Fayemi On LG Autonomy: FG’s Move Threatens Federal Structure With Unitary System Of Government

A former governor of Ekiti State, Kayode Fayemi has condemned the recent verdict granting financial autonomy to local governments in the federation.

He opined that local government autonomy is a misnomer and aberration in a federal system of government.

Fayemi shared his reservation at the launch of St. Racheal’s People Consulting 2024 Leadership and Economic Summit-1.0 on Thursday night in Lagos.

Speaking on how the country could navigate out of its current socio-economic and security challenges, Fayemi said the Federal Government’s suit against state governors and the ruling in its favour was not the solution to the challenges at hand.

“We cannot return to a unitary state. But unfortunately, we are gradually going back to a unitary from of government even though it is being dressed up as restructuring.

“The President (Bola Tinubu) is a federalist, he is a leader in my party, we share quite a lot in common, but I do not know any federal entity anywhere in the world where the federal government becomes the driver of what happens in the local government.

“It does not happen anywhere in the world and the Nigerian Constitution in Section 2 is very clear that Nigeria is a federation of the federal (central government) and the state. it is not three tier,” he said.

Speaking further, he argued that it was a display of ignorance to describe the local government as the third tier of government.

He added, “The principle of federalism is clear, it is a principle of dual federation units.

“Anywhere in the world where we have federalism, it is the state or province or region either in India, U.S., Canada,or Australia.

“It is now up to the state to determine whether it wants to have 20 counties, or 50 or 200 local authorities based on its own local needs. This is a misnormer ,it does not happen anywhere in the world.

“With this latest strategy, I assure you, in the first instance, I don’t see how workable it is; it not going to work.”

He said that if some governors had not done well in the administration of local governments, solutions should be proffered and tamper with what federalism entails.