Dogara: Hold state assemblies responsible if LG autonomy fails

Yakubu Dogara, speaker of the house of representatives, says state house assemblies should be held liable if local government autonomy fails.

Dogara said this on Thursday when he received delegations from the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) and the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON).

He said it is the responsibility of the state legislature to approve the proposed law seeking local government autonomy.

“Now the ball is out of our court and it is back to the state assemblies… if we fail to gather the two-third support from the 36 state assemblies, it will be your fault because there is virtually no member of a state assembly that does not come from a local government,” he said.

Dogara also said the house of reps had sacrificed a lot to grant financial independence to local governments in the just concluded constitution amendment exercise.

“We have sacrificed a lot at this end,” he said.

“I believe that if the voting records are published today, some members may not even come back to this house on account of that single decision to vote for local government autonomy.”