Regina Otokpa 
The President, National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), Ambali Olatunji has said following the judgement of the Supreme Court on Local Government’s financial autonomy, over 50 per cent of Nigeria’s problems have been solved.
Olatunji who commended President Bola Tinubu, Accountant General of the Federation and the Justices of the Supreme Court who delivered the judgement on Thursday in Abuja for offering what was described as courageous leadership noted that NULGE would partner with anti-graft agencies to track and ensure judicious use of local government funds.
He said: “We want to return all glory to God almighty. We commend Mr President. He offered courageous leadership in ensuring that this is achieved.
“We have always maintained that if you don’t fix the Local government system, you can’t fix Nigeria. We also thank the AGF who went through the whole legal process and also the justices who delivered this landmark judgment on behalf of the Nigerian people.
“We believe the Nigerian masses will be better for it. LG autonomy will reduce the problem of Nigerians by at least 50 per cent. It will reduce the infrastructural gap, and improve community security, and food security. LG will return us back to the good years of functional and well-run primary education systems and health centres.
“Security will improve. They will be able to recruit and train and train local security operatives to carry out intelligence gathering to fight crimes. Vocational skills for women and youths will become the order of the day.”
The NULGE President urged State Governors to honour the Supreme Court judgement saying, “To our governors, since the Supreme Court is the apex court in the land, we trust them (governors) that they are law-abiding. We appeal to the governors to see the judgment as a necessity towards national growth and development.
“We also want to warn the political class that the local level. We don’t expect to see looting of resources at that level. There must be transparency and accountability at the local government level.
“NULGE will partner with all anti-corruption agencies to track local government funds to ensure it is judiciously used for the good of the Nigerian people.”
