Anambra State Governor, Charles Soludo has called on the Federal Government not to impose unitary government on the local government system in all states.
The former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria made the call on Friday, during an interview on Channels TV “Sunrise Daily.”
He said that his state relies on the local government system to cascade the policies of the government.
He noted that each state should determine the kind of local government that best fits its operation.
In his words, “In Anambra, we rely on the LG to drill down whatever we are doing; we are cascading a lot of the responsibilities to the LG and we will continue to strengthen. There is no absolute autonomy anywhere — there is a need to coordinate.
“Each federating unit (state) should determine the kind of LG it wants, rather than the constitution imposing a unitary LG system on all the states.”
He faulted the Constitution for the inability of the governors to harness the natural resources in their respective states.
“A dysfunctional federalism is part of the problem since the governors have no power to harness the states’ national resources since they are under the purview of the FG in the constitution.
“The country is very poor so there is a need to manage in a very austere manner. When I resumed, I had to check the finances and ensure cost-cutting measures,” Soludo said.
