The National Union of Local Government Employees says a credible electoral process is critical to the successful implementation of the financial autonomy granted to local government councils in the country.
Anestina Iweh, President, NULGE, Akwa Ibom State chapter, stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria.
Iweh, who spoke on Thursday in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, said this in reaction to the Supreme Court judgement which granted financial autonomy to local government councils in Nigeria.
She said the autonomy would be almost baseless if the process of election into the third tier government remained fraught with corruption and irregularities.
The NULGE official described the supreme court judgement as long overdue, saying that Nigerians have clamoured for financial autonomy in the local government system for so long.
Iweh said: “They should have access to their funds so that we know who to hold responsible when things are not done rightly.
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“This has been the wish of the majority of Nigerians, not only local government workers.”
Iweh urged the people of the state to ensure that men and women of proven integrity were elected during the council elections in order to enjoy the dividends of financial autonomy.
She said: “The benefits of this development is to see council allocations being utilised to provide basic infrastructure in the local government areas
“It is not all about the workers salaries.
“It is about visible infrastructure such as culverts, roads, health centres, market stores, repairing of transformers among others.
“It is not all about directly accessing funds, it is important to have the right people as leaders in the local government councils.”
Iweh frowned at a situation where few people would sit down and choose leaders for the third tier of government.
She said: “The process should be free, fair and credible so that the people are allowed to make their choices.
“Everyone should be given the opportunity to test their popularity, that is when we will have the liberty to choose who we want.
“At the party level, there should be free and fair primaries to produce people of proven integrity to manage the local governments.”
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