S’court judgment: You don’t know how much we pay to bail out LGs, Gov AbdulRazaq tells Nigerians
The Governor of Kwara state and chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF), AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, has said that the public “really don’t know how much states spend on bailing out local governments”.
AbdulRazaq while reacting to the supreme court ruling affirming the fiscal autonomy of LGAs just after meeting President Bola Tinubu on Thursday, said the governors are “happy with the devolution of power regarding local government autonomy”.
He described it as “relief from the financial burden to state governments,” adding that there will be total compliance with the apex court ruling by the governors.
“We welcome the ruling of the supreme court, compliance is a given, and our attorney generals have applied for the enrollment order, which we’ll study carefully,” he said.
He added that “the forum will meet next Wednesday to look at the issue wholly and then come up with a resolution.
“Like I said, we haven’t seen the enrollment of the court order, and so we really don’t know what is in there,” he said.
Speaking on the implications for states that do not have elected LGA officials, the NGF chairman, who cited Kwara as an example, said the judgment will not negatively affect the state.
He noted that the state government has not been tampering with council funds.
“It’s not going to affect the state. We have never tampered with local government funds. So it is going to continue,” he said.
“What the local governments have to do is manage themselves, especially with the coming minimum wage, to manage their affairs and make sure salaries are paid, traditional rulers get their five percent and those are the main issues.
