Labour stages protest to demand LG autonomy as governors, speakers meet in Abuja

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), on Friday, protested at the venue of a meeting of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum and speakers of state houses of assembly.

The meeting, which held in Abuja, focused on national issues including insecurity.

Members of the NLC gathered at the entrance of Fraiser Suites, the venue of the meeting, with banners and placards containing different inscriptions.

Ayuba Wabba, NLC president, said the protest was to demand for the implementation of autonomy for local governments and state judiciary.

“All of us could recall that the issue of autonomy and independence for these three arms of government to operate independently has been an issue in Nigeria. And that has led to a lot of challenges,” he said.

“I can say as a matter of fact, that because the local government system is not working, that is why the security architecture of Nigeria today has collapsed.

“There is no security anywhere because that tier of government that should provide all the necessary information is not functioning.

“Some of their responsibilities, including fixing roads and creating employment opportunities, have been taken over. And that is why you see people now moving en masse from the state capitals and the local governments to the city centres; it is a very chaotic process.

“We must put this to an end. We can have the system reversed because we have competent people, people well educated that are in our local governments, and that tier of government, if given the chance, it will be able to attend to all these challenges that now bedevil in development of our system.

“That is why we have taken it as a major campaign to every nook and cranny that every politician, be it chairman of a local government, be it members of the state assembly, must endorse this bill on the autonomy of the local governments.”

Wabba added that adopting autonomy for local governments and state judiciary will be in the interest of promoting democracy.

“They must endorse this bill for the autonomy of the judiciary and they must endorse the bill for the autonomy of the parliament,” he said.

“If we destroy democracy at the local government level, then you are assured that what we are going to have at the centre will be a mirage.

“If they are meeting here, they must put the issue on the agenda; that is why we are here. What is our demand? Autonomy must be on the agenda of the meeting. Anybody coming in must be able to listen to us. We must remind them why we are here too. We will do that very peacefully.”

The national assembly had, on March 1, passed the bill granting financial autonomy for local governments.

The bill makes provisions for each local government council to control funds allocated to it.