By Amos Tauna
More Nigerians are supporting the move of granting autonomy to local government administration that will lead to abrogation of the joint State and local government account.
Majority of them are of the opinion that since less than 40% of the country’s population reside in the urban areas, steps must be taken to ensure that majority of Nigerians are given attention at the rural areas for even distribution of social amenities and improved living standards of the citizens.
The president, National Union of Local Government Employees, NULGE, Ibrahim Khaleel, is one of such, who observed that the local government has a central role to play in grassroots development, adding that there was need to give local governments’ financial and administrative autonomy to achieve the desired goal of moving the country forward.
As the closest government to majority of Nigerians, he explained, the demand for local government autonomy was line with the aspiration over 80 per cent of the population.
Participants at a Round table discussion of Civil Society Organizations/media in Kaduna, northwest Nigeria on local government autonomy, observed that the local government being the closest to the people could function effectively if it is granted autonomy to operate.
They believe that there was the need to take necessary steps towards sensitizing and educating Nigerians and major stakeholders to see the advantages of actualizing the dream of laying foundation of development in the country.
The only way to move the country forward, according to the participants, was to facilitate development in the rural areas through the passage of the local government autonomy bill is voted into law by members of the State Houses of Assembly.
The Programme Director, African Centre for Leadership, Strategic and Development, Monday Osasah, noted that the constitution formulates the legal framework for the priorities and distribution of resources to which the people could have access, stressing that it is important for citizens to participate in the making and review of the constitution.
The participation of citizens in the process, according to him, makes it citizens-oriented, adding that it was the basic requirement in modern society, but lamented that since the amalgamation of the Southern and Northern protectorates into the territory known as Nigeria in 1914, no constitution has been produced through a participatory process.
He explained that on 26th July, 2017, the Senate and the House of Representatives voted on 33 amendments of the Nigerian constitution amongst which include the financial autonomy to local government areas.
The purpose of the roundtable, according to him was to galvanize Civil Society Organizations and media in the North West to sustain the momentum around the issue of local government autonomy and push for the passage of the bill at the State level, leveraging on the current constitutional review process.
