*says LG Autonomy will save NIgeria as a whole
By; IBRAHIM ADAMU, Kaduna
Co-chair Kaduna Local Government Accountability Mechanism (KAD-LGAM), Yusuf Ishaku Goje has said that critical stakeholders should put enough pressure to ensure the State Assembly passes the Local Government Autonomy Bill on Tuesday September 13, 2022.
He expressed this, while speaking on day two of the Engagement On The Review Of The LocaL Government Accountability Mechanism Strategic Plan And Work-plan, held in Kaduna on Monday September 12, 2022.
“Critical stakeholders should rise up and pressurize their representatives at the Kaduna State House of Assembly in passing the Local Government Autonomy Tomorrow,” he said.
He said that although, the state government has made tremendous reforms, they are yet to translate to improving standard of living of common man.
According to him, a lot of sacrifices have to be done in respect of that, including sensitizing those at the grassroots so that the mechanism works.
“We must also hit the grassroots to ensure the mechanism works by mobilizing people to participate in the process.
“It is important that everything we are doing here, we go back to the grassroots to step it down. Sometimes, when we say government is not responsive, it is because we are doing it like individual tasks, not as communities. It is important that as we continue to engage, we see the impact in our communities.
“The ward is the closest tier to the people to ensure people benefit, then it means it is at the top the rhetorics is going on.
“When the President says he wants to pull out millions of Nigerians our of poverty, the structure that can make that happen is at the grassroots.
“The traditional institutions have to be carried along. They have to check ungoverned spaces and be able to enquire when a strange face is sighted, but they don’t have such powers.
“When government does not reach people, the next thing is lawlessness, that is what LG Autonomy seeks to address,” he argued.
According to him, in instances where the primary education and healthcare is not in the hands of the LGA, when there is an emergency, they can’t act.
“LG Chairmen have become praise singers, most don’t reside in their LGAs, but in state capitals, where the funds come from. This is part of what autonomy will address.
“In fact, if LG gets autonomy, 90 per cent of those struggling for positions at the state, will go back to the grassroots.
“You will see people with PhD struggling to be councilors, because the resources are there at the LGAs, because autonomy would have made it so,” he said.
According to him, “realizing that the councilor taking decision on your education, health and others, is your next door neighbour, it makes government accessible, a plus that LGA autonomy will being,”
Partnership To Engage, Reform and Learn (PERL) supported LGAM to facilitate the two-day engagement for the review of the strategic plan and work plan development for the Local Government Accountability Mechanism.
