October 12, (THEWILL) – Governor Hyacinth Alia has directed the Bureau for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs to restore with immediate effect, some of the statutory obligations meant for the local government Councils in the state.
The move is part of the steps towards reforming the Local Government system, giving the third tier of government in the state a new lease of life.
The Governor, who gave the directive during a meeting with traditional rulers, which was held at the banquet hall of the Government House, Makurdi, on Tuesday, said the state government was entrusting the security of communities into the hands of the traditional rulers.
Briefing newsmen on the outcome of the meeting with the traditional rulers, the Special Adviser, Bureau for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Dr Dennis Akura, said the Governor also directed that all monies allocated for imprest and other running costs be released directly to the administrators at the local government levels.
The Special Adviser also disclosed that as part of plans to give the L Government system a new lease of life, the DGSAs, who are currently the Acting Chairmen of the LGAs, are to come up with a needs assessment to address issues that need urgent attention at that level of government.
Such needs assessment, according to Dr Akura, is to address issues such as office maintenance, as well as fixing of drainages and culverts at the different local government areas.
“I resumed duty just a few days back and in our first JAC (Joint Account) meeting, we introduced certain reforms that were not implemented in the last administrations.
“We directed DGSAs who are the Acting Chairmen of our various local government councils to revert to the old methods, old policies, old ways of paying and the required imprest and other administrative running costs to the staff of LGAs, the HODs, the DCSAs and all other relevant staff to have what is required for them so as to hold them accountable for their actions.”
According to him, under the new system, HODs are going to collect their correct imprest, not the one that was being paid by past administrations and that will boost their morale so that we will get the best out of them.
“We were able to release some money for administrative running costs so that some other things that are very necessary for the smooth running of the government can be done at that level.”
The Special Adviser explained that payment of salaries on the 25th of every month is among the reforms that the Alia administration has introduced in the local government areas, expressing confidence that things would change for the better under the new regime.
On the security of the state and the outcome of the security meeting between the governor and the traditional rulers, Dr Akura explained that the governor charged traditional rulers to up their ante by ensuring that the security situation in their various domains improves, urging them to also serve as promoters of policies and programmes of the state government.
The governor had equally charged the traditional rulers to always be in their domain for their subjects, instead of going around, a situation he said may demean their status before them.
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