The Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) has accused state governments of appropriating the functions of local government councils in the country.

The National President of the union, Ambali Akeem Oatunji, stated this in Abuja, describing land use agencies as ‘illegal’ and unknown to the law.

He argued that what is known to the law is tenement rate and not land use.

His words: “There is nothing like Land use in the law. What is known to the law is the tenement rate that has been in existence since the colonial days. The establishment of Land Use agencies by state government is unknown to the constitution. The collection of refuse and evacuation of refuse is a statutory function of local government.

“The collection of market tolls and charges is a local government fund. The collection of rates and taxes at motor parks belongs to the local government. The creation of a motor park board transport agency by the state government to superintend over the collection of revenue at motor parks is illegal. The local government is bleeding from many sources.”

He alleged that pilfering the allocation of local government councils by the state government is responsible for inactivity at the lowest level of government that has allowed insecurity to pervade most of Nigeria which has left rural communities vulnerable and occupied by bandits and criminals.

“These developments are affecting food security in Nigeria. That is why the poverty level is so high. We must know and appreciate the fact that it is the community gross domestic product (GDP) that becomes the national GDP. If there is no production at the community level, there cannot be production at the national level. Nigeria was doing well when there were economic activities at the lower level. Governors have rendered the local government council headquarters as salary payment centres.

“There is nothing that is happening at the local government council offices across the nation beyond the payment of salaries at the end of the month. Meanwhile, these offices are supposed to be where development plans are developed and hatched for sustainable economic growth to take place,” he said.

Ambali pointed out that the pitiable deplorable state of most roads in rural areas is partly responsible for the high cost of food items, saying: “Yes, we know that the high cost of diesel and petrol are contributing to the high cost of food, but the largest reason is the state of the roads in the rural areas. These rural areas produce food. When the roads are bad, the cost of transporting the items to the cities becomes very prohibitive. If the roads are good, food items will be able to get to the cities on time and cheaper.”

On the case instituted at the Supreme Court by the Federal Government on the administration of local councils in Nigeria, Ambali said NULGE stands with President Bola Tinubu on the matter.

The NULGE President also said the union is actively participating in the ongoing minimum wage negotiation.

“It is not correct to say that local government councils are not involved in the negotiation. I am on the committee and I am aware that the Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON) is also there although in observers’ capacity,” he stated.

He argued that local government councils are defaulting in salaries because their allocations have been hijacked by some state government, adding, “The matter is not that local governments are not paying salaries, the issue is that the allocations of local government have been hijacked. State governments now pay salaries through their political appointees. Political appointees have turned local government elected officials into glorified civil servants. Elected local government chairmen now stand akimbo behind Commissioners of Local Government Affairs.”

Ambali explained that the 1976 local government reform introduced professionalism into local councils where medical doctors headed the health department, qualified teachers headed the education department, and qualified engineers were heads of public works and roads maintenance department amongst other critical areas.

The NULGE chief advocated the scrapping of state electoral bodies, accusing them of being appendages of state governors, except for Kaduna state, under Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, that conducted “credible council polls where ruling the party lost key local governments to opposition parties”.