Chairmen of local councils, according to Ngige, are more corrupt than governors. According to him, the majority of council chairmen long to own upscale homes in Western countries like Abuja and Lagos.
Under former President Muhammadu Buhari, the Minister of Labor and Employment contended that the Supreme Court’s ruling ignored Section 7 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
Ngige made this statement during the weekend in Enugu at the 29th annual general meeting (AGM) and scientific conference of the Association of Urological Surgeons, Nigeria (NAUS), which focused on the subject of “Local Government Administration and Primary Healthcare.”
He emphasized the necessity for the State Economic Planning Boards to make sure that the shuttered healthcare facilities were renovated as soon as feasible, pointing out that over “15,000 primary healthcare centers were built across the country as constituency projects.”
According to him, the “local government system remained pivotal to basic healthcare system, which was transformed into primary healthcare system by former Minister of Health, Prof. Olikoye Ransome-Kuti.”
Senator Ngige went on to describe how council chairmen’s opulence has an impact on the construction of schools and public health facilities in their communities as well as the fact that teachers are owed several months’ worth of unpaid salaries and benefits.
In a 2006 ruling, the same Supreme Court cautioned the federal government against telling the states how to use money that was due to them from local governments.
When Justice Mohammed Uwais served as the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), the Supreme Court rendered its earlier decision in a case that was brought by the attorneys general of three state governments—Lagos, Abia, and Delta—challenging then-President Olusegun Obasanjo’s Local Government Account Monitoring Committee Act 2005,” the Nation quoted him.
He underlined that before sending federal funds directly to local government chairmen, statutory first-line deductions must be put in place for the payment of council employee salaries and wages, pensions and gratuities, traditional rulers’ benefits, and customary court allowances.
He went on to say that once governors followed the law and the Houses of Assembly realized their duties, which included calling out negligent governors, the local government system would begin to function.
