A Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Social Development Integrated Centre – Social Action has called for an amendment of the constitution to create a legislative framework for a truly independent local government system.
The group lamented that the third tier of government could not deliver on its core mandate because it lacked wherewithal to operate independently of other tiers of government.
The coordinator of the group in Ekiti State, Bukola Adedeji who spoke in Ado-Ekiti during a press briefing, tagged ‘ Ekiti Local Governments Budgets Advocacy Committee ‘ noted that dividends of democracy which is missing in the communities was largely due to the inefficiency of the local government system.
Adedeji said that granting full autonomy to local government in the country would stimulate development at the grassroots and allow people feel the direct impacts of government.
She claimed the state governors have ‘annexed the local government and tied them to their apron strings, making them an appendage of the state.
She said, “We strongly believe that a transparent local government system, backed by a well-defined legislative framework to manage its resources subject only to the wishes of the people will deliver the needed development.
“It is when we have an independent local government that the people can engage the council authorities to account for the resources that are elected to manage on behalf of the people.
“The 774 local governments in Nigeria received a total of 20.3 trillion naira from 2001- 2019 as allocations from the federal government. In spite of these remarkable disbursements, what is left to show for it in terms of development can only be obtained on paper. The communities have continued to endure years of decay in health and educational infrastructural and a decline in the living condition and standards of the people in othe local and suburban areas.
“State governors have annexed the local government and tied them to their apron strings, making them appendage of the state and subservient to the governors. This interference is made possible by the state local government joint account which is controlled, expectedly by the state governors. Funds meant for the local government are being held back and administered by the governors and given in piecemeal to the local council authorities.
“The funds is hardly enough to carry out meaningful project after the payment of salaries. So, funds meant for community development are deducted for various fictitious reasons.
On other demands, the group said, ” More specifically as it concerns us here in Ekiti, our particular demands are that the head of local government service commission direct all the LGAs to hoist functional websites and create channels of communications, like dedication phone numbers, functional email addresses, sms numbers, what’sapp lines.
“Direct the departments of research and budget to ensure that NEEDs Assessments of communities are carried out with the full participation of the people, special attention should be given to women and girl’s development and empowerment to grow the local economy, youths should be encouraged to learn current skills relevant in today’s world.
“Micro credits, soft loans and non-interest loans should be made available as this will in small measure increase small holder farmers’ yield and increase the internally generated revenue of our local governments.
“Full disclosure of budgets and other fiscal documents should readily be available on the website in such a way the community members can download and monitor projects in their communities and report back to the councils seamlessly.”
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