LG Autonomy time of reckoning for govs – Youth leaders hail Supreme Court

By Abubakar Yunusa

The Nigerian Ethnic Nationality Youth Leaders Council Worldwide, has hailed the Supreme Court judgement which granted full financial autonomy to the local government areas.

The youth leaders are drawn from the Niger Delta Ethnic Nationalities Youth Leaders, Northern Youth Congress, Yoruba Council of Youths Worldwide, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide, Middle-Belt Youth Council and North-East Youth Assembly.

They made their stand known in a statement signed by the Vice President, Comrade Balarabe Rufai and the Publicity Secretary, Mazi Okwu Nnabuike.

While describing the judgement as erudite and a victory for the grassroots, they demanded accountability for the funds the governors have managed on behalf of the council areas for the past 25 years.

They noted that the council areas had been muscled for years by the governors, making the intended development of the grassroots a near impossibility.

According to them, “The framers of the constitution who created the local government system had intended that being closer to the people, they will bring development to the doorsteps of the people, especially in the areas of basic amenities such as health, rural roads and water.

“But what has not happened in the majority of the states as the governors turned the LGs into a drain pipe.

“The so-called illegal caretakers are the worst as nothing happens under their watch except to sign off the allocations for the emperor governors. A time of reckoning has come; they should account for the huge sums of money running into trillions of Naira.

“It is then a thing of delight that the Supreme Court has ended these decades of anomaly and illegality.

“We don’t expect anything from the governors other than to accept the judgement in good faith.

“The Federal Government should also stop nothing towards ensuring the total compliance with the judgement, with effect from this month’s allocation,” the group stated.

They, however, called on the chairmen to justify the gains brought to the country by the judgement.

“Now that they have been liberated, they should be man enough to do their job; we expect to see projects being initiated and completed by these chairmen.

“We also urge the National Assembly to complete the process by amending the constitution to ensure that the INEC will henceforth conduct local government elections,” the group advocated.