Nigeria’s Senate President, Ahmed Lawan says the lack of a functional Local Government system is partly responsible for the current security challenges the nation is facing.
He made the disclosure on Thursday in Abuja, while speaking to State House Correspondents, after he joined President Muhammadu Buhari to observe the two raqa’at Eid Al-Fitri prayers at the State House.
According to him, while the nation’s leaders seek solutions to the security crisis, the Local Government system must not be neglected.
He explained further that the lack of autonomy potentially inhibits solutions as well as efforts by the Nigerian and State governments towards addressing the nation’s security challenge.
“We are all leaders and we are in this together, the solutions must come from us regardless of what levels of leadership we are – whether at the Federal Level, State Level, or even at the Local Government level.
“I also want to take this opportunity to say that we have diminished the local government system. I think we can attribute the security issues to the absence of a Functional Local Government System.
“I think the time has come for us to take up the challenge and ensure that the Local Government system functions. This is as we look for ways to curb the security challenge. We must never neglect the Local Government system. We must go back to our Local Government system to ensure they are autonomous and functional,” he stressed.
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Restructuring
Commenting on calls for restructuring, Lawan said, “I believe that, as leaders, especially those of us who are elected into office should not be at the forefront of calling for this kind of thing.
“Because, even if you are a Governor, you are supposed to be working hard in your state to ensure that this restructuring you are calling for at the federal level, you have done it in your state as well.
“What you may accuse the Nigerian Government of, whatever it is; you may also be accused of the same thing in your state. Therefore, we are supposed to ensure that we have a complete and total way of ensuring that our systems at the federal, state and even local government levels work for the people.
“We must allow people to participate in governance so that whoever feels he has something to offer to make Nigeria better does so freely without any hindrance.”
Shun regionalism
While urging elected leaders to shun regionalism, the President of the Senate said; “The President is reaching out to all the stakeholders and I believe that as leaders, particularly those of us who were elected at all levels of government, we should avoid partisanship.
“We should avoid regionalism. We are all leaders and we are in this together. The solutions to our challenges must come from us regardless of what level of government we are.
“I believe that Nigeria is going to come out of these challenges stronger.”
Also speaking, the Speaker, House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, said he believes that those who have championed the call for secession might be misguided and do not mean well for the country.
Reacting to the calls in some quotas for restructuring, the Speaker maintained that there might be genuine agitations but explicitly, States that elected leaders and Governors should particularly not champion the movement for restructuring without first replicating the idea at the state level.
Gbajabiamila also likened the Eid al-Fitr celebration to a period of sacrifice, love, and worship, amid the spate of insecurity in the country.
Furthermore, he said, “this is not the time for name-calling or trading blames as everyone is complicit.”
Spirit of oneness
He called for a national spirit of oneness, saying, “If truth be told, we all have equal shares in the blame for what’s happening today… Whatever challenges we have, we must all come together to make sure that we resolve these issues we’re facing.
“We must imbibe that spirit of oneness, togetherness, unity and love that would take us through this.”
