Former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Olisa Agbakoba SAN has called on President Bola Tinubu to initiate moves to grant local governments legislative and political autonomy.

While speaking on Politics Today on Channels Television on Friday night, Agbakoba emphasized the need for constitutional amendments to ensure local governments’ political autonomy.
He praised President Tinubu for the achievement of the fiscal autonomy for the local government, noting that the current system hinders effective governance and development at the grassroots level.
Agbakoba urged the President to take proactive steps to address this issue. It is only the President that can drive this process and he must do it for prosperity to get to the grassroots..
“Right now, the problem is that the constitution does not fully set out the parameters of legislative authority of the local governments.
“So what the state governments have done is to use up their powers.
“One good thing that President Tinubu did was to go to the Supreme Court to claim financial autonomy for the local governments.

“That was a brilliant move. What he needs to do next to consolidate on that important victory in the supreme court is to create, through amendment of the constitution, a list of legislative powers for the local governments so they can function.
According to him, granting local governments autonomy could lead to enhanced local governance and decision-making., improved service delivery and development and increased accountability and transparency.