Ajakaye Has Revealed Kwara Govt’s Agenda on LG Autonomy Debate
By Segun Abdulkadir
The article written by Rafiu Ajakaye, Chief Press Secretary to the Kwara State Governor, attempts to present a balanced and pragmatic view on the autonomy of local governments. However, beneath this rhetoric lies a carefully disguised agenda to mislead the public, masking the true intentions of the government: to perpetuate the suffering of Kwara State’s citizens under the guise of fiscal responsibility.
One of the central claims of the article is that local governments are financially crippled, with the vast majority of their allocations being consumed by recurrent expenditures such as salaries and overheads. While it is true that many local governments in Nigeria face significant financial constraints, this narrative is incomplete and deliberately avoids addressing the root causes of this problem.
For decades, successive state governments, including the current one in Kwara, have created an unsustainable financial burden. Yet, Ajakaye subtly implies that the solution lies in the hands of the local governments themselves—while conveniently ignoring the state’s role in exacerbating the crisis.
The author acknowledges the Supreme Court’s decision to send allocations directly to local government accounts, a long-overdue step toward genuine autonomy. However, instead of embracing this development as a chance for grassroots empowerment, the article frames it as a potential disaster, warning of looming failures in service delivery. This fear mongering is disingenuous.
The reality is that the autonomy of local governments is a threat to the Kwara State government’s stranglehold on resources. For years, the state government has diverted funds meant for local councils under the pretext of ‘pooled resources,’ using these funds to fill its own financial gaps while leaving local councils underfunded and incapacitated.
Ajakaye’s argument about local councils living on a “begging bowl” conveniently overlooks the fact that much of the incoming funds to these councils have already been consumed by the state’s bloated recurrent expenditures. It is the state government that continues to drain local resources, using public funds to maintain an overgrown bureaucracy rather than investing in infrastructure and essential services. Now, with local government autonomy on the horizon, the Kwara government is scrambling to cover up its financial mismanagement by blaming local councils for the inevitable shortcomings.
This leads to the larger issue of unemployment, a topic that Ajakaye tries to gloss over. The reality is that the Kwara State government has failed to create a sustainable plan for job creation, especially at the local level. Instead of taking responsibility, the state has chosen to shift the burden onto local governments, knowing full well that these councils will struggle to meet even basic obligations with the limited funds left after recurrent expenses. The looming implementation of the new minimum wage will only compound this crisis, as Ajakaye acknowledges, but without offering any real solutions.
Despite acknowledging the overwhelming recurrent expenditures burdening local governments, the Kwara State government, as represented by its spokesperson, is paradoxically pushing for the employment of new hands in these councils. This call is nothing short of a calculated move to plunge the state into deeper financial distress, with the ultimate goal of fomenting chaos. By pressuring local governments to take on additional payroll burdens, knowing full well that existing funds are barely enough to cover salaries, the state government is laying the groundwork for widespread unrest and an inevitable breakdown of local governance.
This tactic, veiled under the guise of concern for the welfare of workers, is nothing more than a reckless plot to destabilize local government operations. The real intention appears to be a covert strategy to undermine the federal government’s efforts to ensure local government autonomy. The state is deliberately midwifing a surreptitious coup against federal authority by creating conditions ripe for anarchy within Kwara’s local councils. Once these councils are unable to meet their obligations due to the strain of overemployment and underfunding, the resulting instability will provide a convenient excuse for the state to reassert control and further weaken local government independence.
By promoting such disastrous policies, the government of Kwara State, led by its governor and supported by his spokesperson Rafiu Ajakaye, may not be working against the best interests of the people. Their actions betray a deep-seated disregard for grassroots development and reveal a dangerous intent to preserve power at all costs. This is not governance for the people; it is governance against the people, using the tools of deception and economic sabotage to further their political agenda.
The citizens of Kwara State must recognize this for what it is: a deliberate attempt to exploit local government autonomy as a smokescreen for deeper, more nefarious goals. It is essential to hold the state government accountable for its actions and to demand a transparent and responsible approach to managing the resources of local governments—one that prioritizes the well-being of the people over political maneuvering and fiscal irresponsibility.