Hot Source*Says INEC should conduct LG elections
Oghenevwede Ohwovoriole in Abuja
President-General of the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), Comrade Aliyu Kankara, has called on President Bola Tinubu and the 36 state Governors of the federation to implement the supreme court judgement on local government. autonomy.
He also called on the National Assembly to give the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the powers to conduct local government elections.
He made the call at a one day Dialogue Forum organised by Dr. Cosmas Ilechukwu over the weekend in Abuja, with the theme “Local Government Autonomy: Making it Work”
Kankara was represented by the Organising Secretary, NULGE, Olamisoji Tolulope, he said, “Get the issue of local government autonomy solved today, and we can assure you that close to 100%, of the challenges facing the local government will be solved.
On the issue of conducting local government elections, he said, “an independent body other than the state electoral bodies…, “The position of the union is that an independent body or INEC should handle that matter.
He appreciated President Tinubu and the Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, for the landmark judgement on local government autonomy and urged them to have the political will to implement it.
Also speaking, the convener of the dialogue, Dr. Cosmas Ilechukwu said, “local government is one tier of government that touches everybody, the most basic, the most fundamental of the tiers of government.
“If we have it working well: things will be much better for us. So we needed to talk about it. It’s easier to handle that and then build up from there to the topmost level, which is federal, so.”
He also noted that despite the landmark judgement by the supreme court, states are yet to implement local government autonomy.
‘You realise that part of the reason why it hasn’t been done is because of political will for the people in authority, the people in the presidency and the people at the states to be able to make up their mind to let this be.
The keynote speaker, Dr. Sam Amadi in his speech, said “The Supreme Court decision on local government autonomy has triggered a conversation, a national conversation around the autonomy of the local government and what local government means for economic and social development of the country.
“This concern is because across the country, local governments have become more like, they are functionally dead. In many local governments before now, there are no elected officials, they are managed by politicians of the government, contrary to what the constitution intended.”
