Not Yet Uhuru On Supreme Court Declaration Of Local Govt Financial Autonomy
By Chief (Barr.) Malcolm Omirhobo
LAGOS JULY 12TH (NEWSRNAGERS)-As we feel the rush of the Supreme court declaration of Local Government financial autonomy, I must say it is not yet uhuru as there are lot of work to be done to enable our local governments optimally perform for the benefit of our people at the grass root to at least have a feel of the dividends of democracy.
Top on the list of work to be done is the elections of our local governments Chairmen and Councilors, Without transparent , credible free and fair elections at the Local Government levels the financial autonomy gain made will be of no use . We should not expect the shylock, corrupt, self centered and criminally minded governors to sit back and watch bread snashed from their mouths. They will definitely fight back . All it takes is for them to ensure that they install their stooges and puppets as Chairmen and Councilors.
Our local government needs to be free from the undue control and manipulations of the State governors .They need to have political independence without which their financial independence is useless.
Another fear is the Federal Government undue influence and manipulation of the Local Governments because having successfully taken out the state governors from the financial equation, it is the one that now directly allocates funds to the Local Governments . Paying the piper the Federal Government may start dictating the tune for the Local government and using them for the political gains of the political party or interest at the center .
Work needs to be done on the exclusive and concurrent list of legislation of the Nigerian constitution so that more areas of what local governments can do will be increased in the residuary list. The powers of the Federal and State governments must be unburdened to the benefit of the Local Government and people at the grass root Please note this write up does not in any way override my position for the urgent need for a brand new people’s constitution.
Chief (Barr.) Malcolm Omirhobo, a Lagos bases lawyer and human right activist writes from Lagos
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Short URL: https://newsrangers.com/?p=125274
Posted by News Rangers
on Jul 12 2024. Filed under Features, National.
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