Mr. Abubakar Ahmed, a delegate at the national conference, yesterday advocated empowerment of local government councils to tackle problems of insecurity and unemployment in the country.
Ahmed, representing the Forum of Former Local Government Chairmen in North Central, made the call yesterday in Abuja.
He said if the local government system was strengthened and democratic enough, all minor agitations and problems in the country would be solved.
“The local government system is a very vibrant tier of government that we need to develop and encourage. All these unemployment and security challenges that we are facing is because the local government system is not strengthened. By the time we have a stronger and strengthened system, all these issues will reduce. All the agitation that people are being marginalised or neglected is because the local government system is not functioning very well. If the local government is functioning very well in terms of providing basic amenities, eradication of poverty and improved education system, nobody will care about the state or Federal Government,’’ he said.
Ahmed said that the forum of local government chairmen, in addition to participating in other discussions, would be using the national conference to canvas support for the autonomy and democracy at local government level.
He said that the forum would also be calling for the amendment of revenue allocation formula to empower local governments to improve the basic amenities in rural areas.
“We will make sure that the local government is strengthened to improve the wellbeing of Nigerians. You know that about 80 per cent of Nigerians reside in the rural areas. If they have access to basic amenities in the rural areas, it will decrease the rural-urban migration and unemployment.’’
Ahmed, however, advised all delegates to the conference to contribute their quota toward resolving the development needs and unity of the county.
“We should all realise that there are high expectations from Nigerians on this conference because we have conferences in the past without concrete results. The only way we can meet up to these expectations is to allow the conference of this nature with divergent views to produce implementable recommendations.
‘’Although it is not an easy task, I believe that within three months of sitting, positive things will happen,’’ Ahmed said.
(NAN)
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