The National Assembly was moving to give the Supreme Court judgment granting financial autonomy to all the 774 local councils in the country ruling a strong legal backing.
Rep. Eugene Dibiagwu, representing Ohaji-Egbema/Oguta/Oru West Federal Constituency of Imo disclosed this while on the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Personality Interview Series on Sunday in Abuja.
“What we are doing is to give that decision of the court a bite. This is so that nobody will now say he or she does not know about it.
“By the time we pass it into law, there will be no excuses by any government or agency for infringing on the rights of local governments,” he stated.
DHe accused state governors of ‘kidnapping’ the local government administration in Nigeria
Dibiagwu said the situation had resulted in lack of efficiency in the operations of the local governments.
“For a very long time, the local government system has been kidnapped by the governors to the extent that they have not been able to function optimally,” he said.
The lawmaker, who chairs the House Committee on Regional Development Commissions and Amnesty Programme, said that the National Assembly was taking all necessary steps to ensure full local government autonomy in the country.
Highlighting some of the bills he had sponsored in the Green Chamber, Dibiagwu said one of the most significant was the bill on local government autonomy.
“I have done some bills and motions, and some of them are already in the process. Let me just mention one: the local government administration autonomy bill.
“The independence of the local government administration is crucial.
“My bill, which has passed the second reading and which I am expecting that within a short time it will pass the third reading, is to guarantee full autonomy to the local government system in the country.
“It seeks to make the local governments fully autonomous, with their allocations coming directly to them from the Federal Government for effective administration,” he said.
