Devolution of powers, essential tool for national development—Lagos speaker

Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa, has said that devolution of powers will foster rapid development in the country.

Obasa stated this, on Friday, in his address at the ongoing consultative forum on the Review and Harmonisation of the Standing Orders and Rules of Business of the State Houses of Assembly in the South West Region, holding at Park Inn Hotel, Abeokuta, Ogun State.

He said: “While the oneness of Nigeria is non-negotiable, one thing we will need to speedily work on is the issue of devolution of power vis-à-vis fiscal federalism.

”Nigeria is made up of diverse ethnic groups which have similar goal of moving Nigeria to the next level but at times have different ideas on how to achieve it.

”No doubt, centralisation of power at the Federal level as it exists currently in Nigeria is not the most ideal approach to accomplish genuinely necessary rapid development. Devolution of power from federal government to state and local governments is the way to go.”

Urging the federal government to address the issue of devolution of powers, Obasa said, that the distance between the federal government and the people at the grass-roots is too far to bring about holistic development to every nook and cranny of the country.

“It is obvious to all and sundry that the federal government is simply too far away from the masses and cannot cover the whole country in an effective manner. There is an in-built limitation on what a government so far away from the people can achieve. People in each locale know their area far much better than a federal minister or president located in Abuja,” he said.

Obasa advocated that, “The only panacea to some of our present economic challenges as a nation is restructuring, where every state will look inward to generate revenues to take care of their individual needs.

“For instance, if individual states are constitutionally empowered to generate and distribute power, it will aid massive industrialisation, which is a catalyst for technological advancement and economic development,” he said.