LG autonomy: Supreme Court judgment ‘ll fast track grassroots development – LP, APC

Labour Party (LP) and All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State have commended Thursday’s Supreme Court judgment which granted autonomy to local governments in Nigeria.

The two political parties, in their separate interviews with our reporter on Friday in Ibadan, said that the development would fast track development at the grassroots.

Chairman of Labour Party in the state, Sadiq Atayese, said that the autonomy was long overdue.

“Everyone who is conscious of the level of transformation that functional third tier of government could bring to the grassroots has been clamouring for its autonomy.

“The development will go a long way in ensuring that infrastructure development gets to the grassroots, hence the impacts of democratic government will be more felt.

“Local government is the closest to the people, but unfortunately, over the years, their functions have been usurped by the state government for obvious reasons, thereby stifling development at that level of government administration.

“The judgment has now given a clear direction on how the funds due to local governments from the federation account should be channeled,” he said.

Atayese expressed the hope that state governors would cooperate with the ruling in order to fast track development at the grassroots.

“The governors should remember that they have all sworn an oath to protect and defend the constitution and uphold the rule of law,” he said.

Atayese said that his party would continue to identify with the rule of law and ensure that all legal provisions aimed at ensuring the wellbeing of the masses were respected.

He also called for amendment of all necessary parts of the constitution that might be in conflict with the judgment.

Similarly, the Publicity Secretary of APC in the state, Mr Olawale Sadare, said that the judiciary had, by the judgment, cleared the doubts surrounding the misinterpretation of a particular Section of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

According to him, some people have been leveraging that particular section to shortchange the third tier of government.

While stating that the judgment was long overdue, Sadare commended the judiciary for upholding the rule of law.

Sadare urged Federal Government to use the judgment to meet the yearnings of the people at the grassroots, through the local government councils, for accelerated growth and development of the country.

He also called on the anti-graft agencies to henceforth be on their toes and monitor how council funds would be utilised to avoid mismanagement.

It was reported that the federal government had instituted a legal action against the governors of the 36 states of the federation at the Supreme Court over alleged misconduct in the local government administration.

The governors of the 36 states were sued through their respective attorneys-general.

The suit filed by the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, sought full autonomy for the local government as the constitutionally-recognised third tier of government.

The federal government had argued that since the constitution recognises local governments as the third tier of government, they should be granted autonomy and allowed to draw funds directly from the federation account.