Senator Abdurahman Sumaila, representing Kano South Senatorial District, has strongly warned state governors against hindering the full implementation of local government autonomy, urging them to stop such actions before it becomes too late.
Speaking in Kano on Saturday at the North-West Zonal Public Hearing of the Senate Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution, Senator Sumaila expressed concern that state governors continue to be the main obstacle to achieving full local government autonomy in Nigeria.
“I must commend President Bola Tinubu for not only accepting the bill I sponsored on local government autonomy, but also for taking the matter to the Supreme Court to secure a definitive judgment in favour of the 774 local government areas,” he said.
He emphasised that the long-standing push for the liberation of local governments—championed by President Tinubu, the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), and various civil society organisations—must not be allowed to go to waste.
“State governors are bent on keeping the councils under their control by withholding their allocations and reducing them to beggars. This must stop,” Senator Sumaila said.
He stressed that the National Assembly and other relevant stakeholders must resist any further attempts by the governors to undermine the independence of the third tier of government.
“We cannot allow the blockage of local government autonomy by state actors. We must fight using all available legal and constitutional means to make it happen,” he said.
Senator Sumaila, who joined local government union leaders in presenting a draft bill to the Senate Constitution Review Committee, praised the committee—led by Deputy Senate President Barau Jibrin—for organising the public hearing in the historic city of Kano.