Forum wants uniform tenure for elected LG officials in Nigeria

The Forum of State Independent Electoral Commissions (FOSIECON) has urged the National Assembly to make laws that will ensure a uniform tenure for elected local government council officials in the country.

Alhaji Ibrahim Bako, Chairman, FOSIECON, made the call on Wednesday at the sideline of a five-day workshop on Leadership and Quality Management for Electoral Stakeholders (LEAD-Q), organised for State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs) by the European Centre for Electoral Support (ECES) in Akwanga.

Bako said that having a national law that would specify a uniform tenure for local government councils would help in promoting peace and democracy in the country.

“We need a national law so that the tenure of local government councils should be uniform all over the country.

“This will address the problem where some local government councils have two years’ tenure, while others have three years.

”We are all aware that currently, the tenure of a local council is determined by state House of Assembly. So we need a national law that will ensure uniform tenure for all local councils in the country,” he said.

Bako assured that FOSIECON members will continue to ensure free, fair and credible local government elections in their respective states.

” We will continue to strategise in order to make sure that quality people are elected into offices as this will go a long way in ensuring good governance at the grassroots,” he said.

He commended the sponsors for the training saying it will strengthen democratic governance in the country.