A member of the House of Representatives, Hon Amobi Ogah has called for full implementation of local government autonomy, saying that an effective LG system would reduce the burden of expectations on lawmakers.
Lawmakers have the constitutional duty of making laws but their performances are usually measured by their constituents on the number of projects they were able to execute.
But Ogah, who represents Isuikwuato/Umunneochi federal constituency said that it was an anomaly to expect legislators to be performing the functions of the executive arm of government.
He told his constituents at town hall meetings held at both Umunneochi and Isuikwuato on Saturday February 1, 2025 that most of the things people expect lawmakers to do were those things the local governments should ordinarily provide for the people if they had total control over their funds.
“There is no LGA in Nigeria today that does not get at least N250 million every month as allocation from the federal government,” Ogah said.
He stated that “if N250 million gets to every LGA monthly, you can imagine the level of development that will be seen at the grassroots” across the nation.
“This will remove a lot of burden from lawmakers because many of what our constituents want us to do are actually the duty of LGAs. But we are working hard to liberate them”.
The Labour Party federal lawmaker noyed that it was the huge amount of funds goinb to the LGs that made the Governors to sustain their stranglegold on LG allocations.
However, he assured his constituents that both “the National Assembly and Mr President are working hard to free the LGAs from the claws of the Governors by granting them financial autonomy so we can witness develop in our communities”.
On the quest for equalisation of states among the geopolitical zones of the country, Rep Ogah expressed optimism that it would be realised under the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
He assured his constituents that Tinubu was well disposed to satisfying the yearnings of the people of South East zone to have an additional state to bring the zone at par with the other five zones.
“The good news is that Mr. President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, sincerely wants to create additional state for South East, so we can be at par with other zones,” Ogah said.
He justified his claims, saying that Tinubu had already demonstrated his commitment to addressing the lingering issue of Igbo marginalisation with the establishment of the South East Development Commission (SEDC).
“When he(Tinubu) said he would create the South East Development Commission, we thought it was a joke, but today we have seen it’s a reality. So, he has again shown commitment to balance the inequality in number of states”.
As presently constituted, South East is the only zone in Nigeria having only five states with South West, South South, North Central and North East composed of six states each while North West has seven states.
Rep Ogah stated that the creation of the much needed additional state for South East would assuage the feeling of injustice and further facilitate development in the zone.
He reported to his constituents that “we have sponsored the Bill for the creation of Etiti State”, adding that “it is the only Bill that has passed second reading, and it is generally accepted by my colleagues”.