Disturbed by the continued neglect of grassroots governance, the Peasants Empowerment Concern Initiative (PECi) has called on Nigerians to rise and reclaim control of their Local Government Areas (LGAs) from state governors.
The group issued this call in a statement on Sunday by its National Coordinator, Osita Okechukwu, ahead of the first anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court judgment on July 11, 2024, which granted full financial autonomy to LGAs.
With just days to the anniversary, PECi lamented widespread public apathy, warning that Nigerians are “sleeping over their rights” while governors continue to exercise undue control over local council funds.
Describing the development as “utter contempt” for the Supreme Court’s verdict, PECi said many Nigerians have failed to hold local officials accountable or demand transparency in the use of council allocations.
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The group highlighted the consequences of this neglect, citing the prolonged closure of FCT primary schools in 2025, the Mokwa flood disaster, worsening insecurity at the local level, and the deterioration of rural roads as direct results of poor governance at the grassroots.
PECi noted that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, aware of the systemic repression of LGAs as a former governor, had approached the Supreme Court to put an end to years of “planlessness and squandermania” that undermined the effectiveness of council administrations despite massive federal allocations.
Describing LGAs as the cornerstone of grassroots democracy, the group insisted that financial autonomy is the key to improving the quality of life in Nigeria’s 8,809 political wards, most of which are in rural areas.
PECi called on Nigerians to take ownership of the Supreme Court judgment by actively monitoring their local councils, demanding accountability from councillors, and rejecting the continued hijack of LGA funds by state governments.
The group pledged to implement robust checks and feedback systems using multimedia platforms—radio, TV, print, and social media—to track how FAAC allocations are managed by the 774 local government councils across the country.