LOCAL government workers under the aegis of Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE),
Ondo, on Tuesday, stormed the State House of Assembly, threatening a showdown with the lawmakers over the signing of local government autonomy.
The protesting councils’ workers, who also shut down the Assembly com- plex, warned the lawmakers against voting against local government autonomy in the new constitution being reviewed by the National As- sembly.
Armed with placards of various inscriptions, such as “No local government au- tonomy, no election in Ondo State in the forthcoming general election”, “Yes to LG autonomy” “Yes to Judicial autonomy” “No autonomy, No vote” and “On auton- omy we stand” among oth- ers, the protesters vowed to continue agitating until local government autonomy is granted.
Led by the Ondo State pres- ident of the union, Comrade Bola Taiwo, the council work- ers insisted that local govern- ments must be autonomous and urged the lawmakers to do the needful by supporting local government autonomy bill and pass it into law.
Taiwo said the lawmakers would not be allowed into the Assembly complex until they guarantee the passage of the local government au- tonomy and threatened to paralyse social, economic and political activities in the state
According to Taiwo, no fewer than 16 states in the country had signed the local government autonomy bill into law, stressing that Ondo State should not be left out in assenting to the bill as passed by the National Assembly.
However, only two out of 26 members of the state House of Assembly were present at the Assembly complex, when the protesting workers ar- rived.
However, while address- ing the protesting workers, the two lawmakers, Feyide Oluyede representing Ose andTomideAkinribido(Ondo West) who is the Deputy Mi- nority leader, said there was no truth in the allegation that the legislature was under pressure to reject the local government autonomy.
Meanwhile, the leadership of NULGE has threatened that the association will mo- bilise against any anti-local government autonomy law- maker and governor in the forthcoming election.
The national president of the union, Comrade Olatunji Ambali, who issued the threat while speaking during advocacy on local govern- ment autonomy at the Pla- teau State House of Assem- bly, chided some governors and state assembly members in the country for their hesi- tant posture towards the bill.
He pointed out that the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) lacks convincing rea- sons why the local govern- ment autonomy bill should not be passed, noting that the reasons adduced by some of them are selfish. Ambali stated: “Any state that is not stealing local government funds will have no problem passing the Lo- cal Government Autonomy Bill. If we are serious about fighting insecurity, the local government must be given
financial autonomy. “Between 2015 and till
date, the allocations to local government are about N500 billion, without aggregate development and improve- ment in local government areas. No wonder urban migration has continued to thrive, thereby leaving local governments vulnerable to banditry and terrorism.
