Imo ex-perm sec unveils book on local govt administration

A retired Permanent Secretary in Imo state, Chukwuma Nwachukwu, has unveiled a book on the administration of local government in the country.

The book entitled “Local Government Administration in Nigeria – Evolution, Reforms and Practice,” has 12 chapters and more than 200 pages.

The state Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Hon Mrs. Rubby Emele, while commending the author for the effort, said the timing of the book’s presentation was quite apt.

Recalling that local government administration predates the colonial era, she maintained that during that time all ethnic nationalities such as Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa, Efik, Ijaw and Igede had their different ways of local administration as they had village heads, Obas, Emirs, and Ochis, who collected and managed wages and taxes in those localities.He noted that the local administration subsisted until the arrival of the colonial masters to the country.

The commissioner described local government administration as the government closer to the people and capable of taking care of their needs and aspirations, adding that Governor Hope Uzodimma was working towards stabilising the local government system in the state.

She commended the author for taking his time to write the book and urged the newly appointed local government sole administrators to pick it as a hand book to enable them understand the rudiments of local government administration.

Commenting on the book, the author, Chukwuma Nwachukwu, frowned at the neglect of local government administration by politicians, adding that the system was given more respect in the military than now.