Speaker of the House of Representatives, Honourable Aminu Tambuwal, on Tuesday, said there would be no more joint account between local and state governments, as all necessary steps towards ensuring that local governments get their allocations directly from the Federation Account have been taken.

Honourable Tambuwal, who also told the members of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) that the National Assembly would not reverse its decision on autonomy for local governments, stated this during the sixth quadrennial national delegates’ conference of the union, held at City Hall, in Lafia, the Nasarawa State capital.

He said the action would enable the local governments, being the closest to the rural dwellers, to provide dividends of democracy to the people at the grassroots, through the provision of social amenities, especially in the rural communities.

Tambuwal therefore, pointed out that, only the local governments with duly elected officials would receive grants from the Federation Account, adding that the National Assembly had also decided to leave oversight functions for the state houses of Assembly.

According to him, as representatives of the people, we are strengthening the institution of governance at the local levels, and not creating yet another Federation unit.

In his remarks, the Nasarawa State governor, Umaru Tanko Al-Makura, also lent his voice to the autonomy for governments at the grassroots, saying it would ensure good governance at the local levels.

Earlier in his keynote address, the National President of NULGE, Comrade Ibrahim Abdulkadir, had told the gathering that, “what we have today is a caricature of local government system where all manners of experiments, political and administrative are carried out. We make bold to say that this has retarded the development of this nation.

“The union wishes to lend its voice to that of millions of Nigerians to call on the members of the states Houses of Assembly to be on the part of history and confirm the bill being transmitted to them by their colleagues at the National Assembly which is the aggregate will of Nigerian people,” he added.

http://tribune.com.ng/news/top-stories/item/22548-no-more-joint-account-for-local-state-govt-tambuwal

Good news. The state governments have over the years hidden under the state/LG joint accounts to milk the LGs dry. Today, LG funds has become an additional revenue to the states such that the LGs can hardly do projects. No wonder the governors refuse to conduct election into the various LG. This law is long overdue. LG allocations will henceforth be released directly to the elected LG officials.

Are we to still recognise him as speaker? Just asking. *Runs out of thread*

This will be impractical until the old system of elections at ther local govt level is restored as most local govt chairmen of today are puppets of the state governor.

didn't know they operate a joint account in the first place

When are you vacating the speakers seat, dishonorable Tambuwal?

That's great....Now the LG will get thr allowance direct from FG without any itch n shortage.nice one

lonelydora:
Are we to still recognise him as speaker? Just asking. *Runs out of thread*

You want to attacked by our various e - warriors Trouble sleep you go dey wake am...na wahala you dey find oooo

Is it in the constitution now or just another political gimmicks? We have been hearing, "All necessary steps have been taken....." since Imo River.

That's way to go. Nice Step in a right direction. This will empower the local populace to hold their local authorities accountable and there won't be any excuse by any LG Boss.

local government election should also be handle by INEC

At the end of the day, local government chairmen will loot more. No money will be left untouch again by our "honourable" chairmen

In true federalism, there was no need to lump them together in the first place.

So, it's the way to move forward especially if we consider how some governors have treated the LGs in their states.

most local government chairman are confused and useless people furthermore Corrupt governors like Saminu Turaki and james Ibori are saint compare with most local government chairman. because in the north we call them cash centre

This Tambuwal don't even understand the policy or should I call it manifesto of his new friends sorry party. Local govt autonomy is not allowed.

LGAs often exist in isolation of the people they are supposed to serve.

Scrap the LGAs, they are waste of money and don't bring government closer to the people. Promote town development unions to elect leaders who are to represent the towns, and serve for free,they should work with the state government in ensuring that the needs of people of the towns are met.

That way, you ensure accountability and competitive development,as towns would compete against each other for development,and the town leaders can be easily held to ransome by their people,if they feel they are being left behind by the other towns in terms of development. The monies used in paying the LGA chairmen and their hordes of employees would be channeled into community based development programmes that would benefit every member of the community and not just the Chairmen and LGAs workers,as currently is the case.

When are these people going to start being innovative,by applying local solutions to local problems?

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