Senior lawyer and founder of Afe Babalola University Ado-Ekiti, Afe Babalola has blamed state governors for the inability of the local governments in the country to bring development to the people.
Babalola accused the governors in the country of hijacking local government allocations.
Speaking during the eighth edition of the Afe Babalola Agricultural Expo, he stated that the local councils have remained ineffective over the years in bringing development to the people, due to the activities of the governors who allegedly hijacked their allocations.
Further,he urged President Bola Tinubu to ensure that local government areas in the country receive their allocations directly from the federation account, to revive agriculture and boost the economy.
He said;
“I am suggesting that local government areas should be empowered. Each local government should set up farming equipment for farmers to hire. They should also earmark large hectares of land for the farmers to farm.
“When I was a councillor, in those days, local government funds used to come directly to them. We all know what has been happening to their money.
“I think the current president (Bola Tinubu) should do all he can to ensure that local government allocation gets to them directly and not through the governors because they (governors) steal a lot. No parent will send their children to school, some to masters and PhD level, only to come back and be asked to use cutlass to farm.
“The best the government can do now to revive agriculture is to buy modern implements to encourage people to farm. If local government funds get to them they will be able to buy tractors for the people to rent it.”
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