Billionaire Prince Ned Munir Nwoko is advocating for local government autonomy as the panancea to Nigeria’s pressing crises.
He commended President Muhammadu Buhari on his stand for local government freedom and his recent statement on the issues.
The former House of Representatives member said local government autonomy is the beginning and end of all Nigeria’s problems, adding that granting local government autonomy will end all Nigeria’s problems and the crises across the country.
He spoke on the importance of local government autonomy to solving the myriad of problems and crises facing Nigeria, as well as her stability during a lecture organised by the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), FCT Correspondents’ Chapel, to mark Nigeria’s Democracy Day in Abuja.
Nwoko said he was happy and equally sad when President Buhari spoke about the problem in the local government system, saying, I was happy because at least the President knows what is happening but I was also sad because he has failed to do anything.”
According to him, the President can issue an executive order on the matter, especially as the local government workers have been pushing for autonomy; adding that the idea of sending the money meant for the local governments to state in the name of state, local government joint account gives room for pilfering.
He pointed out that the local government should be empowered, because every crime is local, and the state government cannot deal with the issue because they don’t believe it is their obligation.
He pointed out that many parts of the 744 local governments are occupied by insurgents, hence, it is the people at the rural level that need to be empowered to provide the needed security and resolve the crisis within their locality.
He said: “You can imagine if each of the local government chairmen and the councillors are empowered to do it, and work with the traditional rulers. If N300 million is earmarked for the local government, N100 million does not get to them, The President said it, he knows about it. Then what is stopping him from working with the National Assembly to ensure there is autonomy for local government.”
Nwoko pointed out that even if the chairmen and councilors at the local government level cannot be trusted, the EFCC, ICPC, DSS and the CCT are there to do the monitoring on how they manage the funds, rather than the governors who are covered by immunity and cannot be probed when they are in office.
He said the allocations to local government would not be a windfall going forward as Nigeria prepares for the next local government that would become autonomous and will give comfort to every citizen.