Nigeria Labouur Congress (NLC) yesterday urged the National Assembly not to truncate the will of the Nigerian people, especially with regards to current efforts to review the nation’s constitution.   

NLC President Comrade Abdulwahed Omar in a press statement yesterday specifically asked the lawmakers not to bow to pressure from governors on the need to grant local government areas full autonomy.

Omar also expressed NLC’s rejection of any plan to impose tenure elongation in the amendment processes, or removing labour matters from the exclusive list.

“While we hope that the National Assembly is not yielding to pressure from some quarters, particularly the Governors Forum who has been widely reported to be against some popular proposals on critical sections of the constitution most Nigerians advocated should be included in the new constitution, we reiterate our position that the new constitution provides for full local government autonomy as expected in a federation,” he said.

“The Local Governments are closer to the mass of our people and it is only when they are fully independent that the Nigerian people can enjoy the benefits of democracy. Rather than continue to tie the local governments to the whims and caprices of state governments, the constitution should ensure funds meant for local governments go directly to them and all funds and other resources generated by the local governments should be managed by the local governments and not the state governments.”