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Following the Rivers State House of Assembly’s rejection of the proposal seeking financial autonomy for local governments, in the ongoing review of the Nigerian constitution, the state chapters of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) have expressed disappointment with the Assembly over the issue.
President of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees, Rivers State chapter, Barr Franklin Ajinwo, in a chat with newsmen at the Port Harcourt City council during the inauguration of the council’s caretaker committee members, said the Assembly acted without feeling the pulse of the people.
He noted that the House did not organize a public hearing to ascertain the people’s views on the issue, but went ahead to vote against financial autonomy for the councils, describing this very unfortunate.
The NULGE boss said it was worrisome that a state like Rivers could not be counted as one of those that voted in favour of LG autonomy, despite the fact that the state government was not in the habit of tampering with funds meant for local councils, and wondered why the state assembly rejected the proposal when it could have voted in favour of the autonomy and thus put a seal on what is already in practice in the state.
Ajinwo commended state assemblies, such as those of Bayelsa, Sokoto and others, which voted in favour of the autonomy, while expressing optimism that the financial autonomy for the local governments will see the light of the day.
Fielding questions from newsmen at a different forum, state chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Chief Davies Ikanya, said the local council is the closest government to the grassroots and feels the pulse of the citizens at that level more.
Declaring support for a third tier of government that would be allowed to use the allocations of the council to develop the localities, Ikanya said that the autonomy of local councils should be guaranteed under the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“They should function as the third tier of government, the state should function as the second tier while the Federal government functions as the federal government because Nigeria is a federated unit,” he said.
Ikanya disclosed that as a local government chairman in the 90s, he was among those who advocated for local government autonomy so as to use their allocations to develop their respective local government areas, adding that they were able to take care of primary education, health as well as the affairs of the local government.
“There was good sanitation then because primary health workers were functional, School of Health Technologies was functional. When people graduate from school of health, we employ them and send them out to the villages. We also have sanitation officers in the villages, today the government said they took over those functions but they are not doing them” he said adding that graduates from the school of health are no longer employed by the state while the villages remain dirty.
Ikanya berated the state House of Assembly for rejecting the proposal, claiming that they acted on the direction of the state governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, who he described as a dictator, undemocratic and does not have respect for the constitution.
The APC chairman also accused Governor Wike of disregarding the Supreme Court ruling on the illegality of running care taker committee (CTC) government by always appointing CTCs which he allegedly pay peanuts and diverted the money meant to develop the local government areas to his personal pocket, adding that even the peanuts have not been given to the councils for about 6 months.
He wondered how the governor would welcome state police and devolution of power from the center but would not want to devolve power to the local councils, contending that everywhere in the world, local councils are autonomous and depend less on the center.
