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Kogi Assembly: NUT Petition Delays Passage of LG Autonomy Bill
By adminJan 31, 2018, 00:00 am
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Kogi State House of Assembly on Wednesday passed the #NotTooYoungToRun and State Assembly autonomy bills.
The House, which met to consider the Alteration Bill forwarded to it by the National Assembly, however, referred the Local Government Autonomy bill to the House Committee on local government for public hearing because of a petition by the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT).
The teachers, Kogireports gathered, demanded that funding of primary education must remain the responsibility of the federal or state government through first line charge.
NUT is opposed to the issue of autonomy for local government councils without separating primary school teachers’ salaries. This, they believe, is the only way to save the basic and primary education from imminent collapse.
Primary school teachers are being owed salaries in most states supposedly due to the inability of the councils to provide the funds needed for payment of the salaries and the Union believe this has created a situation of discouragement and hopelessness which portends danger for public primary education and the future of the mass under-privileged children in the state.
Kogi Assembly, while deliberating on the proposed amendments of the constitution, step down section 162 and subjected it to house committee on local government for public hearing.
According to the Special Assistant to Kogi Assembly Speaker on New Media, Abel Julius, 11 out of 15 Constitution Amendment Bills was passed by Kogi lawmakers.
Commenting on the local government autonomy bill impasse, the executive director of Youth Emancipation for the Society, Comrade Umar Dan’Assabe Muhammed stated that NUT’s petition is as a result of lack of information.
“The local government autonomy bill is one of the controversial bills amongst the Constitution alteration bills and this is because of what teachers suffered in the past when they were still with the local government. However, I want to believe that NUT’s petition currently is as a result of lack of information as regarding their position in the alteration.
“The House of Assembly has taken the right decision by committing it to the committee of the house. Public hearing will help clarify the lacuna as regard their position in the local government.
“This argument of the NUT is the same in all states where we tracked the alteration bills. I believe with proper awareness they will be better informed,” he said.
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