LG Autonomy: Hold Your Council Administrators Accountable – Providence Coalition President, Adeyoju SDM Tells Nigerians
A Stalwart of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Ibadan North Local Government and Chieftain of the Party in Oyo State, Prince Niran Adeyoju, SDM, has described the recent Local Government Autonomy in the Country as a means to strengthen Nigeria’s democracy and enhance better livelihood of the people at the grassroots.
Prince Adeyoju stated this while speaking with newsarena.ng in Ibadan, Oyo State on the recent judgement delivered by the Supreme Court of Nigeria which granted financial Autonomy to the 774 Local Government Areas across the country.
He said when implemented, the financial autonomy granted to local government areas would help in the development of the grassroots being the closest tier of government to the Citizens.
According to him, Local Government was more accessible to the rural residents through which the inhabitants could enjoy the dividends of democracy in terms of grassroots developmental projects.
Prince Adeyoju SDM, however, called on Nigerians to hold their local government administrators accountable and responsible, if they failed to discharge their responsibilities as expected.
He said “You see, it is not just about the administrators changing their mentality but the community, the community should monitor what comes to the local government every month, they should engage the local government administrators if they fail to do what they suppose to do.
“So the responsibility of ensure transparency lies more on the people of the community at the grassroots, making sure that when this money comes from the federal government, it is channelled towards developmental projects.”
He said “state government sitting on local government funds has rendered the councils impotent in their responsibilities towards grassroots development. The financial autonomy will no doubt bring development to the grassroots.
“You know that our food come from the grassroots, so with this autonomy, people can now go freely to their councils and tell the administrators that their roads are bad and that they can’t bring our produce to the city to sell. Of course, that is one of the major responsibilities
The APC Leader commended President Bola Tinubu for taking the bold steps against all odds to achieve the feat for the public who have been denied of grassroots developments for years due to lack of local government performance.