Caption: • Lateef Fagbemi
Barely one month after granting of financial autonomy to local governments in the country,a warning has gone to them not to misuse funds disbursed to them through the Federation account Allocation Committee,FAAC.
Failure to do this,the Federal Government has threatened jail term for them .
This was made known by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), on Thursday.
Fagbemi, at the 17th-anniversary annual lecture event of the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria in Abuja, said none of the chairmen have immunity and would be jailed if they tamper with the funds meant for the development of their areas.
He said, “Well, we have a situation on our hands; I know that it is still there; the conduct of elections is to be undertaken by the states.
“But the distinction is this: don’t forget, the governors have immunity, the local government council chairmen or councillors, they have no immunity, so they have to choose between dealing with the funds of the local government as they like and risking going to jail. The choice is theirs (LG chairmen).
“If they want to tamper with these funds and end up in jail, it is their choice. If they want to write their names in letters of gold, activities like construction or road upgrades must be returned to the local government. They don’t all have to come to Abuja.
“If they stay at the local government, we will be able to reduce the level of insecurity that we have in Nigeria today. What obtains offshore is that the security agents are able to perform optimally because of information that comes to them from members of the public and usually it is from the grassroots,” he said.
(The PUNCH)
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