Like the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) which have publicly announced that millions of their members across Nigeria will vote against politicians who treat issues concerning workers welfare unfairly, the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) has succinctly said it will monitor and ensure that any State House of Assembly member who votes against the autonomy of local government during the forthcoming legislative voting to make LG totally autonomous from state government, will also be voted out in the 2023 general elections. NULGE National President, Comrade Olatunji Ambali, in this interview with CHRISTIAN APPOLOS, reveals the union’s strategic moves and plans. Excerpts.
The quest for local government autonomy led by NULGE and by extension the NLC, has passed the first hurdle. What were the underground wars you fought to get the bill passed by the National Assembly?
Well, let me thank God Almighty and Nigerians, especially the National Assembly members for their resilience. Despite the discouragements by past State House of Assembly members who failed to do the needful by giving the concurrence as expected of them, the National Assembly remained constant. The truth is, if the bill had not sailed through at the National Assembly this last time, it would have been the end of the struggle for local government autonomy.
To make the matter worse, what state governors did was to plan a retrogressive action. That action could have destroyed not just the struggle for LG autonomy but even the nation at large. They kick started the action by sponsoring one House of Representatives member, Bob Solomon, to move a killer bill that sought to delist local government from the constitution. That was what they did. But NULGE quickly rose up to the occasion.
I want to give kudos to Governor Wike of Rivers State who condemned the anti-people bill moved by Hon. Solomon. We thank God that that bill was killed at the National Assembly, the House of Reps specifically.
Actually, the LG bill didn’t fail at the last attempt, it was rather abandoned. At that last attempt at the State Houses of Assembly, only nine states voted in support while two voted against it. Others suspended action on it. That was what happened.
When the ninth Assembly constitutional amendment commenced again, we commenced lobbying, advocacy and senisitisation. We started galvanising Nigerian peoples’ opinions. The National Assembly held the referendum. Public debates were held in all the zones. NULGE did its presentation, the Governors Forum made their presentation too and many Nigerians did theirs as well. At last, it was only the governors who were against the existence of Local Government autonomy.
But immediately it was determined that the popular vote was for local government autonomy, the National Assembly adopted the bill and it was passed.
The bill has been transmitted to State Houses of Assembly. What steps are you taking right now to guard against a repeat of what happened during the eighth Assembly?
Well, after a series of background checks on what really hindered them from scaling through in the eighth Assembly, we realised that some of the governors coerced and intimidated the former honourable members of their various Houses of Assembly. This can also be linked to the fact that even the autonomy bill of the State House of Assembly then was voted against openly by State Assembly members because they were influenced negatively to do that.
So having realised that, we then decided, after a wide consultation, to change the rule of engagement. We commenced with advocacy to some strategic stakeholders in Nigeria. We started with Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, a former President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The man we can call the father of the modern day local government system because he was the one that reformed the local government. He told us that those who benefit from a corrupt LG system will not change. He encouraged us to prepare and that it is going to be a serious battle.
We moved to former President Goodluck Jonathan who was once Chairman of a local government, Deputy Governor of Bayelsa State and Vice President of Nigeria. We met the Emir of Kano who told us that the local government is not functional because some people are cornering funds meant for LG for their personal gains. We met Chief Aminu Dantata, who has been supporting the local government because of the inadequacy of the tier to meet the expectation of the people.
We were in Enugu and we met the Obi of Onitsha. He even promised to follow us during the campaign. He is going to come out and campaign for the actualisation of local government autonomy.
We came to Southwest and met the Ooni of Ife. He lamented that the local government has been destroyed. He noted that LG is the most strategic tier of government to drive infrastructure and development. He charged that the local government must be revived.
After that, we commenced a zonal campaign for the actualisation of local government autonomy. We were in the six geopolitical zones. We were in Bauchi State for North-East, Kano, Ibadan, Nasarawa, Port Harcourt and Enugu for our campaign. And the high point of what we did in these states was to deliver our charter of demand to the Houses of Assembly through the Speakers. We also ensured we got their commitments to supporting the passage of the local government autonomy bill.
So having done that around the country. We realised that we had to go to the roots, the local government, where the honourable members of State Assemblies come from because the bill has been transmitted to the state assembly. So we were there with ‘Operation meet your honourable members’ with our PVCs to tell them we are voters. We most importantly told them that they need to vote in support of local government autonomy because a vote against local government autonomy is a vote against their continuity in office.
We didn’t stop at that; we were at the national convention of APC. We made a giant poster. We distributed flyers. We also made media publications calling on APC leaders and President Muhammadu Buhari to adopt local government autonomy as a policy. We stated that the President should not only say he supports LG autonomy but he must match it with action. He desires local government autonomy but he must do more as a leader of the party.
APC said it is a progressive party but if truly it is a progressive party, it should be so easy for them to adopt that populist approach (local government autonomy) to resolve Nigeria problems, because we know that all the problems bedevilling Nigeria are traceable to the dislocation of the local government system.
When a government at that level becomes dysfunctional, the relevance of governance among Nigerian people becomes irrelevant. That is why people are now asking if this is democracy. Some are even suggesting that a military government is better than this because they don’t see or feel the impact of local government.
Once the local government is functional, entitled to its allocation, able to carry out some developmental programmes and policies, people will be happy and will know that the government is at work.
We know that if the local governments are allowed to directly receive their allocation monthly, they will meet their day-to-day challenges. They will develop infrastructure. They will stem the tide of insecurity. They will provide gainful employment, empowerment and even bursary to students.
From the feelers you are getting, do you think the State Houses of Assembly will pass the bill?
I am optimistic because every God-fearing Nigerian must support local government autonomy unless they want Nigeria to collapse.
NLC recently announced that their members will vote only those who support the Congress’ charter of demand in the 2023 general elections. Will NULGE explore the same option?
Certainly. A vote for local government autonomy is a vote for continuity in office. A vote against local government autonomy is a vote to destroy your political career, period! This is ‘Operation name and shame.’ That is the position of NULGE. We are rural and community people. So it is ‘Operation occupy your House of Assembly.’ We will be there live with our lanterns and mattresses if they want to do it in the night because we want to see those who will vote against LG autonomy.
On corruption in the local government, what is your take?
As of now, there is no corruption. How can you see corruption when there is no money? Out of the prosecution and investigation going on, how many local government chairmen are in detention. How many of them are being investigated?
So for us, we believe that if Nigerians want to better our lives, there must be a paradigm shift from the past. Local governments must be allowed to earn their allocation directly. And local governments must have a budgetary system that will track how funds meant for local government are being applied.
That is why we also clamour that there must be an anti-corruption agency in all the local governments because we know that no man is immune in Nigeria to corruption. Even in the church and mosque you see corruption. So for us, we believe that to keep local government technocrats and politicians on their toes, there must be anti-corruption agencies, so that they will know if you mess up you go to jail. We are not in support of corrupt officers.
The era we are now is where the state government goes to market to collect revenue. They collect revenue from every area and chairmen dare not talk, because when you talk, you will be sacked immediately. Because of the insecurity of tenure of office, local government chairmen dare not talk.
In the past, local governments built roads, sank boreholes, built schools and hospitals, and provided electricity. When did you last see a local government do that? You can only see that in Rivers State because Governor Wike doesn’t touch local government money. And Jigawa State governor also. They don’t spend a penny of local government money. I was in these two states physically and I saw it. The only thing Governor Wike is doing we are not happy about is that workers are not promoted as at when due. But again, Wike is paying minimum wage and is funding primary education completely. He is the only governor in Nigeria that does that.
What is NULGE’s core message to all the LG stakeholders, especially the honourable members of State Houses of Assembly?
Nigerians generally must wake up. It is either local government autonomy or more backwardness. You cannot continue doing the same thing the same way and expect better results. If we want the impact of the government power to be felt by the Nigerian masses, local government autonomy is the way to go.
It is not that money is not appropriated to the local government, it is not that money is not allocated to the local government. But somebody somewhere corners the money . The sovereign wealth of the nation ended up in the pocket of few people while the majority of Nigerians are suffering. You can see poverty in the land. You can see deprivation. You can see hopelessness, you can see restiveness, you can see banditry, you can see terrorism. You can see clamour to break down Nigeria and you still want to continue?