The Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) has expressed commitment to ensure that the judgement of the Supreme Court on Local Government administration in Nigeria yields positive fruits for citizens, especially those at the grassroots.
ALGON National President, Hon Aminu Muazu Maifafa said the association would work with all relevant stakeholders to develop strategies to enhance the implementation of the judgement.
Maifafa spoke at a One-Day meeting organised by ALGON with support from Partnership to Engage, Reform and Learn (PERL), a UK, Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO) programme.
The meeting was attended by ALGON state chairmen across the country, members of Civil Society Groups and other stakeholders including the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) and Local Government Health workers.
Maifafa said all ALGON members are determined to ensure that the judgement aids good governance and enhances service delivery to people at the Local Government level across the state.
According to him, “We have the seal and the passion to ensure the success of this autonomy for local government so that our people at the local government level can be proud of us and that the efforts of all stakeholders towards this local government autonomy would not go in vain.”
The Team Leader of the Partnership to Engage, Reform and Learn (PERL), Engage Citizens, Dr. John Mutu said Nigerians would benefit when there is good governance at the local government level.
He said, “With ALGON and other stakeholders, it’s for us to reflect together on the judgement, the implications on the local government and to collectively identify challenges that may limit the implementation of the judgement and to collectively agree on strategies to ensure that the judgement is not just well implemented but that serves are delivered to the citizens.”
“And a lot of issues have emerged from the conversation from NULGE, the local government workers, the NUT, as regards to primary and basic education on what they see as challenges and recommendations have been made on what to do through constitution amendment process and through administrative processes.
If carefully done, we believe that the local government will be able to complement the efforts of the state and federal government to deliver services to the people that they are meant to serve”, Mutu said.
The FCDO Senior Governance Adviser, Chris Okeke harped on the need to ensure that local government funds are utilised judiciously to deliver services to the people at the grassroots.
[TheNation]