LG system: NULGE, NUT, CSOs, NASS hold consultative/dialogue session on constitution amendment

The Partnership to Engage, Reform and Learn (PERL) of the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), organized a one-day consultative/dialogue forum for stakeholders to have discussions on how to strengthen local governance for effective service delivery in line with the ongoing constitutional amendment exercise.

The dialogue is geared towards addressing some of the challenges confronting the local government systems in Nigeria.

The stakeholders include citizens groups, Democracy Vanguard, the National Assembly, Civil Society Organizations, the Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) and the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT).

In a communique issued after the session, the participants expressed concern over the concentration of discussions on financial autonomy for local government alone and leaving out the security of tenure of elected local government officials.

Besides, they expressed concern over the overbearing influence of the state governors on the State Houses of Assembly and the lack of defined roles for traditional rulers in the 1999 Constitution.

The communique was signed by the President of NULGE, Comrade Akeem Ambali Olatunji; the President of NUT, Comrade Dr Nasir Idris; and Senator Bala Adamu.

The participants expressed regret over the rising insecurity in the country, as reflected in banditry, kidnapping, armed robbery and other criminal activities, as a result of weak local government systems.

The participants also expressed concerns over the ambiguity in the 1999 Constitution as regards the administration and funding of local government councils; the funding of primary school education, and the conduct of local government elections by State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs).

Participants at the meeting recommended that local government autonomy should not be restricted to financing but to political and administrative autonomy.

“Local government system should be strengthened financially, politically, administratively etc to tackle the problem of insecurity and provide good governance at the grass-root level,” the communique said.

The participants advised that the tenure of elected local government officials should be defined, uniformed and secured, while the state governments should adhere to and facilitate the full implementation of the provisions of the 1999 Constitution granting autonomy to state legislatures and the judiciary.

They demanded that section 162 of the 1999 Constitution should be completely expunged while provisions should be made to allow the local government allocations to be paid directly from the Federation Account as a first-line charge.

According to the communique, “the participants recommend that the funding of primary education should be deducted as first-line charge on the Federation Account and remitted to the State Universal Basic Education Boards (SUBEB) through UBEC.

It stated further that “the conduct of local government elections should be done by INEC and not the State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs). SIEC should be expunged from the constitution but where retained, INEC should be given supervisory role over the conduct of elections by the SIEC.”

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