James Sowole in Akure
The Ondo State Governor, Mr Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, at the weekend broke his silence on the much debated autonomy for local governments, stating that Nigeria has only two tiers of government.
Akeredolu while featuring on his maiden Media Chat tagged “An Evening w?ith the Governor†aired live on the state-owned radio and television channels, said he never promised to support local government autonomy.
He said during the campaigns, he never promised to support local government autonomy being a lawyer who understands the principle of true federation.
Akeredolu called for more robust dialogue on the local government autonomy debate in a way that is beneficial to all strata of society.
†I never said I will support local government autonomy during my campaign. We must handle local government autonomy with caution because Nigeria has only the federal and state as federating units,” he said.
Akeredolu explained that the government would pay the 2017 leave bonus payment when the state is buoyant, stressing that it was not a ‘right but a bonus’.
He also debunked rumours that he was shielding his predecessor and friend, Dr Olusegun Mimiko over the indebtedness of the state to many financial institutions and other interests.
“Yes mimiko is my friend, I cannot deny that because politics will come and go but
I restate that what I met on ground is over 220 billion debt.
It is a fallacy to say that Mimiko left money, if yes, why was he owing?†END.
