By Matthew Denis
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) have charged the Kwara State Governor-elect, Alhaji Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq to prioritise local government autonomy, revitalisation of moribund industries, agriculture and civil servants’ welfare among others.
The leaders of these labour unions made the disclosure at the weekend while speaking with this medium in separate interviews.
The Chairman of NLC, Comrade Yekeen Abdulkareem Agunbiade said, “I want to advice the Governor-elect to hit the ground running immediately after his swearing-in.
“He should ensure that the local governments have autonomy so that their allocation will come directly to them and it will enable the chairmen to pay the salaries of their staff, clear pensioners’ gratuity and even execute projects in their domains so that the grassroots people can feel the impact of the government.
“The government should enhance agricultural activities in the state through purchasing of more tractors and other machineries for farmers. Also the government should provide access to soft loans and reintroduction of Kwara Agriculture Development Projects (ADP) across various councils.
The Chairman also tasked the incoming governor to revitalise moribund industries across the state.
He urged the incoming administration to patronise indigenous contractors in handling most of the contracts in the state and to also prioritise the welfare of civil servants.
Similarly, the President of NULGE, Comrade, Saliu Yusuf Ayinla said, ” part of our challenges at the third tiers of government that we want the incoming government to address is payment of salary to workers and other allowances which can be achieved through autonomy.
“A lot of local government activities have be drawn to the state level and awarded to consultancy. For instance, our salaries are being paid by consultant and the state government still supervises local government revenues. I believe without local government autonomy there is no magic that we can do to sustain the development of the LGs.
The NULGE boss equally called on the new government to take away the financial responsibility of Junior Secondary Schools from the funds accrueable to local governments in the state.
“Presently we are spending about N400 million to pay Junior Secondary Schools teachers from the local government coffers which should not be our responsibility,” he lamented.
