We didn’t tamper with LG’s fund —Ogun commissioner

How has it been since you assumed office?

The new innovation he has brou Ever since I came on board as Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs in Ogun state, so far so good, we’ve been trying our best to ensure that we key into the cardinal programmes of this administration, especially that of our captain, Senator Ibikunle

Amosun. We have our clear five cardinal programmes under which traditional and local government administration is keying into. We also make sure we go along with the tempo of this administration to ensure that local government administration and traditional system in Ogun

State are revived in the state. Now, we are in the era of 20 LGs and 37 LCDAs. Also, we are in an era of good relationship between the traditional rulers and government. We are in an era of better synergy between the grass roots and the state administration, between the chieftaincy and entire traditional system in the state. So far, so good, we have the cause to thank God for His directions.

Local government is the closet to the grass roots, yet it doesn’t enjoy autonomy, how can we ensure its independence from the state government?

It depends on your definition of autonomy. As far as Ogun state is concerned, I can confirm to you that the state government has not been haggling with local governments here. To that extent, we allow them to take decisions on their own and execute whatever they want to do on their own. And whatever comes from the federal purse is being given to them appropriately. Don’t forget, we are in a recession, I don’t know what might have come out of the local governments if the state government had not been there for them because the money being given to them from the federal purse is not even enough to pay their salaries, not to talk of handling projects.  Since I came on board, the local governments accounts have always been in deficit, considering what has been coming from FAAC. In essence, our local governments in Ogun state are given total freedom to operate.

What are the local governments contributing, in terms of economic development, to the state?

Yes, local governments do contribute their quotas to the development of the state. Just recently, the Senate Committee on Local Government and State Administration visited us from Abuja in company of their consultant. The consultant went round all our local governments to assess their performance profile and their level of relevance to the grass roots. Their report was a clear indication that our local governments are contributing their best to the development of their regions and performing their constitutional duties. They went round to see our projects and interact with all the council chairmen and the people at the local government level. The visit of the Senate committee to our state was to know if the local governments were still performing their constitutional duties or whether they should be scrapped from the system. And in Ogun state, we have set example on why the local governments should stay and they should stay in synergy working together with the state government.

Don’t forget that in Lagos state we have a similar situation, when they migrated from 20 to 57 local governments LCDAs, people thought they could not do it but they have successfully proved to us that they can do it effectively. So, if Lagos can do it effectively, why not Ogun state? When we have 20 LGs we thought we were very close to the people, but now that we have 20 LGAs and 37 LCDAs we are closer to the grass roots, because being closer to the grass roots is an opportunity for us to discover ourselves and our potential in those 37 LCDAs, and once we are able to do that, there would be development. There are a lot of our resources that are yet to be discovered in those 37 LCDAs which were not known before now. And since we have created the LCDAs, they have been working seriously so as not to fail our people. Those LCDAs were created within the communities and no community would want to fail the purpose of existence. As enthusiastic as they are, some communities have started building the secretariat for their LCDAs. Some of the LCDAs have quarries and other resources in their territories which were not known to anyone until recently.

Why are issues relating to traditional chieftaincies so contentious in some places that some time they lead to litigation?

Many of our people don’t know what is involved when we discuss the traditional institution, chieftaincy and other matters. We discover that out of 10 petitions against a particular traditional ruler, between seven and nine of those petitioners do not have anything to do with the ruling houses. Most of them believe that once they are installed as the baale or an oba, they have the power to start selling people’s land and acquire others properties. As far as I am concerned, I believe the economic consideration rather than natural consideration has been the determining factor of those petitioners or litigants when it comes to the issue of obaship or traditional institutions in Ogun state. We discover that many of them don’t even have anything to do with the ruling house, but they just want to go to court to test their popularity, if they can corner another person’s property. I can tell categorically that many of those cases are being won by those we think are the rightful owners of those positions.

What is the position of the state government on legal matters that trail the installation of some traditional rulers?

The position of the state government is that after the installation of any traditional ruler and there is a case in court, we allow the case to take its natural course, we don’t tamper with such matter and let me tell you that most of the cases are won on the side of the state government.

Traditional rulers complain that they are not given the right role in governance like what obtained in the past, is this complaint justified?

You know, in the past it was parliamentary system we were practicing, but today it is the presidential system. I believe it depends on the system we are running. The presidential system does not have constitutional role for traditional rulers. If perhaps we find ourselves on the other system of government I am sure they will be given their roles.