Kawu Sumaila, the Senator representing Kano South Senatorial District, has commended President Bola Tinubu for dragging state governors to Court over local government councils autonomy, saying it was the appropriate steps to take.
The opposition lawmaker on the platform of the New Nigeria Political Party, NNPP, said, governors’ resistance to the autonomy of local councils undermines the functionality of the 774 the third tier of government.
President Tinubu had through the Attorney-General of the Federation, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, filed multiple cases against the 36 state governors at the Supreme Court, bordering on violations of relevant provisions of the 1999 constitution on governance and functionality of the local government councils in the country.
In his reaction to the litigation, through a personally signed statement, Senator Kawu, who penultimate week, sponsored a motion in the Senate for local government autonomy, said the move by the federal government was in the right direction.
The litigation, according to him, was timely, as the Nigerian masses were in dear need of policies that will alleviate their sufferings at the local government level.
“I am happy, Mr. President has begin to toe on our path to salvage our people by given the local governments autonomy to operate as enshrined in the constitution.
“The decision to compel the 36 states of the federation to give autonomy to local governments is a step in the right direction.
“This will surely help in bring developments to our people, particularly the grassroots in the rural areas.
“It will equally boost the nation’s economy by increasing our Internally Generated Revenue through agricultural value chain and other commercial activities that will come up after the local governments got their autonomy,” he said.
He, however, appealed to President Tinubu to also look into the problem of local government election, as according to him, is another problem affecting the progress of the grassroots under democratic governance.
“I would be glad if president Tinubu will also address challenges affecting the conduct of local government elections in the nation.
“The president should do something to stop politicians from messing up with processes of local governments elections for their personal interests.
“We are all aware how local government election is being conducted under the watch of states governors in this country.
“From the primary to the main stream election, the processes are always being manipulated by politicians for their personal interest against interests of the majority,” he added.