Only 10 states have voted on local government autonomy bill - NULGE
- The Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees has disclosed that the local government autonomy bill has been voted on by only 10 state Houses of Assembly
- The union’s president stated that out of this number, eight had voted in favour of the bill, two had voted against it
- He further disclosed that the remaining 26 state Houses of Assembly are still working on it, with many of them holding public hearings on the matter
The Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) has debunked allegations that the issue of local government autonomy had been rejected by various state Houses of Assembly, Vanguard reports.
The president of the association, Ibrahim Khaleel, stated that 26 Houses of Assembly were still considering the bill. He said it had already been considered by the remaining 10 which had passed it to the chairman of the conference of speakers of states houses of assembly, who would then pass it onto the National Assembly.
READ ALSO: MOSOP accuses FG of creating crisis in Ogoniland, calls for immediate resolution
Legit.ng gathers that Khaleel explained that 15 different bills had been sent by the National Assembly to the various Houses; and that the local government autonomy bill was one of them. He further disclosed that out of the 10 Houses that had considered the bill, eight of them - Kwara, Benue, Niger, Plateau, Bauchi, Cross River, Bayelsa and Ogun states – had voted for it; while the remaining two - Edo and Imo – voted against it.
Khaleel stated that the bill had not even been considered by the Rivers and Lagos states Houses of Assembly, while the remaining 24 said they had stepped the bill down for further consultation.
In his words: “So, 24 state Houses of Assembly are still working on it, many of them are already holding public hearing on it. That is what is going on. For example, Sokoto state just conducted public hearing on the bill between Tuesday and Thursday this week. Gombe has just called for memorandum from its citizens on Local Government Autonomy Bill.
“Others also differ it to hold public hearing and for further discussions before they vote and forward it to Chairman, Conference of Speakers.
“It is just that only eight so far have voted for it among 10 states who have fully considered it. It is possible that we will still get the remaining 16 states, out of the remaining states that have not voted on Local Government Autonomy Bill. We can see that it has not been rejected. So, we can’t say local government autonomy has been rejected. It is still a work in progress.”
PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigeria’s #1 news app
Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that Honourable Emeka Ihedioha, a former deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, expressed his anger towards members of the Imo state House of Assembly for their rejection of the proposed amendment bill which seeks financial autonomy for local governments.
The bill was forwarded to all the 36 state assemblies by the National Assembly for their agreement, and was supposed to be a part of the process of altering some identified clauses in the constitution.
He stated that the action of the lawmakers had shown that they were insensitive to the cries of the people who rely on the local governments for their survival.
Local government employees stage massive protest in Lagos - on Legit.ng TV:
Source: Legit.ng
