The Lead Director, ‘Speak Out Africa Initiative’ (SOAI), Engr. Kenneth Eze has made four demands that will allow local governments work effectively in Nigeria, most especial complete Financial Autonomy through the expansion of the Federal Account Allocation Committee meetings to include LGA officials.
Eze also asked for political autonomy by calling the on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct all local government elections to guarantee fairness.
Other demands by the organisation include: asking the Central Bank of Nigeria to make it mandatory for LGAs to have account with the Bank and asking development partners to support the Open Government Partnership (OGP) at the local government level.
The Lead Director stated this during The Local Open Governance Initiative in Nigeria (LOGINAIJA) close out session and the presentation of Report for the pilot LGAs.
‘Speak Out Africa Initiative’ is a non-governmental organization focused on empowering marginalized communities, particularly women and youth, through evidence-based advocacy, capacity building, and service delivery. Its mission is to prioritize gender equity, health advocacy, and social inclusion.
According to Eze, LOGINAIJA which aims to access the workings and the functionality of the Local Government Areas to make work was launch in April 2024 with the objective of promoting accountability at the local level, building capacity for the personnel and political office holders at the local level and the domestication of the Freedom of Information Act at the grassroots.
The LOGINAIJA project is a 12-month pilot initiative implemented by Speak Out Africa Initiative (SOAI) to strengthen Open Government Partnership (OGP) adoption at Nigeria’s local government level. The project focuses on three pilot LGAs:
“This pilot phase was carried out in the selected three Local Government Areas in Nigeria: Gwagwalada Area Council in FCT; Umuahia North LGA in Abia State; and the Ibadan NorthWest LGA of Oyo State; which represent the zones in the country and cut across political party lines and we are happy to announce that today’ these three LGA have performed creditably with functional Websites, freedom of information desk officers in place and we have strengthened the capacity of both the executive and the legislative arms of the three Local Governments. We expect to scale it up to 50 LGAs in second phase of the project.
“We in ‘Speak out Africa’ are thanking the Mac- Arthur Foundation that supported this project, and other partners for making this a reality”.
The Chairman, Umuahia North Local Government Area, Hon. Smart Iheoma, while appreciating Speak Out Africa Initiative to the LGA, said, “the problem we have as a nation is leadership. What we met on ground was not good but we have turned around every aspect of the LGA and the people are the beneficiaries of these positive reforms.
“We are following the footsteps of the Governor of Abia State which come with the capacity to build the state and he is the best so far”.
