Kayode Shopekan-
as Tambuwal grants financial autonomy to state legislature, judiciary
Legal practitioner and human rights activist, Femi Aborisade, has said that any governor that refuses to grant financial autonomy to other arms of government in their state was committing treason.
Aborisade made this assertion while speaking to Prime Business Africa, following Governor Aminu Tambuwal’s granting of financial autonomy to the legislative and judicial arm of government in Sokoto state.
By Tambuwal’s action, Sokoto becomes the first and only state in Nigeria to grant financial autonomy to other arms of government.
Aborisade said it was “uncalled for, callous and very inhumane” that the state governors would allow the JUSUN and PASAN to go on strike over a request already catered for in the constitution.
Tambuwal said governors were not against autonomy to other arms of government but Executive Order 10 of President Muhammadu Buhari. He said the constitution was self-explanatory on the issue, making the President’s Order 10 needless.
A public commentator, Christianah Kowe, said if the constitution had spelt out financial autonomy specifically to the arms of government, why didn’t they adhere to the dictates of the constitution?
“If Executive Order 10 was the problem, why did the Governors Forum not seek to address it? Also, since the 1999 constitution provides for financial autonomy of other arms of government, why didn’t the governors implement it in their states?”
Kowe said, “It’s been over a month since the Judicial Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) and the Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria (PASAN) suspended their industrial strike action, yet only one governor has consented to the yearnings of these workers.”
Tambuwal has alleged that governors were reacting and showing their displeasure to Buhari’s Executive Order 10. Sadly, no other governor has corroborated this allegation. Instead, during the strike, some governors refused to pay the striking workers.
Recall that the Judicial Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) embarked on an industrial strike on April 6th to demand that state governments grant the judiciary and legislature financial autonomy.
The strike lasted well over two months before the Chief Justice of the Federation, Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad, intervened.
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