The
National Assembly is advocating for a strong financial authority for
local government council for effectiveness in governance.
The National Assembly is set to grant financial autonomy to local
government councils and state Houses of Assembly to reduce alleged
influence of governors in their financial management.
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, dropped the
hint, yesterday, in an interview with newsmen in Abuja, according to
the Vanguard.
He reiterated the resolve of the National Assembly to grant
financial autonomy to the 774 local government councils in the country.
Dogara noted that lack of elections at the local government level
were crippling democracy and denying the much needed development at the
third tier of government.
Dogara said the House under his leadership, was in the process of granting financial autonomy to 36 State Houses of Assembly.
He decried a situation where governors had constituted themselves
as middlemen that continuously hijacked funds meant for the councils in
the name of joint account, describing the arrangement as “evil”.
Dogara described the existence of caretaker committees manning the
affairs of the local government councils in some states as an aberration
and illegality which must stop.
He revealed that new clauses might be introduced in the
constitutional amendment bill that would not only outlaw caretaker
committees but also stop allocation of funds from the federation account
to local governments with no democratically elected councils.
As a step to end the alleged illegality perpetrated by state
governments, the speaker disclosed that the parliament would consider
abolishing States Independent Electoral Commissions, SIECs, and empower
the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to take over their
functions.
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