APC professionals hail apex court ruling on LG autonomy

The All Progressives Congress(APC) Professionals Forum says the Supreme Court ruling that affirmed Local Government autonomy will shore up development at that tier of government.

Dr Isa Yuguda, Chairman of the forum’s Board of Trustees, in a statement on Thursday in Abuja, said that the ruling was one of President Bola Tinubu’s major gifts to Nigeria’s democratic growth.

Yuguda said that the forum, like many Nigerians, had always wondered why state governments had, over the years, held on to funds meant for local government administrations, contrary to constitutional provisions.

He said that the development was more painful in recent months because, in spite of a quantum leap in allocations from federal purse to states and local governments, there was no commensurate improvement.

He regretted that since Tinubu assumed office, there had not been much improvement in development at state levels, let alone at the grassroots.

“This was why we supported the president’s position on the local governments, especially the decision to sue the 36 state governors over alleged misuse of local g9overnment funds.

“Now that the Supreme Court has affirmed our position and declared it unconstitutional for governors to hold on to local government funds, we praise Tinubu for testing the matter in court,” Yuguda said.

He recalled that Tinubu, as Governor of Lagos State, took the Federal Government to the Supreme Court on multiple occasions on constitutional matters.

“For our group, the court’s affirmation of local government autonomy is the first step towards grassroots development because that tier will now have direct access to funds statutorily allocated to them.

“This is good for democracy and is bound to increase fund allocations to the third tier of government,” the statement said,

He said Tinubu should be applauded for actualising what his predecessors could not.