Niger Moves to Enthrone Democracy in LGAs

The Niger State Government has said in the next dispensation, only democratically elected people will administer local government areas in the state.

At the moment, the Directors of Personnel Management in the LGAs are charged with the responsibility of taking charge of the affairs of the local government areas at the expiration of the mandates of elected officials.

The decision to this effect was taken at the weekly state executive council meeting held at the council chambers in Minna last Wednesday.

The state Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Danmallam Nasara, who disclosed this yesterday, said henceforth, the conduct of local government election would be based on the new law already signed by the state Governor, Abubakar Sani Bello.

The new law, which effectively amended the 2001 local government law, would ensure the full democratisation of the local government administration in the state, the commissioner said.

"With the new law, only democratically elected officers with tenure will run the administration of the grassroots government in the state," Nasara said, adding that the "decision to democratise the administration at the local level is in tandem with the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria and Supreme Court judgement

"Henceforth, our local government shall be run by one democratically elected officials to another and there is no longer space for arrangement like caretakership, and this is in line with Section 7 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended."

The commissioner said the local government amendment law had generated a lot of public interest, and in keeping with his electoral promise, the state governor took a bold step in ensuring that all arms of government in the state are run in accordance with the constitution and in line with the best practices in developed democracy.

"The state Governor, Abubakar Sani Bello, has taken the bold step at ensuring that the local government is democratically structured with elected officials at the helms of affairs, hence the sponsorship of  an executive bill for the amendment to Nigeria State Local Government Laws of 2001," he stated.

Nasara assured the people of the state that the next local government election would be conducted in accordance with the new law.

The attorney general also disclosed that   the governor had signed into law two other bills which are "the Niger State Government 2019 Appropriation Law and the bill to provide for imposition and collection of tax on satellite devices on buildings.