Asaba  – Gov. Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta on Thursday called for the dissolution of the  Joint Accounts Allocation Committees (JAAC) between states and local governments.

The governor made the call while being conferred with the award of the  Grand Patron of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employee (NULGE) by the national body,

He received the award  during the  second NULGE Day Celebration and Award  ceremony in Asaba  .

The governor promised to fight to  ensure that the local governments received their allocations directly.

According to Uduaghan, the operation of JAAC has not been fair to the councils, which, by their peculiar positioning , have been saddled with the primary responsibility of developing the country.

He said that it was unfortunate  that the third tier of the government, which would easily developed rural communities being the government at the grassroots, had suffered great setbacks due to inadequate funding.

“I believe very strongly that the local councils deserve to get more funding to enable them address the numerous challenges they are being faced with today.

“If the local council is developed … the entire state will be developed.

“Having chaired the JAAC meeting several times, I believe that it should be dissolved and the local councils should  get their funds directly,’’ he said.

Uduaghanalso called for increased funding of the councils to enable them to  pay primary school teachers’ salaries.

“It is unfortunate that half of the councils’ resources go into payment of primary school teacher’s salaries.

“If the Federal Government will not increase the allocations to the councils, it should provide alternative means to pay the teachers.’’

The governor, while  commending NULGEfor the award,  said he was dedicating  it to  his mother as an honour to the state government and the people of Delta.

In his address, the NULGE National President, Alhaji Ibrahim Khaleel, said the award  was in recognition of the governor’s contributions to the development of local governments.

“Uduaghanis identified as one of the few state governors that have impacted very positively on the local government system.

“The union specifically found his Excellency worthy of NULGE’s award for the payment of substantial primary school teachers’ salary and non-interference with statutory allocation of local governments, full implementation of the relative salary scale for workers, implementation of minimum wage and various welfare packages for local government workers,’’ Khaleel said.

In his remarks , Mr David Ofoeyeno, President, NULGE State Chapter, lauded the governor for supporting the councils with N600 million to augment the payment of primary schools teachers’ salaries, among other assistance given.

According to Ofoeyeno, the councils would fare better if the state takes over the burden of  primary school teachers’ salaries.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the celebrations climaxed with  raffle draws with the winner of the first prize going home with a brand new Toyota Camry. (NAN)