Funmi Olaitan, Ibadan
Stakeholders canvassing for local government autonomy have come hard on lawmakers in Houses of Assembly in South West region over the delay to organize public hearing on the issue.
They stated that putting the people in suspense and failing to organize the public hearing is inimical to nation building .
The stakeholders at a two-day Media/Civil Society Organization workshop organized by Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees ( NULGE) held in Ibadan, expressed concern over the seeming delay by the Houses of Assembly in organizing the public hearing on local government autonomy.
Those who presented papers at the event include Executive Assistant to Governor Abiola Ajimobi on Administration, Mr. Adesoji Eniade, Mrs Ronke Ige from Justice Development and Peace Commission ( JDPC), Mr Emmanuel Adegboyega Adebunmi, a former Permanent Secretary in the Local Government Service Commission, Mr Oludare Famofo and Mr Bayo Titilola-Sodo, South West Vice President and Oyo State NULGE President, respectively.
It would be recalled that among states in the South West, it was only Ogun State House of Assembly that passed the motion endorsing the bill on local government autonomy, while others were said to have suspended action and promised to hold public hearing on the bill.
Famofo who addressed journalists at the end of the two-day workshop, bemoaned the collapse of infrastructure at the local government level and blamed governors for the pitiable states of most trunk 'C' roads and other social amenities in most communities.
According to him, unless the third tier of government is strengthened, development at grassroot levels would continue to suffer from bad roads, lack of health care, and poor funding of primary education.
He also took a swipe at some state governors for stifling funding of local government, maintaining that until autonomy is granted to the third tier of government, insecurity and infrastructural decay would continue unhindered.
In his paper titled, “Local Government Autonomy: The bed rock of sustainable development in nation building", Eniade canvassed for sustainable development at local government levels to prevent total collapse of governance.
Describing local government autonomy as a tall dream, Eniade who is contesting the 2019 governorship election in the state, supported restructuring of the country as a lasting solution to the nation's problem.
According to him, there are challenges in the 1999 constitution which give responsibilities to states and local government areas and until all these anomalies are corrected through restructuring, achieving local government autonomy would be difficult.
He however canvassed for the strengthening of local government areas through adequate funding, and well trained manpower to ensure sustainable development.
Also, Ige of Justice Development and Peace Commission ( JDPC), in her presentation, called for strategic action plan on the part of the media and civil society organizations in engaging policy makers to achieve local government autonomy for sustainable development at the grassroot level.
She noted that the time had come for the local government area to be strengthened and enabled to perform its functions for efficient and effective development.
