NULGE: Local government administration should be empowered

Mallam Ibrahim Khaleel (middle), NULGE President

NULGE: Local government administration should be empowered
Helen ShokJok, Abuja

The Nigerian government has been urged to strengthen the local government administration to enable it perform its statutory functions.

The call was made in Abuja by the National President of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employee, NULGE, Mallam Ibrahim Khaleel.

Declaring open a National workshop on Labour and Financial managegemnt organised by the union in Abuja on Wednesday, Mallam Khaleel called for the amendment of the 1999 Constitution as it affects local government system.

The union started the agitation for the amendment of the constitution in 2001, when its members converged on Abuja to press for the review of defective clauses in the constitution.

No bargains

Meanwhile, NULGE has urged its members to insist on the implementation of the new 18,000 Naira (about 120 US dollars) minimum wage in their various local governments.

The union’s president Mallam Khaleel also called on all state governors, to as a matter of urgency, begin the implementation of the law and ordered its members not to settle for less in the negotiations with their state governments.

"The state leadership should not bargain for any remuneration for local government employees below what is officially agreed upon at each state, however, not below N18,000 across board . Let me use this forum to call on state governors who are still ganging up against harmless Nigerian workers to have a rethink", Khaleel said.

The national president also stressed the need for a review of the country's revenue sharing formula in an all encompassing manner:"I wish to state that our union NULGE supports the upward review of revenue from the federation account to the local governments but not before the conduit pipe (Joint Allocation Account Committee) through which the local governments are currently funded is expunged from the constitution." 

Local government funding

Khaleel also called for direct funding of local governments and the correction of all defects such as Section 7 in the constitution prior to the review of the sharing formula.

According to him, Sections 7 and 162 would allow for state governments to manipulate the local governments.

He commended President Goodluck Jonathan for his proposal on restructuring the local government system and called for the centralisation of payment of staff salaries and pensions.

Abu/Iheanacho