Nigerian Newspapers
Who is afraid of local government autonomy?
The overwhelming vote by members of the House of Representatives for autonomy for the local government system in the proposed amendment to the 1999 Constitution has, once again, pitched the Nigerian people against the state governors, who are hell bent on maintaining the status quo and continue with their ‘business as usual’ antics with the allocation accruing to the third tier of government, writes SINA FADARE.
Autonomy for the local government system in the country has generated a lot of debate in the public domain to the extent that the common man on the street is confused as to whom to believe and on whose interest have the leaders and people’s representatives at the National Assembly taken their respective stands.
While the Senate rejected autonomy for the third tier of government during the debate and voting on the aspects of the constitution that needed to be reviewed, the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly for the local councils’ autonomy in the proposed amendment to the constitution.
However, those who have been milking the third tier of government in disguise are saying that the dream may not come to reality.
It was the governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi, before the storm that sent the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, NGF, into disarray, who made known to the Nigerian public the mindset of the 36 state governors on the agitation for autonomy for the local government councils.
Without mincing words, Amaechi stated that the governors will continue to push against granting autonomy to the 774 local governments in the country, adding: “There is no country in the world that there are three federating units; there are only two all over the world. Why should you say that there must be a third federating unit in Nigeria?”
According to him, the issue of local government autonomy should not be a constitutional issue.
Though Amaechi denied that majority of the governors, if not all have overbearing influence on their states’ Houses of Assembly, and therefore they cannot be influenced to vote against granting autonomy for the local councils, yet political pundits are of the view that Amaechi and his co-travellers are economical with the truth on the issue.
They hinged their belief on the fact that it was tales of woes since 1999 when there was joint account system where majority of the governors not only dole out salaries and few naira notes to the care taker committees which became the order of the day in most of the council area in the country, but decide what to do with the money with impunity and in most cases, the money developed wings.
To the advocates of autonomy for the local government, if it is entrenched in the constitution, the council should be free from the grip of some greedy governors, who took the councils’ money at will without any tangible thing done with it at the end of the day. They based their premise on the fact that examples abound in the country of how the local council areas have been neglected for many years and the council chairmen, reduced to mere salary payers.
Championing this cause is the Chairman, Senate Committee on FCT, Abuja, Senator Smart Adeyemi, who insisted that the governors have short changed the council operators over the years with impunity.
The former President of the Nigeria Union of Journalist, NUJ, vowed to spearhead nationwide protests to resist moves by state governors to oppose local governments’ autonomy, adding that “it was unconstitutional for the governors not to allow the councils to have autonomy in the management of their finances.”
He therefore promised that “we will do everything possible to resist any attempt to stop the third tier of government from being entrenched in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“We the people will rise against that move. I will join other stakeholders, including Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees, NULGE, to go on a nationwide demonstration.
Adeyemi argued that if the governors by error of omission or commission, fail to allow the three tiers of government to survive they will not sleep with their two eyes closed.
Adeyemi’s request tallied with the demand of NULGE which insisted that autonomy for the councils is the only panacea to grassroots development.
The workers who staged a protest in Abuja to make their point, condemned the idea of paying the local government allocation into states account, where the state determine what ends up in the hands of the councils.
Equally worried about the conduit pipe, which the state and local council joint account has been turned to by the state governors, the National President of the Association of Local Government of Nigeria, ALGON, Mr Nwabueze Okafor, cried to all well meaning Nigerians to come to their aids by condemning in strong term those who do not want autonomy for the local government system.
Speaking to National Mirror, Okafor said that there is the need for stakeholders to give voice to the autonomy of the council areas, which he described as an arm of government that was easily accessed by the people.
According to him, the autonomy, if allowed to see the light of the day, will assist the local governments to achieve the goal of the Vision 20-20-20, the Millennium Development Goals, MDGs 2015 target and the Subsidy Re-Investment Programme, SURE-P.
His words: “The democratically-elected council members for all the 774 local government councils will bring about rapid development at the grassroots. I implore all governors running caretaker committee government at the council level to stop the act and conduct elections.”
Speaking to National Mirror on the issue, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Imo state, Mr. Don Linus Onwukaike said that giving autonomy to the local government councils is like dragging the hands of development backward.
Onwukaike said that it was embarrassing when most of the local governments cannot pay the teachers’ salaries, adding that with the type of development that is going on in the rural area in Imo State, nobody will want it to stop.
However, there are discordant tunes on the local government autonomy recently from the APC as the party, which initially frowned against council autonomy after the deliberations of the governors on its stable in Lafia, Nasarawa State, suddenly explained that the party did not oppose it but want states Houses of Assembly to handle the matter.
The APC in a statement issued by its interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, noted that the party did not condemn autonomy for the local councils, but only asked that such autonomy be determined by the states Houses of Assembly, rather than the National Assembly.
According to him, the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria gives the states Houses of Assembly the power to create local governments. Therefore, autonomy for local governments should be debated at the Houses of Assembly, not at the National Assembly.
He added: “Secondly, giving control of the local governments to the Federal Government, one of the two federating units in a federalist system of government, will only result in the creation of a unitary government.
“And thirdly, all local government administration must be democratically elected in a free and fair election, while chairmen and councillors must be accountable to those who elected them.”
He argued that as a welfarist party, “we believe in accountability and abhor any system where any local government administration is not elected freely and fairly. The appointment of caretaker committees to run local governments is an aberration. This is our stand and it definitely does not represent an opposition to autonomy for local governments.”
On the belief that some state governments appropriate funds meant for local governments, Mohammed pointed out that “the cure is not for the Federal Government to give money directly to the local governments, but for states and local governments to agree on how to ensure a judicious expenditure of local government funds. The partnership between states and local governments is very important for the overall welfare of the common man,”
But political pundits do not subscribe to the argument of Mohammed, no matter how logical it might have sounded. They hinged their premise on the fact that some of the governors under the aegis of the Progressive Governors’ Forum, PGF, have expressed aversion to the idea of giving autonomy to local government and therefore they cannot now pretend to support the idea with a caveat.
Not that alone, some of them are equally guilty of not conducting local government election in their domains and in the past they have operated joint accounting system where local government funds had been tampered with, with impunity.
Could it be that the it was an attempt by the opposition not to play to the gallery, that made it denied abhorrence for autonomy for the local councils? Or could it be that political exigency has demanded the opposition to say what it said, since it was just finding its feet in the present political turf ?
Whichever way it is viewed, it is certain that the common man on the street, the grassroots people and all the stakeholders are keenly watching the trend of the debate and may not likely fold their arms if the tide is turning against them.
Also, how the impasse at the National Assembly is resolved will go a long way to determine the return of some members of the federal legislature, who had used the issue of autonomy for local government their campaign topic in 2011.
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Posted in Nigerian Newspapers. A DisNaija.Com network.
Source: National Mirror Newspaper
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•Deploy more personnel as army chief vows to wipe out terror group
•Security beefed up at N’Assembly
Deji Elumoye and Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja
Abuja, Nigeria’s seat of power, is under a massive security cordon following threats of attacks by insurgents and the increasing wave of banditry in the contiguous states of Kaduna, Kogi, Nasarawa and Niger States, THISDAY’s investigation has revealed.
There has been a wave of kidnappings in the outskirts of the federal capital, notably Pegi, Tuganmaje and Kuje among others, which the police have battled in recent times.
The security situation in and around the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) was heightened by the pronouncement of the Niger State Governor, Mr. Sani Bello, that Boko Haram fighters who he said sacked 50 villages in the state and hoisted the terror group’s flag, were about two hours drive away from the FCT.
Security has also been beefed up at the National Assembly as operatives, yesterday, thoroughly screened every vehicle approaching the National Assembly complex in Abuja.
The deteriorating security situation nationwide prompted the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Uche Secondus, to warn that the 2023 general election may not hold, demanding the declaration of a state of emergency as well as the convocation of a national conference.
However, the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru, yesterday restated the Nigerian Army’s determination to annihilate Boko Haram.
But the Governor of Katsina State, Hon. Bello Masari, cautioned against declaring a state of emergency, saying doing so isn’t the solution to combat the security challenges facing the country.
The security of the nation’s airports was also in focus yesterday as the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) said there was no threat to them.
THISDAY’s investigations showed increased presence of troops, police, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) personnel and intelligence operatives at the three strategic entrances to the city notably, Keffi, Zuba and Gwagwalada.
More checkpoints were also mounted around Gwagwalada and Keffi.
THISDAY also observed increased intelligence deployment at the entrance and the borders of FCT with contiguous states.
Beyond the borders, there were more deployments and police patrols inside the city and increased intelligence deployments as well.
Security sources told THISDAY: “There are deployments here and there but they are routine. Alertness is key to a secure environment.”
It was also learnt that security agencies were involved in frenzied meetings throughout yesterday.
The meetings, coordinated by the office of the Chief of Defence Staff under the new joint operational strategy of the armed forces, were aimed at coordinating a joint response to possible threats of attack to the FCT.
“I understand the security teams have been meeting for some days now and if you look around you, you will notice that there are increasing patrols and numbers of security personnel. The threats are not been taken lightly,” a source said.
National Assembly workers, lawmakers and visitors also had a harrowing experience accessing the legislative complex due to heightened security in the area.
Security operatives thoroughly screened every vehicle approaching the National Assembly complex in Abuja, impeding both human and vehicular traffic.
The Sergeant-at-arm of the National Assembly and other security agencies supervised the operations, leading to huge traffic build-up inside the complex.
Legislative staff, visitors and lawmakers were seen patiently waiting for their cars to be searched so that they could go ahead with the business of the day.
Some staff and visitors at some point got tired of waiting and were seen alighting from their cars to trek from the gate to the complex.
Meanwhile, the ONSA has said there is no threat to the nation’s airports.
A statement by the Head of Strategic Communication, Mr. Zachari Usman, said the reports of threats to the airports were an internal correspondence of security threat assessment misconstrued as security threat to the airports.
PDP Demands State of Emergency
In a related development, the PDP National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, yesterday demanded the declaration of a state of emergency, warning that the 2023 general election might not hold if the federal government failed to tackle insecurity.
He called on the federal government to summon a national conference to address the spike in insecurity.
Secondus added that the national caucus of the party will meet today to discuss the state of the nation.
Addressing members of the National Executive Committee (NEC) in Abuja, Secondus said: “We are worried Abuja is not even safe. It is no longer politics. We got alert of plots to bomb and burn down our airports.
“We urge the federal government to declare a national state of emergency in security. There is the need to call a national conference to discuss the insecurity in the country.
“There may not be any election in 2023 in Nigeria due to insecurity. This government must listen to the people. The Buhari government should call a national confab to discuss security and state of the nation. It is no longer politics. This time we are not playing politics. Let’s keep politics aside and move the nation forward.”
He said the country had been grounded, regretting that there had been no matching response from the federal government.
Secondus said in the past, terrorism in the North was confined to the North-east, but with the report of Boko Haram occupying villages in Niger State, terrorism had spread to the North-central
“Herdsmen are also menacing in the West; gunmen causing havoc in the East; and the militants in the South; all killing, looting, raping, maiming and burning down homes. The situation is bad; Nigerians all over are living in fear,” he said.
The Senate Minority Leader, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, said the problem of Nigeria was outside of the PDP headquarters, while pledging the support of the Senate to the declaration of state of emergency in security.
Abaribe said he deliberately decided not to speak on the floor of the Senate but to allow the APC senators to speak so as to avoid being accused of giving a partisan colouration to the issue of insecurity.
He stated that only electoral reforms would give victory to the opposition party in the 2023 general election and ensure a democratic defeat of the APC-led federal government.
Also, the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Hon. Ndudi Elumelu, commended the NEC and the PDP leadership for their collective efforts at resolving the House leadership crisis.
The NEC meeting adopted the position of Secondus, calling on the federal government to convoke a national conference to discuss the state of insecurity in the country, according to a communiqué read by the National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan.
Army Chief Vows to Wipe Out Boko Haram
The army yesterday reiterated its commitment to wipe out Boko Haram.
Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt. Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru, told reporters in Maiduguri, Borno State that Boko Haram had been defeated in many encounters and would continue to be defeated until it’s annihilated from Nigeria.
“We will take on Boko Haram decisively, and we are committed to the focus of the operations, which is the total annihilation of Boko Haram from Nigeria,” he said.
The COAS, who was visiting the headquarters of Operation Lafiya Dole in Maiduguri for the fifth time since his appointment four months ago, said the visit was to boost the morale of the troops, reassure them and listen to any issues affecting them.
Earlier, the Theatre Commander of Operation Lafiya Dole, Maj. Gen. Farouq Yahaya, lauded the visit, which he said had continued to boost the morale of the troops.
“We are honoured, we are grateful, we are encouraged by those visits. You provided us guidance, logistics and other things we required. We are most grateful for those visits,” Yahaya said.
State of Emergency Won’t Solve Security Challenges, Says Masari
Katsina State Governor, Hon. Aminu Masari, has, however, said declaration of a state of emergency won’t solve the security challenges facing the nation.
Masari, who spoke yesterday with journalists after meeting with the Chief of Staff to the President, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari at the State House, Abuja stated that he was against the recent call by the House of Representatives for the declaration of a state of emergency in the security sector as it would not solve the problem.
According to him, declaring a state of emergency will not achieve the desired effect as the security structure and personnel to be used to execute the emergency are already overstretched in a bid to safeguard lives and property.
Sourced From: THISDAYLIVE
Tribune Online
Nigeria records 55 new COVID-19 infections, total now 165,110
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has recorded 62 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 165,110. The NCDC disclosed this on its official Twitter handle on Friday. “55 new cases of #COVID19Nigeria; Lagos-21, Yobe-19, Ogun-6, Akwa Ibom-3, Kaduna-2, Plateau-2, FCT-1, Rivers-1.” YOU SHOULD NOT MISS THESE HEADLINES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE COVID-19: Nigeria Recorded […]
Nigeria records 55 new COVID-19 infections, total now 165,110
Tribune Online
Sourced From: Tribune Online
By Olasunkanmi Akoni
The people of the South East region have been urged to explore the power of negotiation and mutual settlement in the face of ongoing killings and security challenges in the zone because the east can not afford another war at present.
Stakeholders from the South-East geo-political zone made the remark on Thursday, at the unveiling of the book, “Igbo, 50 years after Biafra,” written by Special Adviser to Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Drainage Services, Joe Igbokwe, held at Ikeja G.R.A.
Speaking at the unveiling of the book, the chairman of the occasion, Mr. Cutis Adigba,
urged the people of the South-East to learn to build bridges across the country, so that they can realise their ambition of producing the next president of Nigeria.
Adigba urged leaders from the zone to discourage the move and agitation by some youths in the South East to go to war and secede out of Nigeria.
Also read: Banditry: Disregard viral video, Niger State gov’t urges residents
He said that Igbo have always found it difficult to rule Nigeria because they refused to build bridges across the six geo-political zones that made up Nigeria.
While describing the agitation as uncalled for, Adigba noted that after two decades that Nigeria returned to civil rule, the Igbo has predominantly identified with only one political party.
He maintained that remaining in one party can not advance the cause of the people of South East and cannot make them realise their objective of producing an Igbo man as president.
He maintained that the publisher of the book, Igbokwe played politics outside his state, so that the Igbo race can be integrated with one another race.
Adigba said the failure of the Igbo to reintegrate with other ethnic nationalities politically was responsible for the retrogression of the race in Nigerian politics.
Igbokwe, also addressing guests on the occasion, maintained that the Igbo are not advancing politically because they refused to be integrated into National politics, lamenting that, despite their success in business, they are not successful in playing politics at the national level.
Corroborating Dimgba, Igbokwe noted that there was the need for the Igbo people to stand up and build bridges so that their objective of producing the next president of Nigeria could be realised.
According to him: “I have decided to raise my voice, I hope my people will hear me while trying to quell the effect of the war, our people are spoiling for another war, mayhem is being unleashed in Igbo land, and there is palpable fear.
“Those who could speak have lost their voice, mindful of the consequences of their actions, I am calling on all Igbo leaders to speak up because all actions carry consequences, consequences of the silence will be too dastardly to sustain.
“Those silently supporting the wild wind should be careful or else they hand over to their children,” he said.
Igbokwe urged those spoiling for war to jettison their plan and embrace dialogue, urging them to learn from the South West region that despite the challenges faced after the annulment of the June 12, 1993, election, they did not go to war, and the region had the opportunity of producing two of her sons for presidential position in 1999.
“You have to build bridges to become president of Nigeria, but it is unfortunate the Igbo are burning bridges.”
Speaking at the event, Chief Uche Dimgba who is the coordinator of Igbo in All Progressives Congress, APC in Lagos, described Igbokwe as “a Frank, fearless and reliable leader, who based his views on issues and stand by his opinions, and we the Igbo have confidence in him and believe he can lead us aright.”
“He is a leader we Igbo believe in and we will follow him. If he can serve all the governors produced in Lagos State since 1999, he is a better man to follow because he possesses all the experience that can be of benefit to Igbo both at home and in the diaspora.”
The post Attacks on S’East: We must explore all options of negotiation — Stakeholders urge Igbo appeared first on Vanguard News.
Sourced From: Vanguard News
The government said that no worker should stay back beyond 6:00 p.m. within premises of buildings undergoing construction.
The post Insecurity: Lagos bans occupation of abandoned buildings appeared first on Premium Times Nigeria.
Sourced From: Premium Times Nigeria
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Nigeria records 55 new COVID-19 infections, total now 165,110
Military, Police Ring Abuja to Forestall Boko Haram Attack
UFC: Usman gets N584m after beating Masvidal
Insecurity: Lagos bans occupation of abandoned buildings
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