The Ogun State Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Abayomi Tella, has urged all state governors to implement the Supreme Court judgement on local government autonomy.
He argued that implementing the judgement would relieve them of the burden of governance at the grassroots level.
Speaking in an interview with Daily Trust at the weekend, Tella insisted that local government chairmen were doing nothing at the grassroots level, stressing that the council chairmen in Ogun State were “financially incapacitated.”
The Ogun State PDP chairman lamented that despite the Supreme Court judgement granting financial autonomy to the 774 local government councils, many states were yet to comply with the verdict.
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He said, “Well, it’s quite unfortunate that our people don’t realise what a local government administration is, particularly our governors. What is happening today in Ogun State does not go in line with what the Supreme Court has just delivered.
“As we speak, Ogun State local governments do not have any autonomy. I live in the grassroots; I’m a grassroots politician and I can say there is nothing called autonomy for the local government in the state.
“I’m not saying it because I’m an opposition man; I am saying it because I am an Ogun State indigene, and I have been in government and know what it means.”
Maintaining that autonomy is a major accomplishment of the Tinubu-led administration, Tella begged all state governors to implement autonomy for local councils to enable the people to feel the impact of governance.
“We can only beg; if the governors do this, it’s going to relieve them and this is for the benefit of the rural people. I think all our governors should join Mr President to ensure that this key achievement of the president comes into play,” Tella added.
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