Former Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State and former Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) has described local government autonomy as a misnomer and an aberration in a federal system of government.
Mr. Fayemi, a former Minister of Mines and Steel Development, was speaking at the launch of St. Racheal's People Consulting-1.0 Leadership and Economics Summit 2024 on Thursday evening in Lagos.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the programme was themed: “Economic Prosperity: Secrets of Bold Leaders.”
Speaking on how the country could emerge from its current socio-economic and security challenges, Mr Fayemi said the federal government's lawsuit against state governors and the ruling in their favour was not the solution to the current challenges.
“We cannot return to a unitary state, but unfortunately we are gradually returning to a unitary form of government, even if it is presented as a restructuring.
“The President (Bola Tinubu) is a federalist. He is a leader of my party, we have many things in common, but I don’t know of any federal entity in the world where the federal government becomes the driver of what happens in the local government.
“This does not happen anywhere in the world and the Nigerian Constitution, in its Article 2, is very clear that Nigeria is a federation made up of the federal government (central government) and the state, it is not a three-tiered one,” he said.
Article page with promotion of financial support
Mr Fayemi, a visiting fellow at the African Leadership Centre, said it was ignorant to describe local government as the third tier of government.
He added: “The principle of federalism is clear, it is a principle of dual federation units.
“Wherever federalism exists in the world, whether at the state, provincial or regional level, whether in India, the United States, Canada or Australia.
“It is now up to the state to decide whether it wants to have 20 counties, 50 or 200 local authorities based on its own local needs. This is a misnomer, it doesn’t happen anywhere in the world.
“With this latest strategy, I assure you that, at first glance, I do not see it as viable; it is not going to work.”
He said that if some governors have not acted well in the administration of local governments, solutions must be offered.
“This is not the solution, we are unifying the country instead of decentralizing it.
“If we can address this problem that we have all identified, we will see Nigeria improve.
“We cannot solve all the problems from Abuja, particularly the two critical problems of security and energy.
“We need to reach out to the local level to solve these two problems. If we solve these two problems, electricity and security, Nigeria will move forward,” he said.
NAN recalls that the Supreme Court issued a ruling on July 11 granting full autonomy to local governments.
The ruling was based on a lawsuit filed by the federal government against the governors of the 36 states of the federation for what it called their interference in the administration of local councils in their respective states.
The suit filed by Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, seeks full autonomy for all local government councils in the country.
In the lawsuit, the federal government specifically asked the court to issue an order prohibiting state governors from undertaking unilateral, arbitrary and unlawful dissolutions of democratically elected local government leaders.
READ ALSO: Local government autonomy is Tinubu’s political move for 2027 elections – Buhari
The suit also sought an order allowing existing funds in local government credits to be channeled directly to them from the Federation Account, in accordance with the provisions of the constitution as opposed to the alleged illegal joint accounts created by the governors.
The FG also asked the Supreme Court for an order restraining governors from constituting more interim committees to manage the affairs of local governments, in contravention of the constitutionally recognised and guaranteed democratic system.
He also sought an injunction restraining the governors, their agents and associates from receiving, spending or manipulating funds released from the federal account for the benefit of local governments when a democratically elected system of local government is not established in the states.
(YAYA)