- By Azeezat Okubajo
A member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Tunde Ogunmola, has said the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led government has strengthened local government administration with the Supreme Court judgment on financial autonomy.
Ogunmola, who is an expert in local government administration, urged Nigerians to continue to support various reforms embarked upon by the Tinubu administration.
He added that the efforts of the federal government in strengthening local government would drive grassroots development.
Ogunmola called on the state governors to ensure the purpose of the Supreme Court judgment was achieved by abiding by the ruling of the Apex Court.
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Ogunmola, a graduate of Local Government Administration and Development Studies, said: “Local governments are where government’s impacts are mostly felt in terms of infrastructural development and provision of basic amenities for the people at the grassroots. If funds are in short supply to them, developmental projects will definitely elude the local people because government is money, and without money, government at the local level will be helpless. Helplessness, it’s often said, leads to hopelessness”.
He appealed to governors to complement Tinubu’s efforts at changing the narrative at the grassroots, urging them to take a detour and implement the statutory Revenue Act of 1981 to the local councils under their jurisdiction.
“The governors are mandated by the law to give certain percentage of their Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) to the local governments monthly to augment their revenue to be able to discharge their responsibilities effectively. It is clearly stated in the Revenue Act of 1981 that state governments should allocate 10 per cent of their IGR to the local governments within their jurisdiction. Local councils need steady flow of funds to be able to respond to the needs and expectations of the people under their watch, and one of the pathways to steady flow of funds is revenue generation,” he maintained.