SAN FRANCISCO, November 02, (THEWILL) – THE House of Representatives has renewed efforts to stop the operation of joint account between states and local government areas which is currently in the Nigerian Constitution.
The House also have started the process of ensuring local government autonomy which the State Houses of Assembly voted against during the 7th Assembly.
The renewed efforts to strengthen the local government autonomy was made known during the debate on the bill by Nkiruka Onyejeocha, which seeks to amend Section 162 of the 1999 Constitution and ensure financial autonomy of Local Government Councils.
Leading the debate on the matter, Onyejeocha explained that the proposed amendment, when passed into law, will foster the autonomy, transparency and accountability of local government administration in the country.
She decried the state of deprivation and under-development of Local Government Councils across the country, noting that the purpose of the bill was to make the councils in the country to have financial autonomy through which all funds from the Federation Account shall be paid directly.
“The practices of true federalism is lacking in Nigeria, especially at the local government level,” She said.
“Some state governments deprive their local governments of principal source of their revenues. Unless more stable internal source of revenue are exploited, and state-local government joint account abolished, the objective of strengthening local governments in terms of its relationship with state and federal governments will remain a mirage.
“The disbursement of the fund shall be effected through a Bye-law passed by the Local Government Legislative Council because with this joint account in place, many state governments starve local governments of funds, especially funds accruing from the federation account.”
While ruling on the debate, the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara who presided over the plenary referred the bill to the Special Adhoc Committee on Constitution Review, chaired by Deputy Speaker Yussuff Lasun, for further legislative action.
Story by Oputah David
