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By Madu Obi
As the controversy over state governors' stronghold on the finances of the 774 local governments in the country continues, the national chairman of All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, Barr Sly Ezeokenwa had said that the National Assembly has no business interfering with the local government laws.
Speaking with journalists during a ceremony to mark his one year in office, Ezeokenwa said a situation where some Nigerians want the national assembly to be making laws and set the standard for the local government structure, is undesirable.
According to him, each state, through its House of Assembly, ought to make laws to govern the people through the local governments.
He said: "There is no doubt that local government is an important tier of government. If you read carefully the wordings of the constitution, you will see that the system of local government is properly spelt out and the APGA government in Anambra State is deeply committed to conducting the local government election.
It is important that we understand the perspectives of local government administration in Nigeria and APGA as a political party has been vocal in the necessity of local government administration in the country.
It is our belief that a local government structure should actually reflect the dictates and wishes of the people. For us in Anambra State, it is our belief that, just like the constitution says in Section 7, every state House of Assembly shall make laws to reflect the peculiarities of each state and make laws for the administration, finance and other necessary components of the system."
He added: "It is not ideal to say that the local government election should be conducted when we know that the local government structure we have across the country is a charade where the state governors have a stronghold on the system.
It is true that some states have conducted the local government election, but what is the impact in those states? It is nothing but the appendage of the state governments.
Local government election should not be the type where a governor stays somewhere and asks the state electoral commission to list names of members of the ruling political party as chairmen and councillors who do nothing after the election."
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