Constitution Review: Senators Agree On LG Autonomy, Differ on State Police

 

Full autonomy for local governments will now be included in Nigeria's constitution.

 

This comes after Senators reached an agreement.

 

However, the lawmakers disagreed on the establishment of state Police to tackle insecurity.

 

This was even as Senators from the Southeast and South-South geo-political zones at the forum advocated the creation of additional states.

 

The legislators bared their minds at the sidelines of the retreat which was organised by the Senate Committee on Constitution Review in collaboration with the Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre, PLAC in Kano.

 

Their decision to save the third tier of government from total collapse following the abuse of their roles by the state governors, may not be unconnected with the recent Supreme Court verdict and the pledge by Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, that the National Assembly would tinker with the constitution to legalise their full autonomy.

 

Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele; a former Chief Whip of the Red Chamber, Ali Ndume; Chairman Senate Committee on Finance, Senator Sani Musa; Senators Abdulfatai Buhari, Osita Izunaso and Ned Nwoko in their various submissions insisted that full autonomy for local governments was long overdue.

 

Bamidele noted that the current constitution placed the administration of local government in the hands of the state government but the exigencies of the current situation made it necessary to make the third tier of government, completely independent.

 

He said, “The independence of the autonomy of our local governments cannot be taken away. The debate is raging as to whether or not local government should be considered as a tier of government.

Senator Abdulfatai Buhari backed the position of the Senate Leader, saying the election of council chairmen and the councillors should be conducted by an independent body not constituted by state governments.

 

He said, “Local government autonomy could only be achieved if their elections are conducted by an independent body.

 

Senator Sani Musa noted that the process of restructuring had started with the Supreme Court verdict on local government autonomy.

 

He said, “When you are talking about restructuring, we should be able to give the local governments the autonomous power to be able to run their administration from the grassroots level so that the impact of governance can reach the grassroots.”

 

Similarly, Senator Ned Nwoko said local government autonomy was very critical.

 

He said, “The local government has almost died, there is really nothing happening there, it is just a mere third tier of government.

 

The senators were, however, divided on the issue of State Police.

 

Those in support said insecurity would be tackled with the state Police while others said political opponents would be targeted by state governors.

 

Senator Sani Musa who supported the idea said, “When we are talking about State Police, every state in this country is facing one insecurity or the other and I believe that if we look at the issue of State Police, it is good for us.”

 

However, Senator Ali Ndume said, “What we need is to increase the manpower of the police and improve their welfare for effective policing. State Police would be abused by the governors.”

 

Both Senators Nwoko and Osita Izunaso maintained that the creation of additional states in their geo-political zones was long overdue.

 

Izunaso said, “The most important agenda the South East Caucus in the National Assembly has is to push for equity and justice.

 

Nwoko said, “The Anioma State creation for me is something that has to be done, if that is the only state that is created in this period, I will not be surprised.