Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) has described the decision by some governors to oppose local government autonomy as “selfish.” According to the body, the autonomy for the third tier of government would not stop the relationship between the state and local government.
NULGE National President, Comrade Ibrahim Khaleel, made the clarifi cations while speaking to our correspondent in Abuja. Some governors, including Ibrahim Dankwambo of Gombe state, have said the autonomy for the local government was not necessary, because, according to them, local government councils lack capacity. Speaking in an interview with Blueprint, Khaleel said all stakeholders had nothing to fear when the autonomy “becomes operational.”
He said: “I don’t think the excuse of capacity is adequate enough to be used against granting local government autonomy. Even if there is issue of capacity, once it becomes autonomous, it will have the leverage to look outside the box and see what they can do to address the issue of capacity; that is if their assertion is correct. “But as a leader of local government, let me make it clear that the capacity of local government workers cannot be a question.
There is no qualification that you cannot find in the local government administration in Nigeria. We have engineers, medical doctors, lawyers, PhD holders. Even in NULGE today, I preside over a council with over 10 PhD holders as state president of NULGE. So, which capacity are you talking about? “So, the issue is that state governments are using flimsy excuses to deprive Nigerians the much needed functional local government they desire. It is selfish on the part of the governors for not allowing local government to function. “
We look at examples of many other countries in the world, look at all federal arrangement in the world, they have local government and they are functioning. “And let me make it clear that autonomy doesn’t mean local government will not have anything to do with state, we are talking about independence, free enablement for the local government to operate because it has a specified function.”