BEVERLY HILLS, April 15, (THEWILL) – A Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), Network Advancement Programme for Poverty and Disaster Risk Reduction (NAPPDRRl) says it has concluded plans to file a legal suit against the Akwa Ibom State Government for allegedly tampering with allocations to the Esit Eket Local Government Area.
In a petition addressed to the State Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Mr. Frank Archibong, the NGO wants the government to explain what it did with the Esit Eket Council’s allocation between June 2019 and March 2021.
President of NAPPDRRI, Al-Mustapher Emem Edoho, who made a copy of the petition available to journalists in Uyo on Wednesday, lamented that the state government had stalled development in the council area.
The petition said: ”The continuous tampering of the funds by the state government has robbed Esit Eket of the much needed funds for development, human capacity building, infrastructure upgrade, health care services, etc and we are determined to drag the state government to court for judicial review.
”The Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit in the Presidency had issued guidelines for the financial autonomy for the local government areas in the country but Governor Udom Emmanuel intimidated the council bosses to renounce the people’s oriented policy.”
He slammed state governors for rejecting the President’s Executive Order aimed at granting financial autonomy for local government councils, the judiciary and state legislatures.
”We state that NAPPDRRl condemns such action by the governors because it is anti-people, retrogressive and injurious to grassroots development,” Edoho stressed.
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