Former House of Representatives member, Abubakar Ahmed, has said most state governors are quickly organising local government elections only to keep collecting federal funds, not because they care about democracy.
Speaking on ARISE News on Friday, Ahmed said many governors want to stay in control by rushing these elections after the Supreme Court granted full autonomy to local governments.
“Most of these state governors are rushing to conduct local government elections, because that will entitle them to continue receiving the federal allocation,” he said.
He explained that governors are working hard to install their loyalists in local government offices so they can continue to control the funds, even after the court ruled that local governments must now receive their money directly.
“There is no local government that is getting directly from the federal allocation any amount less than 100 million,” Ahmed said. “So they just appoint their cronies, their boys, some of them are even dropouts that cannot speak good English, as local government administrators. How can they manage the hundreds of millions that goes directly?”
He added that most local governments are not prepared to manage funds on their own because they’ve never operated independently before. Instead, the state accountant generals have been managing the money.
Ahmed also pointed out the difficulty in meeting the Central Bank’s requirement for audited accounts before local governments can open direct accounts for allocation.
“They have never operated the amount by themselves. It is being operated by the state accountant general under the tutelage of the state government,” he said.
He criticised the federal government’s handling of the situation, saying it is not doing enough to help the local governments break free from state control.
“They are giving with the right hand and still collecting with the left hand,” he said, calling the current system confusing.
Ahmed urged President Bola Tinubu to take strong steps, including declaring a state of emergency on local government autonomy and creating a special body to enforce the rules.
“If the federal government is really serious, they will have at least put some palliative to alleviate the obstacle. They can just declare a state of emergency in the local government autonomy,” he said.
He warned that without real changes, governors will continue using the system for personal gain, while local governments remain weak and undemocratic.
