The National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), Okitipupa Local Government Area chapter, Ondo State, on Wednesday staged a protest demanding for the autonomy of local governments in the state.
The workers converged on the Okitipupa Local Government Area Secretariat for the peaceful protest.
The workers sang solidarity songs and also carried placards with different inscriptions like, “LGA autonomy is the way forward for grassroots development”; “Release LGA from bondage, give us autonomy”.
“All we are saying, give us legislative and judicial autonomy”, among others.
NULGE Chairman, Mr Omoniyi Adesokan, while addressing the workers, said that the local government autonomy was a general issue which had been passed by the National Assembly but had yet to be effected.
He said that the financial ability of local government chairmen were not enough to push grassroots development.
Adesokan also said that the issue was a struggle of NULGE and would continue to be pushed until the mission was accomplished.
“This peaceful protest is being done nationally today. So, the LGA autonomy is a national struggle which we will continue to push until victory is ascertained.
“The LGA is the closest to the people at the grassroots and without financial, administrative autonomy, the grassroots will remain underdeveloped,” he said.
Adesokan explained that a letter concerning the issue was presented to Akitomide Akintomode and Ololade Gbegudu, House of Assembly members representing Okitipupa Constituency one and two respectively, for proper intervention at the assembly.
The Senate and House of Representatives on March 1, passed a bill to grant financial and administrative autonomy to local governments across the country.
In the bill, each local government council is to create and maintain its own special account to be called Local Government Allocation Account, into which all the allocations will be paid.
