LG autonomy: Supreme Court judgment victory for Nigerians – Ogun NULGE President

 Mr Adebayo Adefsobi, President of Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), Ogun chapter, has described Thursday’s Supreme Court judgment on local government autonomy as a victory for Nigerians.

Adefesobi, who stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abeokuta on Thursday, expressed joy with the judgment.

While appreciating President Bola Tinubu for allowing the rule of law to prevail, the NULGE chairman expressed the hope that the governors would accept the Supreme Court verdict in good faith.

Adefesobi, who noted that the judgment was in the general interest of Nigerians, said that no meaningful development would happen if the status quo had been allowed to remain.

“The local government autonomy is what we have been yearning for over the years. It is here now and we cannot but be grateful to all who made it possible.

“We appreciate everybody, including the Supreme Court and the
Attorney-General of the Federation who made the dream come into fruition,” he said.

Adefesobi stated that the development would translate into good governance at the grassroots, adding that citizens would now begin to enjoy dividends of democracy.

He added that little or nothing had been accomplished since “the mortgage and hijack” of local governments in the country.

The NULGE president noted that with the judgment, the issue of barring local government chairmen from carrying out certain constitutional roles would now be a thing of the past.

“Before the mortgage of the local governments, all apparatus of the third tier of government were working perfectly.

“We were making things happen at the grassroots before now, including construction of roads, provision of water through drilling of boreholes across communities and provision of health services, among others,” he said.

Adefesobi urged governors to work together with the local government councils to ensure proper and even distribution of wealth among all citizens.

He also called on the Federal Government to ensure that local government elections were conducted by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) rather than state electoral commissions.

This, he said, would help to ensure that local government allocations and their internally-generated revenue (IGR) were judiciously utilised.

“I want to believe that attempts will be made to hijack or thwart this development, but if the federal government can ensure that local government elections are conducted by INEC, there will be true
autonomy,” he said. (NAN