Imo NULGE Boss Carpets Council Chairmen

The President of NULGE in Imo, Chief Ambrose Onuoha, has said that councils in the state no longer execute development projects but only pay salaries.

Onuoha made the statement in Owerri last Monday, while briefing newsmen on the challenges facing local governments in the state.

He said the “local government system in Imo has been bastardised” and urged Governor Rochas Okorocha to rescue the local governments from total collapse as a first step in the spirit of his “Rescue Mission’’.

Onuoha decried the removal of Directors of Administration and General Services (DAGS) at the local government level and the “imposition” of DAGS from the state ministries on the councils.

He said that the imposition, which started about three years ago by the last administration, had killed career prospects and the workers’ morale at the council level.

“The union is asking the government to return to the original DASS and to allow the operators of the local government to administer the councils,” he said.

Onuoha expressed regret that councils no longer discharged their primary responsibility of transforming the rural areas, adding that “politicians have rendered the local governments ineffective.”

He attributed the ineffectiveness of the local government system to the involvement of politicians and poor funding.

“Government has not been funding the local governments,” he said, adding that “extra budgetary spending of council funds should be discouraged.”

The president said that the bulk of council funds was being spent on political office holders and their retinue of aides.

“For instance, the monthly salary of civil servants is about N17 million, while that of the politicians is about N25 million.

“How many laws are made by the councilors to necessitate the amount they are collecting?,” he asked.

Onuoha denied the allegation of the predominance of ghost workers at the local governments and explained that biometric data capture conducted by the last administration showed that there were no ghost workers in the state.

He said that there were only 7,500 council workers in the state and stressed: “You cannot find ghost workers in Imo.”

Onuoha, who admitted that the councils could be “over-staffed,” explained that 370 workers out of the 10,000 recruited during the last days of the . Ikedi Ohakim administration were “unilaterally posted” to the local governments.

Onuoha said that the union would comply with the NLC directive for a nationwide strike over the payment of N18,00 minimum wage, in spite of the governor’s promise that the state would pay.

The governor had insisted  that there was a large number of ghost workers at the councils.