Kogi Assembly May Vote against Local Government Autonomy

Yekini Jimoh in Lokoja

Kogi State House of Assembly may reject the local government councils’ autonomy proposed by the National Assembly in the ongoing constitutional amendment.

The assembly committee which was chaired yesterday by the Speaker, Rt Hon. Mathew Kolawole, however subjected the section 162 of the constitution to the assembly Committee on Local Government for public hearing even as it adopted the alteration of its financial autonomy as contained in sections 121 “3” (a,b,) of the 1999 constitution as (amended).

Presenting the bill for debate, the assembly Majority Leader, Hon. Hassan Bello Abdullahi, representing Ajaokuta state constituency, informed the members that they should vote for or against the 15 items slated for alteration in the constitution even as he informed them of the pending petition against the local government councils autonomy by the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) Kogi State chapter.

The assembly unanimously adopted 12 sections listed for approval while they voted against altering section 82( a and b) 122( a and b) which seek to prune down from six to three months in which expenditures shall be made from the previous budget before the passage of the new budget and section 7( a and b) 318 part 1 of the fifth schedule ) to strength the local administration was also stepped down even as the independent candidacy was thrown out.

The assembly also passed 21 Local Government Councils’ Appropriation bill for 2018 and adjourned till February 27, 2018.

Reacting to the development, the Chairman of the state chapter of Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees ( NULGE), Adeyemi Tade, promised to mobilised his members and lovers of democracy across the state for the public hearing on the amendment, adding that he is confident that the members who are lawmakers would do the needful by respecting the will of the people.