From Kayode Abdulazeez, Ilorin
A gubernatorial aspirant in Kwara State under the platform of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Alhaji Mohammed Ibrahim Ajia, has called for total autonomy for local government administration in the country.
Ibrahim said the third tier of government must be strengthened to be able to function efficiently and in turn discharge its responsibility to the people at the grassroots.
He made this point, as a measure to curb diversion of public fund when granted autonomy, the governorship hopeful urged the government to institutionalise a robust system that would check activities at the council level.
He observed that undue interference in the running of local government administration would discourage restiveness and provide employment opportunities for teeming Nigerian youths.
He however warned that the nation would not make the desired turnaround in addressing her problems if it failed to autonomies council administration.
Ibrahim, who is the founder, Mohammed Ajia Ibrahim Foundation, stressed the need to develop the youths, describing them as only option to galvanise development in the country.
“What we are talking about is to develop the youths. The youths are the only option to develop the state and even Nigeria as a whole. As part of programmes of my foundation, our key objective is the youth empowerment.
“It is unfortunate that the incident in Offa, of recent, was perpetrated by youths, and majority of them are even from Kwara State. So, it is quite worrisome situation. That is why we have to do more and also encourage the government to create enough empowerment for the youths, because without government, no individual can do it alone.
“So, the youths must be the major focus, empower them and there are ways to go about this whole thing. Like I suggested earlier, if the government is determined to end youth restiveness, it should create a local government autonomy system. When that is done, you are creating fund, you are creating employment in all the 16 Local Governments, activities will be going on, everybody will be involved and crime will reduce.
“We need to strengthen our local government system, we must give them that full autonomy, they must take charge of their resources and use it rightly. What the government can do now is put up a robust monitoring system that would ensure that their fund is used judiciously so that there wouldn’t be any form of diversion. Without this, we will continue to turn around without solving any problem”.
