Governors from the 36 states of the Federation, under the aegis of the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF), have scheduled a crucial meeting next week to review the Supreme Court’s judgement granting autonomy to local government councils in the country.
The chairman of the Nigeria Governorsâ Forum (NGF), and Governor of Kwara, AbdulRazaq AbdulRahman, said governor who have been using their resources to bail out local governments have been relieve of a burden.
He disclosed this to the State House Correspondents after a meeting with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
As reported by Daily Trust, the NGF chairman also affirmed that the state chief executives were comfortable with the Supreme Court judgment.
AbdulRazaq, who was flanked by the governors of Imo, Hope Uzodimma, and Bauchi, Bala Mohammed, stated that the ruling is a devolution of power that relieves governors of the significant financial burden of bailing out local governments, an expense that he noted many Nigerians are unaware of, The Nation reported.
The Kwara governor affirmed that the NGF had requested for the enrollment of the judgment and would be reviewing it to decide the way forward.
Speaking further, Governor AbdulRahman said the judgement would not negatively affect Kwara state as the state has not been tampering with council funds.
Earlier, TimesNow.com.ng reported that human rights lawyer Femi Falana has hailed the Supreme Courtâs judgment which gave full financial autonomy to the local governments.
Falana expressed support for the apex court’s decision and noted that the judgement would promote accountability at the grassroots level.
He urged the 36 state governors to study the judgement and noted that the ruling “was not meant to strip the state governments of their influence over the LGAs”.
Source: TimesNow.com.ng
