Don Prescribes Partial Autonomy For LGs

The Dean Faculty of Social Sciences, Enugu State University of Science and Technology, (ESUT), Professor Sam Ugwu, has recommended partial autonomy for local government council areas in Nigeria.
Ugwu, made the proposal in his 25th Inaugural lecture at ESUT  in Enugu at the weekend.
The suggestion came same day that the South East Caucus of Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees, NULGE, protested in Enugu, demanding that political autonomy be granted to all the 774 council areas in Nigeria.
Prof. Ugwu explained that his proposal for local government partial autonomy is anchored on lack of councils’ financial autonomy, noting that without federation allocations, most local government areas would have ceased to exist.
The Professor of Political Science and former Chairman of Isi-Uzo local government council in Enugu state, South- East Nigeria, had in the inaugural lecture stated that granting a good measure of fisical autonomy to local governments will enable them to be able to carry out effectively, the task of rural development.
Dwelling on the lecture topic, “Local Government Autonomy in Nigeria: Issues and Constraints,” the university Don, recommended that LGs should have direct and unfettered access to statutory allocations from the federation account and their share of the Internally Generated Revenues, IGR, from their states.
He also recommended that Joint Account Committee, JAC, should be made up of local government chairmen only with strict oversight functions by the audit and inspectorate units established by the constitution for local governments.
Hear him:”Local governments are merely administrative units and centres for development. In other words, the issue of whether local government should be autonomous should rather be located within the context of local governments’ relationships with state.
“It would be fatal to local governments if they have autonomy without meriting it. What the local government needs are devolution of powers and relative autonomy.
“This can be addressed through constitutional amendments as in progress in the National Assembly,” Ugwu posited.