NULGE urges Nasarawa assembly to pass local council autonomy bill
The House of Assembly has been urged to approve the measure that would provide all Local Government Areas (LGAs) in the nation full autonomy by the Nasarawa State chapter of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE).
The announcement was delivered by Comr. Sharhabilu Rak-Adamu, the state's NULGE president, during a Friday news briefing in Lafia.
The bill was recently passed by the National Assembly and sent to the Houses of Assembly of 36 states for legislative procedures in accordance with the legislation, as newsmen remembered.
The importance of LGAs to the socioeconomic development of the nation, according to the NULGE State President for Nasarawa, made the demand urgent.
He said that the union at the National level and 36 states as well as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja has been on the struggle for LGAs autonomy for over 10 years.
Rak-Adamu said that at the moment, 11 States houses of assembly had already passed the LGAs autonomy bill.
He commended the houses of assembly that had already passed the bill and appealed to those yet to do so, to follow suit in the overall interest of the development of the country.
“Nasarawa State House of Assembly is among those yet to pass it, so we are calling on the principal officers and members of the assembly to support the bill because of its importance,’’ he said.
The NULGE President in the state also lauded Gov. Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State for granting partial autonomy to LGAs in the state.
He, however, appealed to the governor to lobby the assembly to pass the bill in order to complement his effort in granting full autonomy to LGAs in the state and country as a whole.
He expressed optimism that granting full autonomy to LGA would go a long way to address the increasing poverty, insecurity and other vices in the country.