Ekiti gov tasks LGs on effective financial management

Ekiti State Governor, Biodun Oyebanji, has charged local governments in the state to harness the potentials in financial autonomy to scale up service delivery to the grassroots by meeting the communities’ needs.

Oyebanji said that the local government, “as grassroot-oriented, remains a pivotal institution in the realization of sustainable development goals and the actualization of the true spirit of the Nigerian federal structure”.

The governor, represented by his Chief of Staff, Oyeniyi Adebayo, spoke in Ado Ekiti on Saturday at a three-day seminar organized by the state Ministry of Local Government Affairs in partnership with Sunstone Place Management Consultants for councils’ executives, legislatives and top managements.

He said that the workshop with the theme, ‘LG autonomy: Repositioning the local government for effective service delivery’ would “expose participants to best practices, regulatory frameworks, strategic financial managements and the practical challenges and opportunities associated with autonomous local governments”.

Oyebanji, who described local governments as “the engines of grassroots development charged with the responsibility of providing essential services, infrastructure and governance that directly impact the communities’ lives, said their effectiveness had often been curtailed by financial and operational constraints.

“The importance of financial autonomy for local governments cannot be overstated, it is a vital pillar of our collective efforts to ensure effective governance, enhance service delivery and sustainable development at the grassroots level.

“Local governments being the closest tier of government to the people are best positioned to understand and respond swiftly to the unique needs of our communities. The capacity to deliver effectively hinges on the ability to manage and control their financial resources independently.

Financial autonomy for local governments is not merely a legal or constitutional formality, it is the bedrock of effective local governance. It enables councils to have control over their resources, prioritise expenditure based on local needs, foster accountability and build institutional resilience.”

The Commissioner for Local Government Affairs, Folorunso Olabode, said that the workshop theme “is both timely and essential. It reflects the critical role that local government leaders play in promoting sustainable development and delivering essential services to our people at the grassroots.

Local governments remain the first and most tangible point of contact between government and the citizenry. They are tasked with delivering primary healthcare, basic education, environmental sanitation and community-level infrastructure – services that directly affect the day-to-day existence of our people. Therefore, the need to ensure this constitutional mandate of financial autonomy for local governments becomes imperative”.

Olabode hailed Oyebanji government’s principle that “development must not only be driven from the top, but owned and implemented at the grassroots,” adding, “Since 2023 when we came on board, we have adopted fiscal policy framework that compels all councils to implement transparent budgeting, expenditure tracking, and performance-based reporting”.

Ekiti State Head of Service, Dr Folakemi Olomojobi, who stressed the importance of the workshop, charged the participants to see it as “a transformational moment that will translate into policy shifts, institutional reforms and measurable improvements in the performance of our local councils”.

Olomojobi said that the effectiveness of the local government “hinges significantly on its capacity to exercise fiscal responsibility, accountability in public financial management and independence resource mobilization and allocation.

“True financial autonomy transcends statutory provisions. It is not merely about receiving direct allocations or managing budgets, it is about building resilient institutions that can manage resources judiciously, enforce fiscal discipline, deploy innovative revenue-generation mechanisms, and deliver quality services that reflect local priorities.

It is about accountability, empowerment, capacity, systems, leadership, and integrity, which I believe this workshop is organized to address”.

The Chairman, Association of Local Governments of Nigeria, Oluwasegun Ojo, hailed the state governor and the Ministry of Local Government Affairs for supporting aspirations of the councils, said that training and capacity building to ensure competence and proper understanding were key to cover gaps in governance.

Ojo hailed Oyebanji for not touching local government funds since inception even before the Supreme Court judgment on financial autonomy for councils.