Kwara State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, on Tuesday, said he believes in full autonomy for local government areas.
He clarified that the position of the state in the ongoing legal proceedings on local government is that the state does not violate any section of the law regarding autonomy.
“It is my personal belief that each local government should manage its resources and be responsible for its obligations, including wages that are first-line charges. The State Governor should not be held liable if any local government is unable to pay salaries since we do not touch a kobo of their money.
“We also do not have any joint project accounts with any local government in the state, as was the case with the previous administration in our state,” the governor said in a statement by his spokesman, Rafiu Ajakaiye.
“These are my personal beliefs. But my personal belief is not necessarily the same as the letters of the law, including the provisions of the JAAC, which is a creation of the Constitution. As of today, local government allocations are sent to the JAAC as required by the law. Section 162 of the Constitution is very clear on this.”
According to him, as things stand today, no activity of the local government in Kwara State is at variance with these provisions of the law.
He said, “Our case in the court is not about my personal belief. It is, we believe, in the defence of the constitution, which created JAAC for reasons that are well-grounded in our experiences as a people. JAAC, in summary, pulls resources together to pay all teachers, health workers, traditional rulers, and other statutory duties listed in the schedule of the local government areas. If we all want these to change as a national consensus, we believe that the constitution will have to be amended to expunge JAAC.”
The PUNCH reports that the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), instituted a suit on behalf of the Federal Government, before the Supreme Court, against the 36 state governors in the country seeking full autonomy for local governments.
In a suit marked SC/CV/343/2024, the AGF urged the apex court to issue an order, prohibiting state governors from unilateral, arbitrary, and unlawful dissolution of democratically elected LG leaders.
The suit which is predicted on 27 grounds, contended that Nigeria as a federation, is a creation of the 1999 Constitution with the President, as the head of the Federal Executive arm of the Federation, and has sworn to uphold and give effects to the provisions of the Constitution.
In the suit which accused the state governors of gross misconduct and abuse of power, the AGF sued them through their respective state Attorney-Generals.
