Osun state Governor Rauf Aregbesola at the weekend cautioned those calling for autonomy for local governments in the ongoing constitution review in the country to desist.
The Governor said autonomy should not be given to Local governments because they are absolutely under the control and ambiance of the states, explaining that the only organ of the state empowered by the constitution to make laws for them is the state parliament.
Speaking at a conference organised by Urban Media Resource Limited to x-ray the gains of the South-West under the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, Aregbesola insisted that local government remains an appendage of a state government.
According to him, giving autonomy to local government simply amounts to disruption of the federal system of government. He stressed that though the current system may have encouraged corruption, but the solution to such an anomaly is not the total removal of local government from its original body, which is the state.
He emphasized that the Presidential system the country is operating is too expensive for its economy to cope with, thereby advocating for a parliamentary system which is less expensive.
The Governor described the belief gaining grounds that local governments in Nigeria should be independence of state governments as totally strange and anti-federalism.
According to him, “Nigeria is not just a Republic, but a Federal Republic, a federal state is where every distinction of nationality is recognized, respected and honoured. None of the units of the Federation is therefore superior to the other. Every of the units are empowered by law to administer themselves under the general guideline of the constitution.
“Another anomaly that people, because of their frustration to some aspect of administration, are equally making mistake on and need correction is that a federation has two tiers of government. There cannot be three tiers in a federation. The moment you have three tiers, you no longer have a federation.”
Aregbesola emphasised that the problem with the administration of Local Government in Nigeria can be corrected within the limits of the laws of the state in a federation.
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