For President Bola Tinubu, the judgement has reaffirmed the statutory rights of local residents.
He stated that local government chairmen now have no obstacles to providing good governance at the grassroots level.
Tinubu said, “The Renewed Hope Agenda is about the people of this country, at all levels, irrespective of faith, tribe, gender, political affiliation, or any other artificial line they say exists between us. This country belongs to all of us.
“By virtue of this judgement, our people – especially the poor – will be able to hold their local leaders accountable for their actions and inactions. What is sent to local government accounts will be known, and services must now be provided without excuses.
“My administration instituted this suit because of our unwavering belief that our people must have relief and today’s judgement will ensure that it will be only those local officials elected by the people that will control the resources of the people.
“This judgement stands as a resounding affirmation that we can use legitimate means of redress to restructure our country and restructure our economy to make Nigeria a better place to live in and a fairer society for all of our people.
“I commend the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), for his diligence and patriotic effort on this important assignment.
“My administration remains committed to protecting the principles of the charter governing citizens, institutions of government, and tiers of government in furtherance of building an efficient and performance-driven governance system that works for every Nigerian.”
The National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), which has been at the forefront of the struggle for local government autonomy, said that with the judgement, 50 percent of the country’s problems had been solved.
Mr. Ambali Olatunji, NULGE National President, said over 50 percent of Nigeria’s problems would be addressed following the judgement.
“We believe that with the local government autonomy judgement, over 50 percent of Nigerian problems have been fixed.
“Also, we hope there will be financial integrity at the local government levels and all financial transactions will be tracked.
“We will be working with anti-corruption agencies to ensure growth and development.
“So, we are happy and it is a fulfillment of long-awaited dreams and the struggle in the last 15 years has come to a victorious end,” he said.
