The Traditional Leader of Opobo Kingdom, in Opobo/Nkoro Local Government Area, Rivers State Alabo (Dr) Reuben Mietamuno Saturday Jaja, has urged the National Assembly to expedite action in the passage of a bill for an Act to establish the National Council of Traditional Rulers’ aimed at specifying major roles for traditional rulers in Nigeria.
Speaking with newsmen recently in Port-Harcourt, on the roles of traditional rulers in a democratic system, Dr. Jaja specifically admonished members of the National Assembly to ensure that the proposed Act to establish the traditional rulers National Council, which he said, has already scaled through a second reading in the Assembly barely one month ago, became imperative.
Alabo Reuben Jaja, ‘Addah Soide Jaja II, said that the bill needed to be in place as quickly as possible to specify the constitutional roles for the traditional rulers in the country.
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He said ” lf you look at the roles of the traditional rulers in their respective communities, bringing government policies to the masses and if there is crisis, people are bound to run to their royal fathers for refuge among many other functions. You will discover that the traditional rulers needed that constitutional rights and recognitions by the Federal Government”.
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The monarch who is a member of the Opobo/Nkoro Council of Traditional Rulers’, therefore, urged government at all levels, particularly in the South-South geo-political zone, to pay five percent local government allocation to traditional rulers in their various states, as specified in the Federal Accounts Allocation Formula without further delay.
He noted that traditional rulers are saddled with enormous responsibilities in their communities that require funds to tackle them.
He added that such percentage of funds allocation to the traditional rulers would help them to send tackle the myriad of responsibilities confronting them within their various localities especially now the country is facing economic downturn.
