Human rights lawyer and activist, Femi Falana, SAN, has disagreed with former Governor James Ibori’s views on the Supreme Court ruling granting financial autonomy to local governments. In an interview with Channels Television, Falana argued that Ibori’s stance is contradictory and misinterprets the principles of federalism.
Falana explained that in the post-colonial era, regions relied on their own resources, citing the examples of cocoa production in the West, groundnut in the North, and palm kernel in the East. He described this period as the “golden era” of regional autonomy. However, he lamented that the current system, where states rely heavily on federal allocations, distorts federalism.
Falana pointed out that it is inconsistent for states to collect funds from the central government, which includes revenue generated from the Niger Delta, and then refuse to allocate funds to local governments. He emphasized that true federalism requires decentralization and empowerment of local governments.
The renowned lawyer’s comments come as a response to Ibori’s criticism of the Supreme Court ruling, which he claimed undermines federalism. Falana’s argument, however, highlights the need for a more decentralized system, where local governments have greater control over their resources and affairs.
Watch interview From 10:15
In his words; “With profound respect to Chief James Ibori, I think the Argument is a bit contradictory, in the post-colonia era, nobody was going to Abuja to collect money. Every region depended on it’s own resources. It can be described as the golden era of Cocoa Production in the West, groundnut in the North, Palm kernel in the East. Today, Everybody goes to Abuja. For me, it’s distorted Federalism. So you can’t collect money from the Central purse, money made from the Niger Delta, when you now get to your state and you’re asked to give the allocation of Local Governments to them, you suddenly realized this is a set back for Federalism. It’s contradictory….Seë_Morë