LG Autonomy: Showunmi Urges Nigerian Govt to Bully Governors Into Implementation

Segun Showunmi, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has called on the Federal Government to pressure state governors into implementing local government financial autonomy.

According to DAILY POST, the Supreme Court, in a judgment delivered by Justice Emmanuel Agim on July 11, 2024, ruled that Nigeria’s 774 local government councils should have the authority to manage their own funds independently. The ruling aims to enhance local government independence and accountability to their communities.

Speaking to newsmen on Tuesday in Abeokuta, Showunmi criticized state governors, labeling them “clowns” for delaying the implementation of the local government autonomy mandated by the Supreme Court. He insisted that unless the governors are compelled to comply, the situation will remain unchanged.

Showunmi said, “I am not happy with the Federal Government of President Bola Tinubu on the essence that they have gone all the way to the Supreme Court to say that LGs should have their monies directly and full autonomy, and you are sitting down there and allowing some clowns calling themselves governors to be playing with that.

“If you just bullied them into implementing that LG thing, do you know the amount of jobs you would generate in the country because the LGs will be so bolstered and there’s a way to do it.

“In the days when General Babangida was here, he was Military Head of Staff and they started this democracy, the democracy of NRC and SDP, you know what they did? Local Government didn’t collect their money through the state. They went to the Federal Ministry of Finance in the state and picked their LG cheques. That’s what they did. The state would go and collect wherever it collects its own.”

The former presidential campaign spokesman for Atiku Abubakar stated that political office holders lack a culture of doing what is right because they do not face the consequences of their actions.

He praised the Tinubu-led administration for its “systematic thinking in solving challenges,” noting that the government has performed well over the past two years.