15th April, 2011
The House of Representatives member-elect for Ikeja Federal Constituency, Hon. James Abiodun Faleke, has expressed his appreciation to the people of the constituency for massively voting and electing him during last Saturday’s National Assembly election.
Faleke, who spoke with Political Platform after his official declaration by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in Ikeja, Lagos State, southwest Nigeria, was specifically grateful to the national leader of his party, the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu; the state Chairman of the party, Cief Henry Ajomale, Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola, Engr. Rauf Aregbesola and Vice Chairman of the party, Cardinal Jame Omolaja Odunbaku, popularly called Baba Eto, among others.
“I’m very grateful to you all. Without you, this could not have become a reality and I’m really overwhelmed at the level of support, cooperation and prayers I received from the people of this constituency.
Faleke stated further that having been given such massive support by the people of the constituency to represent them, the onus now lies on him not to disappoint them.
Speaking further, he said the only way to stop agitation for creation of new local governments is for the Federal Government to desist from using the number of local governments in the states of the federation as the formula for sharing revenue from the Federation Account.
According to him, there has been constant demand for additional local governments by state governments because the government at the centre has opted to use the number of local governments as basis for revenue sharing, which he said puts states like Lagos at a disadvantage.
“Look at Lagos. It has just 20 local governments recognised by the constitution, yet it has more people to cater for than Kano with 44 local governments. Even Jigawa that was carved out of Kano has 27 local governments. This is grossly unfair,’’ he lamented.
Faleke stated further that in the spirit of transparency and equity, it is either local governments created by the states are listed in the constitution or the Federal Government should stop using the number of local governments as formula for revenue sharing.
He vowed to push for the validation of the 37 local council development areas in Lagos.
Speaking on the issue of minimum wage, the former chairman of Ojodu Local Council Development Area stated that states should be allowed to fix minimum wage for their workers, and condemned the present revenue sharing formula which he argued is lopsided in favour of the Federal Government.
“The socio-political structure differs from one state to the other, hence what is desirable as minimum wage in one state may be undesirable in another. States should be allowed to pay what they can afford. In addition to this, the Federal Government should shed some of its revenue to the states. It is not fair for them to be taking more than 50% of revenue from the Federation Account,†he said.