LGs mobilises against planned constitutional removal

The Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) has started mobilising its members nationwide against the call by the Political Restructuring committee of the ongoing National Conference for the abolition of the local government system from the constitution.

The committee, which is co-chaired by General Ike Nwachukwu and Mohammed Umara Kumalia in its report, recommends the retention of a federal system of government, however, suggesting that “local governments shall no longer be third tier of the federation.”

Reacting in a press conference over the weekend, NULGE President Comrade Ibrahim Khaleel told newsmen that the call is an exercise in futility which would be resisted by Nigerians, stressing that several reports have been notified even at the National Assembly in support of autonomy for local government.

“It is only wise and logical for the committee to base its position on the reports done after collating and analysing these memoranda so as to be guided by the good thought of equally endowed Nigerians,” Khaleel said

He accused state governors, “who nominated three delegates each to the conference” of spearheading the move to put local governments directly under their control by removing it from the constitution.

NULGE lamented that handing over local government to state governments will completely wipe out the system from existence, thereby depriving the nation of grassroots development, while calling on the delegates to the conference to be patriotic by consulting widely to confirm the wishes of the people.

The president said pushing ahead with the committee’s position is will lend credence to “the fears nursed by Nigerians on the conference coming to ratify an already set agenda.”