Councillors Demand Financial Autonomy For LGs

Lack of financial autonomy seems to have been hindering the smooth running of councils legislative houses in the eight local government areas of Bayelsa State.
Towards this end, the operators of the legislative arms of local government councils comprising the clerks,and councillors  are demanding fiscal autonomy and regular credible elections to address the issues.
They lamented that the situation was impeding the drive for speedy grassroots development by local government councils and need to be tackled immediately.
This was contained in an eight-point communiqué issued at the end of three-day training workshop on leadership, legislative process and transparency laws of Bayelsa State for elected councillors and clerks in the state’s council legislative assemblies.
Jointly organized by Bayelsa Non-Governmental Organisations Forum (BANGOF) and the Bayelsa State Government, the workshop which held at Omoku in Rivers State provided a platform for the 105 elected councillors and the eight clerks to interact and critically examine the legislative processes, oversight functions and challenges.
Participants were drawn from Brass, Ekeremor, Kolokuma/Opokuma, Nembe, Ogbia, Sagbama, Southern Ijaw and Yenagoa local government areas.
“The local government remains the most effective approach to bringing about grassroots development as the closest tier of government to the people”, they observed.
They added: “The Federal Government of Nigeria should take the appropriate steps through constitutional amendment to reform local government administration to enable it deliver grassroots development.
“The reform of local government should take into consideration key issues of regular elections, unified tenure of office across the country and fiscal autonomy as drivers of grassroots development”.