BY INALEGWU SHAIBU

ABUJA—The bill to grant financial autonomy to local governments in the country passed its second reading in the Senate, Wednesday.

Sponsor of the bill, Senator Nurudeen Abatemi-Usman, while leading debate, lamented what he described as lack of financial autonomy at the councils, adding that the situation was stalling development at the third tier of government.

Abatemi-Usman also blamed corruption as the bane of underdevelopment at the local governments, adding that the critical roles of the councils had been weakened because of corruption by state governments.

He said the process for disbursement of the statutory allocations from the Federation Account, to the respective beneficiary local councils were more often abused.

Senate President, David Mark, who ruled on the bill, expressed concern over proliferation of caretaker governments at the local councils.

Mark urged governments to stop allocating money to caretaker committees, noting that the constitution recognised only democratically- elected council chairmen.

“The issue of local governments had become worrisome, given that 90 per cent of the governments at the councils across the country are caretaker governments.

“We cannot allocate money to a caretaker committee. The Constitution recognizes a democratically elected government at the local levels. This caretaker arrangement is not right, but it is the constitution that tied our hands,” he said.