Stakeholders Want Devolution Of Powers To Communities

As debate for the restructuring of Nigeria rages on across the country, some stakeholders in Port Harcourt have advocated  the devolution of powers to communities across the country.
This was the outcome of a stakeholders forum organised by People’s Life Improvement foundation, a non-governmental organisation in Port Harcourt.
The summit themed “Community Development and Economic Development in Times of Recession in a Democratic Setting” said that devolving more powers to communities would reduce agitations and check the high level of poverty in the country.
The forum also said that the situation would engender competition among communities in terms of development in the country.
In his presentation, Chief Kingsley Nwuche Alemu, said that time had come for the authorities to devise a different approach to address the rising level of poverty and agitations in the country.
Alemu observed that if communities were made the centre piece of administrations in Nigeria, poverty, agitations as well as the high rate of rural urban migration would be checked.
According to him, devolution of powers to the communities is in line with the spirit of democracy, stressing that community system of governance is the surest way to conquer poverty and engender development.
Also speaking, the president of the foundation, Chief Precious Elekima said that restructuring of the country must start from the communities.
According to him the absence of community government has retarded progress in Nigeria, arguing that in the most developed countries it is communities that define their mode of development.
He said that the development of alternative sources of energy by some countries had made it imperative for governments across the country to allocate funds to communities for development.