The chairman, Upper Benue River Basin Development Authority, Alhaji Sanusi Baban Takko (Barayan Bauchi), has commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on the autonomy granted to local government which he said “will accelerate their developments.”
Takko, in a statement, said the recent Supreme Court ruling in favour of local government autonomy, “through the instrumentality of President Tinubu, is a clear manifestation of his commitment towards fast-tracking quick and accelerated development at the grassroots level across the nation.”
He said the president’s pedigree and antecedents at the grassroots level when he was the Lagos state governor “speak volumes for him.”
The statement read in part, “His legendary feats at that level over two decades ago are enduring legacies, posterity and succeeding generations of leaders and general populace still remembered him as it takes courage and political will to implement such a sensitive and vital policy during his trying moments as governor of Lagos state.”
Takko called on the 36 governors to, as a matter of urgency, comply with the Supreme Court judgement on full autonomy “for even distribution of resources for the common good of all.”
“This will fill the wide gaps in service delivery and the people in the rural communities who have been suffering for several decades due to the failure of the local government system.
“With this new trend of releasing funds directly to the local governments across the country, President Tinubu has written his name in gold and, indeed, his name will continue to remain in the annals of history.”
Takko urged the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Chief Lateef Fagbemi, to “immediately set up a template and modalities for all the 774 local governments areas across the country on how funds released to them should be judiciously used for proper development.”
He appealed to relevant stakeholders in politics to support President Tinubu’s people-oriented programmes to take “Nigeria to the next and desired level as he’s always thinking of making the country a better place where everyone will be proud to be called a Nigerian both within and outside the shores of our beloved nation.”
He thanked the president for appointing him as chairman of the UBRBD, covering Bauchi South, Gombe, Taraba, and headquartered in Adamawa state.