The Rivers State Government has pledged that it would continue to remit the Federal Allocation to the third tier Government in the State in full. State Commissioner for Local Government Affairs, Mr. Samuel Eyiba said this while declaring open a two-day training workshop for Local Government Chairmen, Supervisors, Caretaker Committee Members, Heads of Local Government Administration, Heads of Personnel Management and Treasurers of the 23 Local Government Areas in the State. Mr. Eyiba explained that the Government’s gesture was borne out of Governor Amaechi’s desire to grant financial autonomy to the grassroots Government and charged the operators of the Councils to ensure that the citizenry in their respective communities are catered for.
Mr. Eyiba who was represented by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Dr. Justina Jumbo noted with delight that the workshop was coming at a time when the various Caretaker Committees were settling down to work in their various LGAs. In his speech, the State Chairman of the Local Government Service Commission, Chief Nnamdi Wokekoro who was represented by a Commissioner in the Commission, Barrister Cyprian Chukwu said that the workshop would enhance the performance and productivity of the third tier Government in the State. Chief Wokekoro said, ”I am optimistic that trainings such as this will put the key players in a vantage position to perform their duties effectively and impact positively on the rural people to justify the resources accruing to the third tier Government.
The Chairman further said ”it is my strong believe that regular training and re-training of Local Government functionaries will make for efficient service delivery and development of our people”. Earlier in his speech, the Director of the Workshop, Dr. O. C Okara explained that the training programme was organized to bring both the politicians and civil servants under one roof to brain storm on the effectively administration of the third tier Government to avoid conflicts in the system.
Dr. Okara opined that the regular training of major players of the grassroots Government would guarantee the continued existence of the Local Government administration in the country.
The Director stated that the training would expose participants to areas such as Civil Service Rules and Pensions Matters, Over View of Local Government Administration in Nigeria, Inter-Governmental Relations, Local Government Versus other tiers of Government, Ethics, Transparency and Accountability, Public Finance, Budgeting, Auditing, Project Planning and Execution in Local Governments.
Participants at the workshop commended the State Ministry of Local Government Affairs and the quality of resource personnel and called for regular training for both the political and career administrators of the third tier government for improved service delivery.
