Local Government Autonomy Remains Sacrosanct- Comrade Khaleel Ibrahim

The Plateau State chapter of the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) on Thursday, April 20, 2017 staged a solidarity march to the offices of the Speaker of the House of Assembly and that of the Executive Governor of the Stat, Rt. Hon. Simon Bako Lalong, during which they submitted a memorandum.

Speaking at the solidarity march, Comrade Ibrahim Abdulkadir, National President of NULGE, said: ”This is a nationwide advocacy campaign. The national leadership of NULGE decided to drive this process across the length and breadth of Nigeria to canvass for constitutional reforms that will strengthen the institutional framework of local government, considering the fact that the prevalent situation in local governments is such that entire system of government is missing in the political economy of our nation and even though the Constitution of Nigeria recognizes the entire system of government as the third tier government, with the democratic structure and at the same time, it is one of the tiers of government that attracts much revenue.  But the truth is that the entire system has been hijacked by the by the political elites in our society.

“So, considering the fact that local governments anywhere in the world are the nucleus of national political edifice, where it is now needs improvement.”

In his own submission, Comrade Samson Mafuyai, the President, Plateau State Chapter of National Union of Local Government Employee (NULGE) and also the Deputy President National Labour Congress Plateau state Chapter, said he was not comfortable as long as the local government staffs are receiving 55% salary scale of what their counterparts are receiving at the state level,

He noted that the discrepancy in the salary structure of the state was a flagrant abuse of office by the last administration. He said it is unacceptable and the discrimination must be stop.

He said: “This is one of the reasons that are driving us to seek for the autonomy. If we are in control of our funds and we are unable to pay salaries, we will understand because, if your local government becomes too broke that they don’t have enough money to pay staff salaries you cannot hold anybody responsible. We will manage our problems by ourselves,” he added

Mafuyai said “We had series of court cases with the last administration but, when his Excellency Governor Simon Bako Lalong came, he said, he prefers out of court settlement and we entered into an agreement with the government and he agreed to pay us our four months withheld salaries”.

He said, the governor equally promises that when revenue improves he would put local government on the same salary scale with the state.

Mafuyai thanks the National President of NULGE and all those who troop out to support the solidarity march.

Jos Carnival Marks Return of Peace to Plateau – Hon. Saleh Shehu Yitmong, Hon Jacob Kassam

Plateau people have expressed joy at the recently concluded Jos Carnival, saying it marked the return of peace on the hitherto troubled state. Our correspondent who covered the event, first of its kind in the state, reports that it drew a large number of people from all walks of life.

 

Hon. Saleh Shehu Yitmong, member representing Dengi Constituency and Deputy Speaker of the Plateau State House of Assembly, said: “The carnival has gone a long way to show that the government is serious about peace and transformation of Plateau State.

“We strongly believe that over a long period of time such an activity has never taken place. You can see for yourself how people came out en-masse regardless of their social standing, their tribes or religious beliefs. This is symbolic. Whatever the governor has been preaching, he is now translating it into action. As you can see, people are trooping out. This has passed a message that people are now living harmoniously together and now it has cleared doubts in people’s minds that Plateau is now safe for people to come and invest. The Jos crises are now history.

“When we were inaugurated, the first thing we did was to put up a committee to promote peaceful atmosphere. And now we are happy we are seeing the end product. My message to Plateau people is that we should embrace each other. We must love one another; we should work hard and be self-reliant.

“The carnival symbolizes the return of the Home of Peace and Tourism. Plateau is back on track and it has regained its glory.”

On his part, the member of the House of Assembly representing Kanke Constituency, Hon. Jacob Kassam, had this to say: “The carnival wouldn’t have been completed without hooting the Zombi horn. The carnival has gone a long way to show that Plateau people are united. We must strive and live together.

“Kanke is richly endowed with culture and I believe this is the first time this carnival is being held in Plateau. I won’t be surprised if by this time next year this rich display of culture is not held again.”

Veteran Journalists Suggest Diversion of Recovered Loot to Agric

The Plateau State League of Veteran Journalists (LVJ) has suggested that the Federal Government should adopt a method whereby 80 per cent of money realized through whistle blowing on corrupt politicians should be channelled into agriculture, education, health, tourism and revitalization of  moribund but viable industries throughout the country.

In a press release jointly signed by Dr. Gideon Barde and Hon. Tunde Oladapo, Plateau State Chairman and Secretary-General respectively of the LVJ, they said if properly implemented, the suggested measure would reduce strikes, protests, youth unemployment and poverty which the country is passing through.

They applauded the bold steps adopted by the Plateau State Governor, Barrister Simon Lalong to revolutionize agriculture, tourism and ailing industries throughout the nooks and crannies of the state.

“The group is particularly happy following the enthusiasm of youths, farmers and adults’ 

participation during the recently concluded agricultural summit and the cultural carnival initiated by Governor Lalong’s administration to employ restive youths and appealed to the Federal Government ton come to the aid of the state,” the statement added.

The League also commended the recent suspension of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. Babachir David Lawal and the Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), but advised President Muhammadu Buhari to beam his searchlight further in order to flush out all the cabals under is administration as the League believed more revelations are coming out soon after the exit of the two kingpins.

The LVJ also congratulated professional journalists in the state such as Mr. Lukeman Bello of Unity FM, Mr. Yakubu Tadi of Plateau Radio Television Corporation, Mr. D. Femi of J-FM, and Mr. David King of Silverbird Radio for creditably winning the minds of listeners during the recently concluded radio analysis contest.

They urged the awardees to be fearless but objective in their news gathering and reportorial duties in accordance with the ethics of the profession which focuses on truth, justice and fair play.

Local Government Autonomy, a Panacea for Grassroots Participation in Nigeria Democracy

The demands for scrapping of state and Local Government joint accounts and State electoral commission, financial and administrative autonomy top the memo submitted to the Executive Governor Plateau State, His Excellency Rt. Hon. Simon Bako Lalong, the Speaker Plateau State House of Assembly Hon. Peter Azi, during the solidary match by the Plateau State Chapter of National Union of Local Government Employee (NULGE) on 20th April, 2016 in Jos, the state capital.

The solidarity procession which started at the State NLC secretariat attracted overwhelming crowd and support for local government autonomy as the third tier of government.

While, receiving the Memo from the NULGE National Chairman, Governor Simon Bako Lalong promises to deliver the memo to the chairman Nigeria Governors Forum and equally make inputs and submit same to the state House of Assembly.

Governor Lalong said “I made a promise to Plateau People that I don’t want to see Salaries arrears again” he said, it is disheartening to find out that someone just siphoned over 7billion naira at a time when workers were on strike for non-payment of salaries, ‘that money must be returned’ he added.

Earlier, while receiving the MEMO from the National Presidents of NULGE at the premises of the State House of Assembly, the Plateau State Speaker, Rt. Hon. Peter Azi, said, “we in the Plateau State House of Assembly adopted the position of NULGE, because we believed the autonomy will strengthened the local government administration” he said they will give the memo express approval.   

In brief

As a result of lack of financial autonomy, local governments have become a shadow of themselves. To put it succinctly, they have been emasculated by the various state governments which continued to hold on to their statutory revenue allocations under various guises.

The polity is awash with reports of state governments tampering with statutory allocations of revenue allocated to the local councils while the latter is unable to challenge this flagrant violation of the constitution.

Speaking to the mammoth crowd that gathered to support the Plateau NULGE, Comrade Stephen Aluko said, without the grassroots support and votes, those in government wouldn’t  have been in their position today, he wonders why the same people are denying the local government autonomy. He said “as long as there is no autonomy at the local government level, there is no democracy in Nigeria”

Aluko said, during the presidential campaigned President Buhari promised to give local government autonomy if voted into power, and Nigerians are expecting nothing less than this, he added.

He said “if truly APC is for change and they wants to fight corruption, then the right thing to do is granting autonomy to the local government.

In his own part Gad Shamaki noted that the issues of local government autonomy is about rights, and freedom, because local governments operates at the grassroots level and it is the closest government to the people, they must have financial and administrative autonomy in order for development to be sustained. He said “Joint account is a fraud and must stop