NULGE’s campaign for LG autonomy

Leaders of Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) have for a week now engaged in renewed nationwide protests to demand autonomy for this country’s 783 local governments and FCT area councils.  Demand for autonomy for local governments is not new and has generated heated debates in the past at various fora. However, NULGE’s current […]

Leaders of Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) have for a week now engaged in renewed nationwide protests to demand autonomy for this country’s 783 local governments and FCT area councils.  Demand for autonomy for local governments is not new and has generated heated debates in the past at various fora. However, NULGE’s current agitation is intended to be the ‘mother of all protests’ and is meant to be the final push to achieve autonomy for the tier of government in Nigeria.  

The protest which is intended to be carried out across the six geo political zones on separate days kicked off in Lafia, capital of Nasarawa State about three weeks ago and was attended by delegates from all 36 states of the country. Of significance is the fact that support for the cause is growing stronger by the day with the latest coming from the governor of Enugu State and Speaker of the state’s House of Assembly, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi and Edward Ubosi respectively. While addressing the press after the South East zonal rally, the National President of NULGE Ibraheem Khalil disclosed the affirmation of support by the Enugu State governor and the Speaker. Ugwuanyi further pledged that his state shall be the first to formally vote for autonomy for local governments when the occasion arises. 

Seen from the chequered trajectory of the campaign for local government autonomy in Nigeria, the support from Ugwanyi and Ubosi are significant developments that qualify for emulation by other state governors. This is due to the fact that Nigerians generally believe that the biggest obstacle to the autonomy for local governments in the country are the state governors. Reports are rife of how state governors have historically emasculated the local governments in the country by denying them of funds that are statutorily allocated to them. As is popular belief, the state governors are routinely being accused of running the local governments as their personal annexes instead of as constitutionally established agencies of governance. Also held against the governors is the sin of supplanting the legitimate aspirations and expectations of their constituents with their whims and caprices. 

As a result of these infractions by state governors the local governments have been reduced to mere appendages of the state governments, to the detriment of the general society. The state governors on the other hand justify their action with the constitutional provision that grants state Houses of Assembly the responsibility to make laws for the management of local government councils in their states. 

The fore going provides a counter pose for the expected functions of the local governments which specifically is to provide services that are more dedicated and responsive to local circumstances and preferences. These services include the facilitation of the practice of democracy at the grassroots and mobilise the populace at the grass roots towards national development objectives. Also included in such functions is that of providing for prompt exchange of communication between the local populace and the other tiers of government. Without doubt the lack of autonomy vitiates the capacity of local governments to deliver on these services.

NULGE’s protest therefore enjoys a more altruistic flavour than that of a mere trade union as the body ordinarily is. The issue at stake is sensitive enough to attract sympathy for the advocacy by NULGE and its numerous sympathisers. The country needs to re-visit the issue of granting local governments autonomy, even as envisaged by the Constitution which restricts the definition of a local government to only a democratically elected one. 

The Federal government will be acting in good standing by encouraging the state governments to endorse the autonomy for local governments as to allow the country’s democracy grow sustainably from the grass roots.