Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo has called on state houses of
assembly to speedily ratify the bill seeking total autonomy and devolution of
powers to the LGAs in the country.
The vice-president made the call on Friday while delivering
a lecture at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPPS) in
Jos.
The bill to grant financial autonomy to LGAs across the
country was passed by the senate and House of Representatives in March.
Osinbajo, who was represented by Chris Ngige, minister of
labour and employment, said local authorities play key roles in nation-building
but lamented that the third tier of government had, over time, been neglected
and undervalued.
He maintained that the ongoing constitutional amendment
seeking to allocate more powers to the local governments is a step in the right
direction.
“While the roles of state governments and their scope of
authority appear very well appreciated, local governments remain, in my view,
quite undervalued, needing more attention from all of us, better funding,
organisational and high quality leadership,” he said.
“As we speak, a bill for local government autonomy is
striving hard to pass the threshold of 24 votes required from state houses of
assembly, a key milestone towards its passage.
“I believe that
efforts being made, through the ongoing constitutional amendment, to cede more
responsibilities for control and management of resources to local governments
across the country reflect our understanding of how crucial it has become for
this tier of government to take full charge of their responsibilities and
functions at optimal capacity.
“After all, it is often argued that local government is
closest to the people and best placed to impact on their lives.”
‘STEP IN THE RIGHT
DIRECTION’
The vice-president argued that local government fiscal autonomy
would promote peace and security in the country.
He added that people in rural communities understand their
terrain better and know how to deploy resources towards tackling security
challenges.
He said the yearning for local government autonomy is a step
in the right direction and called on state assemblies to expedite actions
toward ratifying the autonomy bill.
“Ratifying the bill that grants local governments fiscal
autonomy in Nigeria is indeed a step in the right direction, and we encourage
the yet-to-be-decided voters from state assemblies to be considerate in this
regard and speedily pass it,” he said.
“The issue of security for example which has posed a
significant challenge in the last decades cannot be effectively and consistently
tackled with centralised security structure and resources.
“It is clear that
Nigeria is too vast to be policed from the centre and the people at the
grassroots know the intricacies of their communities better, they know the
geography intimately, they understand the ebbs and flows of people and
information in a greater deal.
“It is my firm belief that we must strengthen our
sub-national administrative units via further devolution of powers and
resources for effective performance.”
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