Community leaders need to be empowered – Ex-FCT PCC commissioner

A former National Commissioner with the Public Complaints Commission (PCC) who represented the FCT, Comrade Dalhatu Eziekel Musa, has said that traditional rulers, as the custodians of their subjects at the grassroots, deserve respect and should be empowered so that they can perform their functions effectively. Musa, who is the chairman of the FCT chapter […]

A former National Commissioner with the Public Complaints Commission (PCC) who represented the FCT, Comrade Dalhatu Eziekel Musa, has said that traditional rulers, as the custodians of their subjects at the grassroots, deserve respect and should be empowered so that they can perform their functions effectively.
Musa, who is the chairman of the FCT chapter of the National Peace Committee (NPC), spoke as a panellist at the national body of the NPC in collaboration with the United Nations (UN) powered by the Kukah Centre in Abuja on Tuesday.
He said it was worrisome that the traditional institution in the country had been relegated to the background by the political class, noting that some traditional rulers even found it difficult to appoint village chiefs, district heads and community leaders in line with their customs and their traditions.
He said traditional rulers were closer to the people at the grassroots but wondered at the way and manner the political class treated them in the scheme of things in the country.
“For example, the last time I checked, I used to know when there is a security meeting, you will see traditional rulers come up with viable and intelligent reports daily for free without needing to use drum to get such reports,” he said.
He noted that traditional rulers were only accorded attention during groundbreaking or commissioning of projects, saying the National Assembly should come up with a framework where traditional rulers across the country would be allowed to preside over their people in line with their cultures and traditions without any interference.
Musa cited the example of how traditional rulers had been able to wade into communal, herders-farmers crises, as well as land disputes, in their chiefdoms.