As reactions keep on following the Supreme Court judgement on local government autonomy, Oyo State Lead Representative, Seyi Makinde, says his administration won’t permit the people of the state to experience the ill effects of the aftermath of the verdict.
The Lead Representative set up two committees burdened with the obligations of evaluating the Supreme Court judgement on local government autonomy and initiating recommendations that will guarantee that the change doesn’t tell on the people of the state adversely.
Makinde kept up with the fact that the judgement has made a constitutional lacuna that will hurl various difficulties at the local government level.
He said however he is in favor of transparency in the councils, the Supreme Court judgement “is not a silver bullet that will wash away” Nigeria’s concerns.
Makinde communicated this during an Advisory and Consultative Committee Meeting comprising stakeholders in the local government system, noting that he convened a meeting of all important stakeholders in the local government system so that they could outline the significant challenges at the councils and foster solutions that will guarantee a consistent execution of the cycle.
As indicated by the Lead Representative, his administration knows and has been making the wisest decision, including conducting two council elections to guarantee caretaker committees don’t man the affairs of councils, dislodging the backlog of debts owed workers and pensioners at the council level and fixing infrastructure deficit in the primary healthcare sectors and the inner roads.
The meeting, held at the Executive Chamber of the Lead Representative’s Office, Secretariat, Agodi, Ibadan, had in attendance council chairmen, the leaderships of the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT), Nigerian Union of Pensioners (NUP), Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC), as well as representatives of Ministries, Departments and Agencies that have connection with the local government system.
The Lead Representative said, “I called this meeting because I felt that even though we have not seen the Certified True Copy of the judgment of the Supreme Court, we have to be proactive and discuss the decision of the Supreme Court as it concerns financial autonomy of the local government councils because I believe a lacuna has been created between the decision and the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria that we all swore to uphold.
“The law is the law and when there is a conflict, yes, we should go to the court. But it behooves on us to look for our own homegrown solutions that can ensure that we have transparency and that our people do not suffer. This is because when two elephants are fighting it is the grass that will suffer.”
Makinde noted that his government acquired a local government system that owed a backlog of salaries, gratuities and pensions.
In addition he said, “I am saying this because Oyo State will get out of this even stronger. We are people that know what is good for our people.
“Before we came in, leave bonuses were last paid in 2017 and we have paid for 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023. The Primary Health Care facilities, inner roads were all in bad shape. But we have been working collaboratively with the LGs to deliver dividends of democracy to our people.
“We were able to clear those salary arrears. We paid N18bn in pension and gratuities over this period. We upgraded about 209 PHCs, equipped about 264, and completed 60 model schools. We constructed and renovated hundreds of primary school classrooms and fixed some of our roads.
“But there are still challenges that we have to address. We still have a backlog of gratuities and pensions. The local governments owe about N55bn in pension and gratuities. We are developing infrastructure that would push the economy and raise the living standard of their people and push their economy towards sustainable goals.”
Briefing journalists shortly after the closed-door meeting, the Oyo State Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, Hon. Ademola Ojo, stated that the two committees set up by the Lead Representative had been given a period of four to six weeks to initiate a homegrown approach to tending to the lacuna created by the Supreme Court judgement.
Likewise, the Attorney-General of the state/Commissioner for Justice, Biodun Aikomo, said the Lead Representative took a proactive step by setting up the committees, as indicated by him, the step would help tend to the crisis that could emerge as a result of the judgment.
He added that the Lead Representative has proven that he is committed to the wellbeing of the Oyo state people and the development of the state.
