Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) in Kwara State has asked Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq and members of the state House of Assembly to speed up the process required for total autonomy of local government system in the state.

The union said the local government as constitutionally recognized third tier of government should be independent in administrative and financing.

The president of NULGE in the state, Comrade Oyinlade Adeleye, who made the call at a press conference in Ilorin, the state capital urged AbdulRazaq to break his seeming silence on the issue of local government autonomy.

Adeleye, who described local government autonomy as the catalyst to security of lives and property and development at the grassroots, maintained that the third tier of government cannot be an appendage of the state government.

“It is our plea to Kwara State governor to, in conjunction with the state House of Assembly, expeditiously speed up the process required for Kwara to be listed among the comity of states that respect the wishes of the people at the grass roots, which local government autonomy symbolises.

“Local government autonomy is the catalyst to the development. We are talking about security situation; food security and even human security.”

If the local government autonomy is in place, all these things will be very easy. We are not an appendage of the state government.

“The law recognises us as the third tier of government. All what we are doing is for the benefit of the generality of everybody. It is not to our own benefit because we want development at the grassroots level”, he said.

The state NULGE president condemned members of the State House of Assembly opposing the autonomy of the local government.