Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde addressed concerns following the Supreme Court’s decision granting financial autonomy to local governments during an emergency meeting with local government stakeholders.
He emphasized that his administration is committed to ensuring residents do not face adverse effects from this ruling, which he described as creating a constitutional gap.
Governor Makinde stated this on Monday, during an Advisory/Consultative Committee Meeting comprising stakeholders in the local government system, noting that he convened a meeting of all relevant stakeholders in the local government system so that they could outline the major challenges at the councils and develop solutions that will ensure a seamless implementation of the process in a way that will ensure Oyo State people do not suffer.
While supporting transparency, he cautioned that the ruling is not a cure-all for Nigeria’s governance issues.
The meeting, held at the Executive Chamber of the Governor’s Office, Secretariat, Agodi, Ibadan, had in attendance council chairmen, the leaderships of the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT), Nigerian Union of Pensioners (NUP), Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC), as well as representatives of Ministries, Departments and Agencies that have connection with the local government system.
The Governor said: “I called this meeting because I felt that even though we have not seen the Certified True Copy of the judgment of the Supreme Court, we have to be proactive and discuss the decision of the Supreme Court as it concerns financial autonomy of the local government councils because I believe a lacuna has been created between the decision and the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria that we all swore to uphold”.
“The law is the law and when there is a conflict, yes, we should go to the court’.
Makinde noted that his administration inherited a local government system that owed a backlog of salaries, gratuities and pensions.
He added, “I am saying this because Oyo State will get out of this even stronger. We are people that know what is good for our people.
“Before we came in, leave bonuses were last paid in 2017 and we have paid for 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023. The Primary Health Care facilities, inner roads were all in bad shape. But we have been working collaboratively with the LGs to deliver dividends of democracy to our people.
“We were able to clear those salary arrears. We paid N18bn in pension and gratuities over this period. We upgraded about 209 PHCs, equipped about 264, and completed 60 model schools. We constructed and renovated hundreds of primary school classrooms and fixed some of our roads.
“But there are still challenges that we have to address. We still have a backlog of gratuities and pensions. The local governments owe about N55bn in pension and gratuities.
We are developing infrastructure that would push the economy and raise the living standard of their people and push their economy towards sustainable goals.”
To proactively tackle potential crises stemming from the Supreme Court ruling, Makinde established two committees tasked with evaluating the judgment and formulating actionable recommendations within four to six weeks.
This initiative reflects his commitment to the welfare and development of Oyo State, aiming to bolster the local economy and improve living standards.
Briefing newsmen shortly after the closed door meeting, the Oyo State Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, Hon. Ademola Ojo, stated that the two committees set up by the governor had been given a frame time of four to six weeks to come up with the homegrown approach to addressing the lacuna created by the Supreme Court judgment.
Adeleke Maria
