provision across the states.

“Participatory public expenditure management which was started by the workers’ movement in Brazil must be demanded and domesticated for tracking and monitoring government projects for efficiency. CFTG leadership must refine their thoughts to identify what’s possible and important at local levels”

In order to engender political reform in the country, they agreed to push for legislation to limit political party funding by an individual, adding that there is a need for deeper engagement on subsidy and national refining capacity issues to ascertain the extent of subsidy if there is any.

“On electricity, Mass Metering must be ramped up to eradicate estimated billing. Tariff bands must be reviewed for fairness. We shall look into the technical qualification of the DISCOs & GENCOs, and know if the benchmark of FDI, efficiency, increased generation and reduced tariff as canvassed at the beginning of power privatization are being met. ⁠Arbitrary tariff increase without consulting consumers must be challenged, while gas pricing must be in Naira and not dollar,” they maintained.