Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) and Governor of Kwara, AbdulRazaq AbdulRahman, has responded to the Supreme Court judgment granting full autonomy to Local Government Areas.
He described it as a significant relief for governors.
However, AbdulRahman stated that the governors will convene next week to discuss the judgment and formulate a resolution.
After meeting with President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa on Friday, AbdulRahman noted that many people are unaware of the burdens state governors bear, particularly in terms of financially assisting local governments.
“We welcome the ruling of the Supreme Court. Compliance is a given and our Attorney Generals have applied for the enrollment order, which we’ll study carefully.
“But by and large governors are happy with the devolution of power in respect to local government autonomy. It relieves the burden on governors. Our people really don’t know how much states expend in bailing out local governments, and that’s the issue there,” the NGF Chairman told State House Correspondents.
Reacting to how the judgement would affect his state, Kwara, the governor said “It’s not going to affect Kwara State. We’ve never tampered with local government funds. So it’s going to continue. What the local governments have to do is to manage themselves, especially with the oncoming minimum wage, to manage their affairs and make sure salaries are paid, traditional rulers get their 5% and those are the main issues.
“Like I said, we haven’t seen the enrollment of the court order and so we really don’t know what is in there.
“The Forum will meet next Wednesday, to look at the issue wholly and then come up with a resolution on that.”
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