The senator representing Abia North Senatorial Zone, Orji Uzor Kalu, has thrown his support for the Supreme Court judgement which granted financial autonomy to the local government areas of Nigeria.
JOURNALIST101 reports that the supreme court in a landmark judgement delivered on Thursday, declared as illegal and unconstitutional for the state Governors to have a say on how the funds of the local government areas are spent.
The court also ordered the federal government to stop sending the funds to non democratically elected council chairmen.
Senator Kalu in a statement posted on his social media accounts, said: “The Supreme Court judgement on the autonomy of local governments is one that should be hailed and applauded especially for the courage and independence shown by the judiciary.
“The Supreme Court being a policy court did what is right and beneficial to the society.”
The former Abia Governor urged Nigerians to ignore the loophole(s) that that the judgement might have and look at the greater picture of the gains an independent local government will give.
“While it may look like interference in the states, we should accept that all the calls for end of insecurity, kidnappings and banditry has just begun with this autonomy granted to the local governments.
“When the local governments are in total control of their funds, there is flow of resources and activities in the local areas.
“For instance, when I was governor between 1999-2007, the autonomy of my local government chairmen was a major breakthrough to the success of my administration. The Local Government Chairmen built roads and gave contracts to local contractors. The Chairmen were able to take full responsibility of what happened in their local government and crime was reduced to the barest minimum.”
Speaking further, Senator Kalu appealed to the federal government to go a step further by ensuring that the local government election is conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission and not the State Independent Electoral Commission (SIEC), while appealing to the state Governors to accept the decision of the Apex Court.
“I will also appeal to the Federal Government to consider making a case for local government elections to be conducted by Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC) instead of the State Independent Electoral Commission (SIEC).
“This will further strengthen the autonomy to the local governments and reduce the pressure on the state governments. When governance gets to the grassroots, it becomes easier to identify and hold the leaders responsible.
“I sincerely appeal to the 36 state governors to accept this judgement as a victory for democracy, victory for themselves and victory for all Nigerians.
“I also congratulate the President, H. E Bola Ahmed Tinubu; the Attorney General of the Federation Prince Lateef Olasunkanmi Fagbemi SAN and all the Supreme Court Justices that played a role in this landmark achievement for Nigerians. Let’s continue to keep our hopes alive.”
