Stakeholders in Enugu State, cutting across political,organised labour unions,civil society groups, among others rose penultimate Saturday in defence of government’s resolve to set up Caretaker Committees to run the affairs of  the 17 Local Government Areas in the state.

By Francis Igata

Ugwuanyi

Having fought in numerous political front lines and  garnered experiences during his 12 years representation of the Udenu/Igbo-Eze North Federal Constituency at the National Assembly, Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, on assumption of office, ordered a biometric  audit of the council areas to weed out bloated staff strength and save money for capital projects.

Again,the governor’s perusal of the vote earmarked for council polls in the 2015 appropriation showed that it was grossly inadequate. These prompted a meeting at the Old Government Lodge where Ugwuanyi presented the government’s predicament before stakeholders from  across the 260 wards in the state.

Said the governor at the meeting: “I have summoned this meeting to reason with you all, on some very critical issues affecting the third tier of government,the Local Governments. As you know, the tenure of the current Councils will expire on the 4th of January, 2016. However two major reasons have prevented us from initiating the processes for the election of new officials for the Councils. The first is the on-going local government staff audit and others reforms. Recall that the State Caucus had in its last meeting at the Banquet Hall, Government House, Enugu, agreed that all activities towards the local government elections  be put on hold to enable the Committee handling the exercise, conclude its assignment. It, indeed, appears to be a widely shared view among our people, that it will be unwise and imprudent to conduct election for new Councils when this very important exercise has not been concluded.

“The second problem is that of low funding for the exercise. The exercise, as matter of fact, is not properly provided for in the current budget. The little appropriated for it is grossly and manifestly inadequate. We therefore expect to address this deficiency in the 2016 budget. We are, therefore, asking for your mandate to decide on the next and appropriate line of action that we must take in view of the issues we have raised.”

Stakeholders approval

After listening with  rapped attention as the governor enumerated the achievements of his administration in the last six months, Deputy Senate President,Ike Ekweremadu, Enugu-West Senatorial District; Prof. Barth Nnaji, Enugu-East; and Chief Nnia Nwodo, Enugu-North; led other stakeholders from the three senatorial zones of the state to approve the setting up of Caretaker Committees  at the expiration of the tenure of current council chairmen in Enugu State on January 4,2016.

APGA’s endorsement

The All Progressives Grand Alliance,APGA,Enugu State Chapter,threw its weight behind the move.

The immediate past Chairman of APGA,Enugu State Chapter,Mr. Okechukwu Nkolagu, explained: “APGA adopted Governor Ugwuanyi as its governorship candidate in the last general election. That is why we are in full support of the setting up of the caretaker committees.

“The governor has consulted with us on why the local government polls will not be able to hold for now, saying it is  as a result of poor funds earmarked for it in the current budget. We see reason with him and appeal to the public to be calm having gotten assurance from the governor that the issue of funds will be dealt with in the 2016 budget to enable elections hold.”

The state chapter of IPAC, in a statement in Enugu by its Chairman and Secretary, Afam Ani and Osita Agu, respectively, called on the State Independent Electoral Commission,ENSIEC, not to conduct the Local Government elections pending the conclusion  of the 11-man Committee on Local Government Staff Audit  constituted by the state government.

The political parties based their stance on the fact that, “the conduct of the Local Government Elections and the constitution of a new local government administration in the state, when the Committee on the Local Government Staff Audit has not concluded its assignment, will be counter-productive to the progress of the local government system, more so when the nation’s economy is currently in a very bad shape.”

They believed  that no credible local government elections can be conducted in such a confused atmosphere as obtains today in our local government councils”.

While reaffirming their commitment to a democratic process that would usher in a new Local Government Administration in Enugu State and guarantee an effective and efficient Local Government system devoid of corrupt practices or irregularities, IPAC commended, “the brave initiative and timely intervention of the present administration in Enugu State in instituting far reaching reforms in the Local Government system, through the constitution of an 11-man Committee on Local Government Staff Audit”.

They expressed their desire to see a reformed Local Government Administration in Enugu State that will place the third tier of government in its rightful position as the bedrock of participatory democracy for the people at the grassroots to reap the full benefits of governance.

Mindful of this pivotal role of local government administration, the political parties noted that, “local government councils are meant to bring government closer to the people for the purpose of transforming their lives” stressing that, “it is therefore imperative that the Councils must be put in the proper position to discharge this very crucial responsibility effectively.”

According to them, “we strongly believe that the exercise will help to check the ghost workers syndrome that has been eating deep into the finances of our Local Government Councils, where faceless individuals are used to siphon funds of the Local Governments. It will also help in ascertaining the actual number of retirees who are now pensioners and who have not been receiving their entitlements for a long time.

“We therefore, state categorically that the ongoing Local Government verification exercise must be concluded before the conduct of the Local Government Elections in Enugu State. Consequently, we call on ENSIEC to take note of our stance on the matter and act accordingly in the overall interest of the State.”

Organised labour

Workers in Enugu State, under the auspices of the Nigeria Labour Congress,NLC, Trade Union Congress,TUC, and Joint Public Service Negotiating Council, JPSNC, urged government to go ahead with the biometric staff audit to ensure that council administrations in the state perform optimally and add value to the people.

The workers made their decision known in a statement jointly signed by the Enugu State Chairman of the NLC, Comrade Viginues Nwobodo Chuks and Chairman of the TUC/ JPSNC, Comrade Igbokwe Chukwuma Igbokwe.

The workers commended Ugwuanyi for the “decision to appoint Caretaker Committees for the local government areas in Enugu State pending the conclusion of the on-going staff audit”.

They pointed out that the local government system in the state has “failed woefully in service delivery and provision of dividends of democracy to the grassroots”, adding that the labour unions  support any policy of the government aimed at cleansing the rot in the system before constituting a new local government administration in the state.

The workers urged the governor not to compromise merit in the appointment of the caretaker committee members and charged him to remain resolute in his efforts to, “recover any public fund misappropriated by any public officer in the local government system”.

“The Organized Labour in Enugu State pledges to support any policy by the present administration to clean the rot in the system and to provide good governance, sustainable development, economic growth, and healthcare delivery to the good people of the state as encapsulated in the four-point agenda”.