January 17, (THEWILL) – The Chairman of the Cross River State Traditional Rulers Council, Etinyin Etim Okon Edet, has said the joint account system is the problem of local government administration in Nigeria.
Etinyin Edet disclosed this in Calabar while reflecting on the parlous state of local government administration and the rising level of insecurity in the country.
He also disclosed that the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) killed local government administration in the country.
“Whatever made the military introduce the joint account, it’s the problem of local government in Nigeria.
“The moment they give autonomy to the local government, it will spring forth. Local government was to be like a training ground for future political leaders, you move from there and become governor, go to the Senate and the House of Representatives.
“The PDP killed the local government system in Nigeria in 1999, particularly in Cross River State, the governor did not even want it to exist,” he said.
He said the local government administration in the country should be allowed to work so that at that level, we can produce the calibre of people we want in future.
On insecurity, Etinyin Edet, who is also the Paramount Ruler of Bakassi, said the key to addressing it is in the hands of traditional rulers.
He said security votes are not getting to where it’s supposed to be and advocated that they should get to the traditional rulers in view of their position within the community.
“There’s no traditional ruler that will tell you he does not know a bad person in his community, we know everybody in the community.
“But today, it’s difficult for that man to tell security agencies that that man is a thief because they will go and tell the people and the return will be on you. That was how my village head was killed in Bakassi.
“And again, the security votes are not in the hands of these people, they are in the hands of the new breed, but when anything happens the first person the chairman will call is the traditional ruler and they have every information, so why is the security vote not getting to where it’s supposed to be.
“Insecurity will abate in this country if we put back local government to its effective use, even minimal use.
“As we are now, the local government system is erased from my memory. All over Nigeria nobody is thinking about his locality, everybody is thinking about the state, they only go there during the election and guess what they will still win because the people’s vote doesn’t count,” he said.
He said it behoves the federal and state governments to open up the local government system and allow it to run as expected.
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THEWILL Correspondent, Aniekan Bassey has over six years experience that spans across several fields in print journalism including development communication, sexual reproductive and health rights issues, crime, climate change, social justice, business and human interest stories.
