The Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees has requested that the anti-graft agencies monitor local government funding over the last seven years, pointing out that state governors have continued to divert and misuse local government monies.
The union reaffirmed its demands for the swift approval of the local government autonomy law, saying that doing so would guarantee the 774 municipalities across the nation’s financial independence and help to combat issues like unemployment and insecurity.
At a news conference on Thursday, September 01, 2022 in Abuja, Mr. Ambali Olatunji, the president of NULGE, warned state governors against coercing and conspiring with lawmakers to prevent the passage of the bill.
Only 10 states have enacted the LG autonomy measure, which the NULGE chairman bemoaned and urged the other states to do as soon as feasible.
In order to stop the states from enacting the LG autonomy bill in the ongoing constitutional amendment, he charged several governors with holding private meetings with the speakers of state assemblies.
According to Olatunji, “Local government chairmen are chosen to rule the local government, while governors are elected to administer the state as a whole. When you see the assigned sum, it hurts. Sometimes, local governments receive up to N120 million, N90 million, and N80 million (from the federation account). Consider what reaches the local government. Sometimes, it can be N10 million or N5 million; some people only receive N2 million. What happens to the money? We demand that the EFCC, ICPC, and NFIU keep track of the funds allocated to local governments over the past seven years and report back to us on what was done with them.
Olatunji continued by saying that full autonomy for local governments in Nigeria will assist in resolving the problems of unemployment and insecurity because both are regional issues that the councils could deal with.
“The absence of a working local government structure is at the heart of the terrible poverty, unemployment, hopelessness, banditry, and revolt that we see today. Every security issue has a local remedy that is also specific to that area.
“All of these rural roads would have been rebuilt if the local administration had been focused and effective; they may also plan for local security and information collection. If local security can keep every neighbourhood safe, we can put an end to insecurity, he said.
