A NON-GOVERNMENTAL Organisation (NGO), Charleston Foundation and Youth Development, has commended the Supreme Court verdict affirming the financial autonomy of the nation’s 774 Local Government Areas (LGAs).
The Executive Director of the foundation, Mr Charles Adeyemi, gave the commendation in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Osogbo on Thursday.
Adeyemi praised President Bola Tinubu’s administration for championing grassroots development in the country.
He called on stakeholders across the country to remain vigilant as some governors might resort to coercive tactics in forcing local government chairmen to remit allocations back to them.
According to him, there is a need for thorough monitoring of the whole process by anti-graft agencies, media and NGOs among others to ensure compliance.
“I believe without adequate measures to maintain strict compliance by the state governments, there will not be any progress and some forces will continue to exploit people’s money.
“Let us stand firm and demand accountability for the sake of our nation’s future,” he said.
The executive director urged all LGA chairmen to ensure that allocations from the Federal Government (FG) were used for the growth and development of their area with proper accountability.
Adeyemi says that the building and transformation of the nation from the grassroots will help in the betterment of the citizenry.
NAN recalls the FG approached the Supreme Court seeking to compel governors of the 36 states of the federation to grant full autonomy to the local governments in their domains.
The suit, marked SC/CV/343/2024, was filed by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Lateef Fagbemi, on behalf of the FG.
Justice Emmanuel Agim, reading the judgment of the seven-member panel of justices of the apex court on Thursday, held that henceforth, all LGA allocations be paid directly into their accounts. (NAN)
