THISDAYonline

National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) have said that they will make the 774 local government councils in the 36 states of the federation uninhabitable for legislators over the proposed bill to scrap the third tier of government.

This threat was made known at the joint meeting between local government directors of personnel/treasurers and members of the National Executive Council in Abuja yesterday.

The general secretary of NULGE, Alhaji Abdulkadir Abdulsalami, while thanking the members for turning out in large numbers, said the Speakers of the 36 States of the federation have become dishonourable men for wanting to scrap the only tier of government that is nearest the people.

"Any State House of Assembly that is yet to pass a motion that the local government system should remain, we will make where they reside and their constituencies uninhabitable until they pass that motion.

"And for those governors that are openly dancing to the tune of their master, we will teach them how to govern well. This is a collective fight and let no body think we are going to rest until this battle is won", he said.

Earlier, the national president of the union, Chief Deji Akin-walere, said it is surprising that after Senator Johathan Zwingina disclosed at the end of the Speaker's Conference that it has been resolved that Local Gover-nments as a third tier of government should be abolished, no governor except for that of Katsina State, has deemed it fit to disassociate himself from it.

He said the reason given for the abolition is to provide for true federalism. He wondered where such morbid definition came from and stressed that it was only a clever cover-up for the real intention which is absolute control of local government system and its resources.

He said the main thrust of the call for abolition was the fund that accrue to the local government which the governors want to take over. He stressed that this selfish attitude will throw the local government service into unimaginable confusion and uncertainty.

Aside from putting to an end the independence/autonomy which local government enjoys and which enables them to take decision within the contest of their peculiar needs, Akinwalere said the five per cent of local government service which is being deducted to service the traditional rulers, they (traditional rulers) will lose respectability and their position brought to ridicule because governors would no longer give them any regard and finances due them.

Akinwalere called on the workers not to take it lightly because a similar scenerio had happened in 1991 with so many things going wrong before the regime of that time beat a tactical retreat. "They have done it before and they can do it gain and this time it shall be worst", he warned.

Akinwalere called for the correction of the entire constitution. "The constitution is incurably defective and should not be corrected in piece-meal. We must must all seek to produce a new one that will represent the yearnings and aspirations of the people of Nigeria. This one was designed to fail and abort the current democratic experiment. By the abolitionists' agenda, Nigeria is being pushed into the booby trap that the military laid for civil rule", he said.

Senate spokesman Zwingina had disclosed that national and state legislators had resolve to abolish the tier of government.

However, chairman of the Conference of Speakers, Hon. Olorunnimbe Mamora, later denied it.