By David Lawani, Abuja
The National Team Leader of Partnership to Engage, Reform and Learn, (PERL) led by Dr. Adiya Ode in collaboration with Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, (FCDO) has stated that due to total absence of local government autonomy, there has not been accountability of the councils despite their proximity to the people at the grassroots.
Ode made this submission during the constitutional review process at Reiz Hotal with stakeholders drawn from different areas of life.
He stressed that it is only when autonomy is given to the Local Government Councils that the searchlight for accountability can be said to be secure because “the governors have muzzled the Councils to their advantage.”
PERL stated further that Nigeria Union of Teachers, (NUT), were before now adamant for the support of the autonomy for local government councils because they were afraid that if they showed support, they might not get salaries again.
According to him; “Our desire is that there is accountability at the grassroots levels. And been the closest government to the people is the local governments. And if they are not empower to have that autonomy, there is little to what they can do. And the local government system have not been effective due to lack of funding to finance their activities.
“And you may have read that in the last constitutional amendment that was done, they also supported it, the organised labour, and you know NUT didn’t support it. Just because they were afraid that the issue around salary payments was their major concern. They were not too keen because they were not sure of getting their salaries. NUT said they don’t want local government autonomy while NULGE will say they want.
“So, this year, in the process of reviewing or amending the constitution this year, all those fears of NUT have been alloyed by ensuring that payment for salaries of teachers is not the only responsibility of the local government. It is for the federal government and states. And other administrative issues.
” The meeting yesterday was to bring stakeholders together from different segments from NULGE, NLC, NUT, and other organized groups. We brought them together to ensure that there is coordinated approach and advocacy and also to make sure that the governors and state houses of Assemblies ratify the local government autonomy.
The group said the main aim of the workshops was to expand and harness the leadership of all the groups so that they can have a common fronts on the matter since every body one way or the other, is directly or indirectly affected by the anomalies in the lGAs across the nation.
“The objective was to expand and harness the leadership of groups critical to the realization of the autonomy for local government councils cascading to the federal and subnational levels. To ensure that we support various groups in adopting a common position on the ratification of local government autonomy.
“And also to strengthen collaboration amongst citizens groups for stronger advocacy targeted at governance stakeholders”, Ode disclosed.
Meanwhile the National Vice President of Nigeria Union of Teachers, Akosile Kayode, in his presentation, said unlike before that they didn’t get the full thrust of the call for the autonomy of the LGAs, he is fully committed and convinced with the National Union of Local Government Employees, NULGE.
He said: “Autonomy can be guaranteed for LGAs in Nigeria by all stakeholders in government. We have three tiers of government in Nigeria but unfortunately the state governors are like emperors and they have successfully muscled down the local governments which is the third tier. With the recent struggle and most especially now that the bill for local government autonomy has been passed by the National Assembly, we hope, believe and pray that the bill will scale through at the state houses of assembly.
” On my presentation yesterday, my Union (NUT), unlike before is now on the same page with NULGE. Ab initio, NUT was sceptical on the issue of local government autonomy due to our past experiences in terms of welfare of our members most especially primary school teachers in the 90s. The fear of a repeat of such harrowing experiences made us to dissociate ourselves from the struggle.
” However on seeing the contents of the bill and realizing that the interest of our members have been captured, that is, making the salaries and emoluments of UBEC teaching and non teaching staff first line charge, we are now on the same page with NULGE. Our Union will team up with other interest groups and stakeholders to see to the actualization of local government autonomy. The fear of the unknown has been removed and we can now together face the struggle for better service delivery in our local governments”, he said.
