A UK-funded governance programme, Partnership to Engage, Reform and Learn (PERL) has organised a media and stakeholders’ engagement forum to mobilise participation in constitutional amendments in Kaduna State.
The engagement was to mobilise support for the ratification of Constitutional Amendment Bills, especially the local government autonomy bill pending before the Kaduna State House of Assembly.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that PERL is a five-year public-sector accountability and governance programme, funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office of the United Kingdom.
Initiated in 2016 as a politically smart and adaptive programme, PERL aims to improve collaboration between governments and citizens to tackle governance challenges and improve service delivery.
The programme is being implemented in Kano, Kaduna, Jigawa, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Oyo and Ekiti states.
Other participating states include Enugu, Abia, Imo, Ebonyi, Anambra, Borno, Yobe and Adamawa.
Mr Abel Adejor, State Team Facilitator, PERL, said the media had a critical role to play towards ensuring the needed support to promote participation and fast track speedy passage of the bill.
“The media play an important role in shaping and guiding discourse on constitution review and explaining how it affects the citizens.
“This platform will generate healthy debate around constitutional amendments, enable the legislature to acquiesce on citizen preferences as well as increase political participation in a manner that deepens democracy,” he said.
Adejor said that the bill had been transmitted to the Kaduna State House of Assembly for ratification, stressing the need for the constituents to request their representatives to vote in favour of the constitutional amendments.
Istifanus Akau, State Partnership Facilitator, PERL, said that the meeting was to engage critical stakeholders to lobby and influence the ratification of the bill transmitted to the legislature.
He said that media platforms and professional groups would be engaged to influence the lawmakers to make informed decisions in favour of the bills transmitted to the House.
Also speaking, Yusuf Goje, a member of Coalition of Associations for Leadership, Peace, Empowerment and Development, said that local government council was the closest to the people, adding it was imperative to engage people at the grassroots in the amendment processes.
“The amendment will avert pending social disaster due to rising insecurity, unemployment and poverty.
“We need to stimulate rural economies to enable inclusive development and growth through strengthening local government system,” Goje said.
Earlier, Mr Aliyu Sulaiman, Secretwry, Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), Kaduna State Chapter, commended PEARL for its bold support for LG autonomy.
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He said the union was campaigning for financial and administrative autonomy as well as abolition of the state/LG joint account.
According to him, the LG autonomy will improve service delivery at the local government level.
