23rd May, 2024
Sen. George Akume, Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF) has reiterated President Bola Tinubu administration’s commitment to autonomy for Local Government Areas in the country.
Speaking during the Ministerial Press Briefing on Wednesday in Abuja to mark Tinubu’s one year anniversary in office, the SGF said Tinubu was committed to rules of law and the constitution of the country.
He added that the President has also shown good faith towards true fiscal federalism since he assumed office.
He assured that the administration would continue from where previous government stopped on autonomy of the local governments.
“On the need for national dialogue for local government autonomy, I think that the National Assembly has done quite a lot on that issue.
“I remember the last administration also came up with some executive orders to enhance independence of the local governments and the national assembly is very supportive of that.
“The present government is also supportive of that, we believe and strongly too, that we will continue to improve on the questions of autonomy for the local government areas in Nigeria.”
According to him, the present administration has recognised the fact that local government areas are the closest tier of government to the people at the grassroots in particular.
“In a typical federal set up, you have tiers of governments and these tiers of governments are also independent.
“One of them have access to the federation account which goes to each state and it is under the control of the governors of those states and the legislators of that state.
“The money going to the state was supposed to be applied prudently, efficiently for the benefit of the people. It is true that the bulk of people live in the state and local government levels,” he said.
According to him, the purpose of sharing the nation’s wealth is to ensure that the welfare of the people is enhanced.
The SGF, however, commended some state governors for their efforts at ensuring that people at the grassroots feel the impacts of government through ‘People Oriented Projects’.
“I want to state here that many of the states are also doing their best for the people and therefore, we will continue to give governors the chance to do their best for their people.
“I am aware that people feel they are not doing their best, the legislators are also there to ensure that people feel impacts of governance at the local government levels,” he said.
(NAN)