A former federal lawmaker and ADC chieftain, Nicholas Tofowomo, said that local government autonomy will stem insecurity in Nigeria.
Mr Tofowomo, who represented Ondo South senatorial district in the Ninth National Assembly, stated this on Tuesday in Okitipupa.
He also said that for local government autonomy to thrive, the federal government must halt the release of their allocations from the Federation Account through the state governments.
On July 11, 2024, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of local government autonomy, affirming that they must receive their allocations directly from the Federation Account.
Mr Tofowomo noted that, following the Supreme Court judgment, it was illegal for governors to retain allocations due to local governments, a practice he said was detrimental to the growth and development of the grassroots.
The former senator said that the actions of the governors had constituted a flagrant disobedience of a lawful court order, which, he said, were aiding and abetting the current security challenges in the country.
According to him, Mr Tinubu tried by taking the contentious issue of local government autonomy to the nation’s apex court, resulting in the landmark judgement.
He, however, said that this was not enough, calling on the president to ensure that allocations were paid directly to the local governments.
“The insecurity bedevilling our nation can be checked and tackled from the grassroots if the local governments have autonomy because each of them will monitor its domain, beef up security and protect lives and property.
“The local governments understand their terrains better than the state; their security measures will help stem insecurity across the country. Any government that can provide these two things: security and electricity, will definitely win the hearts of the masses,” he said.
Mr Tofowomo urged the federal government to improve the country’s security architecture and electricity infrastructure as part of efforts to tackle the menace of insecurity.
(NAN)
