By Folorunso Alagbede
Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State has set up two committees to review the recent judgement on local government autonomy by the Supreme Court.
Makinde set up the two committees on Monday.
It would be recalled that the Supreme Court last week granted autonomy to local government, which is the third tier of government.
Makinde while speaking at a meeting on Monday declared that his government will not allow the people of the state to suffer from the fallout of the Supreme Court judgment.
The meeting was attended by local government chairmen, leaderships of the National Union of Local Government Employees, NULGE, Nigerian Union of Teachers, NUT, Nigerian Union of Pensioners, NUP, Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and Trade Union Congress, TUC, as well as representatives of ministries, departments and agencies.
The governor, while addressing the gathering, maintained that the judgment has created a constitutional lacuna that will throw up different challenges at the local government level.
He then announced the constitution of the two committees.
He added that the two committees are to review the Supreme Court judgement and come out with necessary advice.
“I called this meeting because I felt that even though we have not seen the Certified True Copy of the judgment of the Supreme Court, we have to be proactive and discuss the decision of the Supreme Court as it concerns financial autonomy of the local government councils because I believe a lacuna has been created between the decision and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria that we all swore to uphold.
“The law is the law and when there is a conflict, yes, we should go to the court. But it behooves on us to look for our own homegrown solutions that can ensure that we have transparency and that our people do not suffer. This is because when two elephants are fighting it is the grass that will suffer.
“I am saying this because Oyo State will get out of this even stronger. We are people that know what is good for our people,” he said.
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