Local Government Autonomy Misunderstood – Governor Sule

Nasarawa State Governor Abdullahi Sule has said the notion of autonomy for local government areas was mostly being viewed within the prism of resources, removal and installation of chairmen by governors.

He said the essence of autonomy was bigger and not restricted to the power of sitting governors to exercise control over the third tier of government.

According to him, autonomy is about adequate funding and judicious use of resources for grassroots development.

He spoke after casting his vote at his Gudi country home in Akwanga local government area during yesterday’s local government election in the state.

He said contrary to the general notion, what most local government areas get as monthly allocations from the federation account is hardly enough to offset salary obligations at the councils.

He said his administration had been augmenting what was accruing to the local governments to enable them remain afloat.

“As far as their money is concerned, we have never participated in the sharing of their money. As a matter of fact, they had always received less than what they required.  There were many times we had to augment from the state’s resources to manage the local government areas,” he stated.

He expressed optimism that allocations to the local government areas would improve with the Supreme Court judgement to enable elected chairmen transform the grassroots.

Governor Sule said his administration had made efforts to initiate structures for seamless implementation of the Supreme Court judgement.

He said the autonomy had been domesticated by the state House of Assembly, with the passage of a bill on the matter.

He said there was every need for close monitoring and supervision of how the incoming local government chairmen would manage their resources to avoid  misappropriation of funds.

Speaking on the election, he commended the smooth and peaceful conduct of the exercise.

He appreciated the people of the state for embracing democracy and believing in the administration of the All Progressives Congress (APC) under the leadership of President Bola Tinubu.

“From what you can see, I have just voted in my polling unit along with my family. I can see the process going smoothly. There is no rancour, no misunderstanding. I understand that about 11 political parties are participating. Yet, it does not look like we are having any kind of rancour whatsoever. Even though this is a unit where there was never a rancuor. We thank God Almighty for what we are hearing all over the state,” he said.