Former Governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, has described local government autonomy as an aberration and a contradiction in a federal system of government.
Recently, the Supreme Court granted financial autonomy to the 774 local government councils in the country. In a landmark judgement, the apex court ordered the Federal Government to immediately start the direct payment of local government funds to their exclusive accounts. This judgement was delivered in a suit filed by the Federal Government, through the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Lateef Fagbemi, against the 36 state governors over alleged misconduct of local government funds.
Weighing in on the development, Fayemi said the federal government’s legal victory does not address the root causes of Nigeria’s socio-economic and security problems. He spoke at the launch of a leadership and economic summit by St. Racheal’s People Consulting. The summit was themed “Economic Prosperity- Secrets of Audacious Leaders.”
The former governor asserted that Nigeria is gradually sliding into unitarianism, and that states should determine local government operations. He argued that labeling local government as the third tier of government is ignorant, describing the autonomy as “a misnomer and aberration.”
He said: “We cannot return to a unitary state. But unfortunately, we are gradually going back to a unitary form of government even though it is being dressed up as restructuring.
“The president is a federalist, he is a leader in my party, we share quite a lot in common, but I do not know any federal entity anywhere in the world where the federal government becomes the driver of what happens in the local government.
“It does not happen anywhere in the world and the Nigerian Constitution in Section 2 is very clear that Nigeria is a federation of the federal (central government) and the state. it is not three-tier.
“Anywhere in the world where we have federalism, it is the state or province or region either in India, US, Canada, or Australia. It is now up to the state to determine whether it wants to have 20 counties, or 50 or 200 local authorities based on its own local needs.”
Fayemi also stated that the growing despondency among Nigerian youth poses a significant threat to the country’s stability if not addressed.
He called on leaders to be visionary and resolute in implementing reforms that genuinely benefit the people.
“Leadership is sacrifice. We don’t treat leadership as a sacrifice in Nigeria. We just have to do things differently if we want this country to go the right way,” he said.
“Otherwise, the time bomb is ticking, and I think we are going to run into a major problem if we don’t address this feeling of despondency particularly among the youths and people.
“We all must contribute to leadership to build a transformed society- it isn’t just the president and the governors.”
