Politics

Obasanjo blames politicians for corruption in local govt

Published

3 years ago

April 6, 2021

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Tuesday blamed politicians for the huge corruption at the local government level.

The ex-President, according to a statement issued by his Special Assistant on Media, Kehinde Adeyemi, spoke when the new President of the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), Akeem Ambali, visited him at his Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library Penthouse residence in Abeokuta, Ogun State.

He urged the local government workers in the country to be prayerful for things to get better.

Obasanjo said: “I am of the view that the situation needs prayers. A situation whereby a local government cannot even afford a grader to make local roads motorable, a situation where they cannot build a hospital or provide for the educational needs of their people is not what we want the local government to be when we initiated the 1976 reform.

“Well, the rot actually started by the military, who wanted to have such local councils in their respective areas. This increased the number to 774 from about 300.

“But, the politicians further make it worse with corruption. These were not what we envisioned when we created local government reform in 1976. Local governments are expected to provide overall quality of life for the people who reside in their communities, but is that what we have now?”

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now