December 07, (THEWILL) – The minister of special duties and intergovernmental affairs, Sen. George Akume, has charged local government chairmen to imbibe a culture of accountability and good governance for effective service delivery.
Akume stated this at a 2-day national retreat for local government chairmen in Nigeria in Uyo on Tuesday.
The minister said the retreat’s theme, “Good Governance, Resource Mobilisation and Financial Management for Rural Development”, is very significant.
He said the present administration is determined to ensure that local government funds are judiciously utilised.
He said local governments have to be properly organised and deploy allocated funds for effective and efficient service delivery.
“As a matter of fact, Nigeria will never grow if we sustain a system that allows about one quarter of our resources to be mismanaged by few.
“It has therefore become absolutely necessary to imbibe the culture of accountability, good governance as well as prudent financial management for effective service delivery,” Akume said.
The minister warned the chairmen against mismanagement of council funds, adding that the local government was created to attend to the development needs of people in the grassroot.
“Therefore, misrule and mismanagement of both human and material resources at this level means sentencing a large number of our people to abject poverty, disease and squalor,” he added.
In his goodwill message, Gov. Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom state said the state is home to anglophone West Africa’s first experiment of local government administration.
The governor, who was represented by Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem, the secretary to the state government, commended the minister for choosing the state for the retreat.
Emmanuel said the state is maintaining a good relationship with the local government administration in order to ensure quality service delivery.
Also speaking, Frank Archibong, the commissioner for local government and chieftaincy affairs said that good governance can be achieved if resources both human and materials are mobilised.
“This retreat for me is resource mobilisation because this is where you come and impact knowledge on how the system could be better managed,” Archibong said
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