Senator Sulaiman Abdulrahman Kawu Sumaila, representing Kano South Senatorial District, has commended President Ahmed Bola Tinubu over his recent decision to effect local government autonomy.
Daily News 24 reports that Senator Sumaila, in a statement, said the decision was timely, as according to him the Nigerian masses are in dear need of policies that will alleviate their sufferings.
Sumaila added that president Tinubu deserved commendation as the decision he took to ensure local government autonomy was in line with stand of the senators in their efforts to salvage the grassroots from the hardships they were facing.
“I am happy, Mr. President has begin to toe on our path to salvage our people by given the local governments autonomy to operate as enshrined in the constitution.
“The decision to compel the 36 states of the federation to give autonomy to local governments is a step to the right direction.
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“This will surely help in bring developments to our people, particularly the grassroots in the rural areas. It will equally bost the nation’s economy by increasing our Internally Generated Revenue through agricultural value chain and other commercial activities that will come up after the local governments got their autonomy” said.
Senator Sumaila, however, appealed to President Tinubu to also look into the problem of local government election, as according to him is another problem affecting the progress of the grassroots under democratic governance.
“I would be glad if president Tinubu will also address challenges affecting the conduct of local government elections in the nation. The president should do something to stop politicians from messing up with processes of local governments elections for their personal interests.
“We are all aware how local government election is being conducted under the watch of states governors in this country. From the primary to the main stream election, the processes are always being manipulated by politicians for their personal interest against interests of the majority.
“That should not be so under democracy and I am appealing to Mr President to also do something urgently to address this problem. I am sure this will complement the autonomy of the local government, thereby paving ways for extending dividends of democracy to the grassroots,” he said.
Senator Sumaila affirmed that the Legislative and executive arms of government have done their own part, it is now over to the judiciary to appropriately exercise its constitutional rights in deciding in the case before it on the local government autonomy.
“We, at the National Assembly have rised the matter, supported the autonomy for local government and the executive has also reason with us. It is now over to the judiciary to make it’s stand.
“I thanked the Senate President, Mr. Godswill Alpabio and Deputy Senate President, Barau I. Jibrin for given me opportunity to table the matter before the Senate and my colleagues for supporting me on this issue,” the statement concluded.
