Attorney General of the Federation, Lateef Gagbemi, has called for the abolition of State Electoral Commissions, identifying them as significant obstacles to the development of local governments in Nigeria. He made these remarks at a one-day discourse on “Nigeria\u2019s Security Challenges and Good Governance at the Local Government Levels,” organized by the House of Representatives in Abuja on Monday.<\/p>\n
Fagbemi emphasized that state governors have exploited the gaps and ambiguities in the 1999 Constitution to undermine and render local governments ineffective. Specifically, he cited sections such as 7(1), 83(3), and 7(5) of the Constitution, which governors manipulate to impose their will on local governments.<\/p>\n
“The inadequacies in these constitutional sections have allowed governors to infringe upon the rights of local governments, depriving grassroots communities of effective governance,” Fagbemi stated. He criticized the prevalent use of state electoral commissions to conduct flawed elections, which result in the imposition of leaders at the local government level. Additionally, many governors bypass elections entirely, opting to appoint caretaker committees to manage local government affairs.<\/p>\n
Fagbemi also highlighted the misuse of states’ and local governments’ joint accounts by state governors. This fiscal manipulation, he argued, has financially crippled local governments, as governors often withhold federal allocations meant for local governance.<\/p>\n
“The abuse of the joint account system by state governors has led to fiscal emasculation, leaving local governments impoverished and unable to perform their functions effectively,” Fagbemi noted.<\/p>\n
The discourse underscored the critical need for reforms to empower local governments and ensure they serve their communities effectively. Fagbemi called for a constitutional amendment to address these issues and proposed the establishment of an independent body to oversee local government elections, thereby eliminating state electoral commissions.<\/p>\n
“To achieve true development and good governance at the grassroots level, we must ensure that local governments are free from undue influence and control by state governors. An independent electoral body for local governments is essential for this transformation,” he added.<\/p>\n
The Attorney General’s remarks were met with support from various stakeholders at the event, who echoed the need for a robust framework to strengthen local governance. They emphasized that empowering local governments is crucial for addressing Nigeria’s security challenges and fostering good governance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Attorney General of the Federation, Lateef Gagbemi, has called for the abolition of State Electoral Commissions, identifying them as significant obstacles to the development of local governments in Nigeria. He made these remarks at a one-day discourse on “Nigeria\u2019s Security Challenges and Good Governance at the Local Government Levels,” organized by the House of Representatives […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":32664,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32663"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32663\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32671,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32663\/revisions\/32671"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}