A don, Dr Ehiyame Osezua, has urged the 8th National Assembly to ensure the amendment of the constitutional provisions for Local Government in the country.
Osezua, the Head of Department, Department of Public Administration, University of Ilorin, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that constitutional reforms of local governance had dragged since 1999.
He added that local governments were not being treated as a tier of government by state governments.
“The prevalent political culture in the country since the Fourth Republic commenced in 1999 is that state governments hardly recognise that local government is meant to be autonomous.
“Clearly, it is as if local governance in Nigeria is under threat, because local governments are not in charge of their domains.
“And unfortunately, state governments claim that whatever they do has constitutional backing and to an extent, this is true.
“Therefore, there is need for this 8th National Assembly to bring sanity to our local government sector,’’ he said.
Osezua said that Nigeria’s advancement as a nation lays with putting effective local governments in place.(NAN)