House Commits To Granting Autonomy To LGAs

The House of Representatives has reiterated its commitment to granting more autonomy to local governments in Nigeria.

Deputy Speaker of the House and chairman of the Committee on Constitution Review, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Kalu made the remarks in Abuja during a courtesy call on him by the Abiriba Communal Improvement Union (ACIU) Worldwide led by its President-General, Yuccee Otah Uwah.

He exampled that the Constitution Review process aims to devolve powers to local government, promote grassroots development and accountability.

The Deputy Speaker emphasized that communities must organize and prioritize their needs to enable governments to respond accordingly.

Regarding the proposal made by the delegation for a new local government area to be carved out of Ohafia, the Deputy Speaker urged the Abiriba community to follow the established constitutional process, emphasizing that adherence to due process would ensure fair consideration of their request.

“The issue of Local Government creation, some of them here are members of the Constitution Review Committee, which I’m charing.

“There is a process. If you have submitted your documents within the timeline that we gave, it would be considered. If you didn’t, it may not be considered. So, I will ask the Clerk if it was submitted within that period, so we’ll know how to look at the Local Government creation”, he said.

Earlier in his presentation, the President-General, Hon. Uwah solicited Kalu’s support to enable the community to get Abiriba local government area amongst other needs.
He also appealed for the support of the South East Development Commission (SEDC), towards the provision of infrastructure including roads, schools, hospitals and setting-up of agricultural processing facilities in Abiriba to improve the economic well-being of the people.

“We are requesting the intervention of the National Assembly to resolve an over-10-years old dispute, resulting in disconnection of Abiriba and environs from the National Grid by Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC). For over 10 years, EEDC had cut-off electricity supply to Abiriba, Ohafia and Nkporo communities of Ohafia local government area. Our communities are disconnected from access to electricity power supply, leaving them to source for power from generating sets. The impact on the environment, attendant financial cost and psychological trauma on our people remains unimaginable, “Uwah said.

PR Oduyemi Odumade