A spokesman for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has called for some electoral reforms to make the recent financial autonomy granted to local governments (LGs) by the Supreme Court effective.
Felix Morka said though financial autonomy has been granted to the third tier of government, Nigeria cannot be said to have formidable LG administrations when governors still “handpick” chairmen for local governments in their states.
“In my understanding, the Supreme Court was right on the mark to give local governments access to funds meant for them. I don’t think this matter should engage the kind of controversy that I am seeing,” he said on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Tuesday.
“I agree that the entire system for regulating how elections are conducted in the local governments has to be properly revisited by the state governors and federal authorities.
“They need to come together and figure out a way to create a system and to regulate the conduct of elections that blends itself to some level of scrutiny, objectivity and independence as well because giving financial autonomy is one thing but if those who serve are handpicked by the same governors, then we are not yet there. We need to make some reforms to that electoral process,” Morka noted.
Last Thursday, the Supreme Court granted financial autonomy to the third tier of government, ordering the Federal Government to pay the 20.60% monthly allocation of the 774 LGs in the country directly to their exclusive accounts and not to accounts controlled by governors.
The apex court in the landmark judgement also barred power-drunk governors from dissolving democratically elected local government councils.