National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), Edo chapter, has commended the leadership and members of the state House of Assembly for the passage of Local Government Autonomy Bill.
NULGE’s commendation is contained in a statement jointly signed by the State President, Adorolo Lazarus, and the Secretary, Olumuyiwa Cole, and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), on Tuesday in Benin.
The union said that the step taken by the assembly on the quick consideration and passage of the bill was highly commendable.
NAN reports that the assembly had, on Monday, passed the bill, initiated by the National Assembly for the consideration of the 36 state houses of assembly.
NAN also reports that the lawmakers dissected each altered bill one after the other before arriving at a unanimous decision to pass the amendment bill.
The Speaker, Mr Marcus Onobun, thereafter, requested that clean copies of the resolution be sent to relevant agencies.
NULGE said that with the passage of the bill, the leadership and members of the assembly had lived up to people’s rating of their legislative duties.
“The assembly has written its name in gold, as the current and future generations of workers and people at the third tier of government will be benefiting from the dividends of democracy which the passage of the bill will bring,” it said.
The union called on other state houses of assembly that had yet to pass the bill to borrow a leaf from their Edo counterparts and do the needful for the sake of posterity.
It expressed appreciation traditional rulers in the state, particularly the Akoko Edo Traditional Council, chaired by Otaru of Igarra Kingdom, Oba Emmanuel Adeche, and the Onojie of Uromi for their support and intervention during the struggle.
The union also commended the media for “being a dependable ally” in the struggle for local government autonomy.
It acknowledged what it called the progressive and preserving efforts of NULGE members, saying that its consistent agitation had yielded result.
NAN recalls that the assembly had, in 2012 and 2018, voted against local government autonomy. (NAN)
