Sir Tersoo Kula, the governor of Benue State’s chief press secretary, has defended the order compelling local government employees throughout the state to keep daily attendance records, rejecting the Peoples Democratic Party’s criticism as a misreading of local government authority.
In a Friday statement headed “ACCOUNTABILITY IS NOT DESPOTISM: DEBUNKING THE BENUE PDP’S AUTONOMY SMOKE SCREEN,” Kula contended that making public employees report their attendance does not equate to interfering with the financial autonomy of local governments.
The Benue State Local Government Service Commission issued an order mandating the 23 local government councils to keep daily attendance records for employees, which sparked the dispute.
According to the instruction, employees would be eligible for wage payments if they met a minimum attendance requirement.
Kula challenged the PDP’s interpretation of the instruction, questioning how regular attendance tracking could be seen as an attack on the independence of local governments.
He maintained that the 1999 Constitution’s Section 7 acknowledges the system of democratically elected local government councils and offers a constitutional framework for its creation, composition, duties, and other issues.
He noted that autonomy should not be understood as administrative separation from all state institutions, adding that the Fourth Schedule of the Constitution outlines the duties of local government councils.
Additionally, Kula made a distinction between personnel administration and financial autonomy, contending that maintaining attendance records does not equate to taking over a council’s funds or controlling its bank account.
According to him, the Local Government Service Commission’s establishment shows that local government administration entails statutory institutional links and that it has duties pertaining to local government employees.
The PDP was urged by the governor’s adviser to make it clear whether it intended the commission to fulfilll its personnel-related duties or just exist without doing so.
Kula argued that elected councils and their staff are nevertheless subject to relevant rules and regulations, rejecting the opposing party’s definition of autonomy as total independence from state-level administrative scrutiny.
According to him, Governor Hyacinth Alia’s stance should be considered in the context of what he called the appropriate constitutional structure, in which state institutions carry out their legally mandated tasks and local government councils maintain their acknowledged roles.
“The question is whether a specific directive is authorised by the relevant law, not whether the state can ever have any administrative relationship with Local Governments,” Kula stated.
The PDP was free to disagree with the governor’s stance, he continued, but it should distinguish between political disagreement and constitutional interpretation.
According to Kula, the attendance requirement was not intended to interfere with local government budgets, but rather to ensure that employees report for duty and account for their presence.
He argued that an effort to weaken local government sovereignty should not be confused with accountability, discipline, and adherence to public service regulations.