Tony Edike
10 May 2004
Enugu — THE National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) has asked the Federal Government to release the allocation of some local government areas withheld on the orders of the President following the conduct of Local Government Elections into new councils by five states in the country.
Some leaders of the union who spoke in Enugu during a conference of State Presidents of NULGE, described the order, which, they said, has created more hardship for local government workers in the affected states, as "unconstitutional", and called on the Federal Government to embrace dialogue instead of "arm-twisting" the states that exercised their constitutional obligations of creating new local governments.
Lagos State Chairman of NULGE, Mrs. Regina Obasa, speaking on the issue, stated that it had been very hectic for local government councils in the state to meet their financial obligations to the employees and other sundry needs. She condemned the presidential order, which, according to her, has forced many people into an untold hardship."It has been tedious and you know that as the saying goes, injury to one is injury to all... As far as meeting our financial needs, of course, you know that when the funds are not there, you have to struggle to look for it and that is exactly what we have been doing in Lagos.
"The roads are still full of filth and you know what that means. There could be an outbreak of epidemic, it is just like writing a letter of invitation to that. Look at the health centres, by the time the drugs are finished; by the time the community health workers are not able to get to the health centres, you don't know what will become of our pregnant women who would go to these centres to have babies.
"We are appealing to the Federal Government that since we govern people, and we do not govern machines, they plight of the people should be the primary concern of whatever government in power, whether the Federal, State or Local Government," Obasa said.
Also speaking in the same vein, Special Adviser to Governor Chimaroke Nnamani on Local Government and Political Affairs, Prince Sam Ejiofor, expressed reservations over the Federal Government's unilateral decision to withhold the funds of some local government councils in the country."Has the federal government the right to do so under the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria? If the answer is yes, then I support the Federal Government's action, but if the answer is no, then I don't support it. The main ingredient of democracy is the constitution of the land," he said.According to him, "the law says that the state government should create Local Government Councils but then, at the end of the day, it has to be confirmed by the National Assembly. So, we have created local governments, we have to nurture them to maturity; when they are matured, the National Assembly has to confirm it."
Addressing the conference earlier, Governor Nnamani said his government was committed to making the people feel the presence of the Local Government system. "We want them to build roads, culverts and bridges, provide water and electricity to the people, and pay salaries to their workers. There should be positive changes in the lives of the people. We are determined not to make the local government administration a welfare system for politicians. They should provide tangible projects for the people," he said.The governor asked the local government workers in the state not to hesitate in reporting to him any local government chairman who failed to pay their salaries promptly. He promised that his administration would always identify with NULGE, stressing that it was through the third tier of government that the people at the grassroots.In his speech, the State President of the union, Mr. Eugene Ugwu, who acknowledged the excellent relationship existing between his union and the state government, however, called for a review of the 1999 Constitution if the current misunderstanding between the federal and state governments over local government administration is to be finally resolved
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