Senator Abdurahman Sumaila has issued a harsh warning to state governors who are obstructing the full implementation of local government autonomy, urging them to stop before it is too late.
The senator who represents Kano South Senatorial District spoke in Kano on Saturday during the Northwest Zonal Public Hearing of the Senate Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution, complaining that state governors remained the major impediment to the realisation of full local government autonomy in Nigeria.
“I must commend President Bola Tinubu for not only accepting the bill I sponsored on local government autonomy but also for taking the matter to the Supreme Court to secure a definitive judgement in favour of the 774 local government areas,” he said.
He emphasised that the long-standing campaign for local government autonomy, led by Tinubu, the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees, and other civil society organisations, must not be in vain.
“State governors are bent on keeping the councils under their control by withholding their allocations and reducing them to beggars. This must stop,” Sumaila said.
He emphasised that the National Assembly and other relevant stakeholders must oppose any future attempts by the governors to undermine the independence of the third tier of government.
“We cannot allow the blockage of local government autonomy by state actors. We must fight using all available legal and constitutional means to make it happen,” he said.
Sumaila, who accompanied local government union leaders to present a draft bill to the Senate Constitution Review Committee, praised the committee’s chair, Deputy Senate President Barau Jibrin, for holding the public hearing in Kano.
