STATE governors in the country, under the aegis of Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), has welcomed the ruling of the Supreme Court reaffirming the autonomy to local governments.

Chairman of the Forum and Governor of Kwara State, AbdulRazaq AbdulRahman, stated the position while addressing State House Correspondents after a meeting with President Bola Tinubu on Friday, July 12, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, accompanied by Hope Uzodimma (Imo), who is Chairman of the All Progressives Governors’ Forum and Bala Mohammed (Bauchi), Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors’ Forum.

AbdulRahman stated: “Compliance is a given and our Attorney General has applied for the enrollment order, which we’ll study carefully.

“But by and large, governors are happy with the devolution of power in respect of local government autonomy. It relieves the burden on governors.

“Our people really don’t know how much states expense in bailing out local governments, and that’s the issue there.”

He said in his state, for example, the government had never tampered with local government funds, saying: “What the local governments have to do is to manage themselves, especially with the incoming minimum wage, to manage their affairs and make sure salaries are paid, traditional rulers get their five per cent and those are the main issues.”

On states where local government elections were yet to be conducted, he said the Forum would meet on Wednesday, July 17, to look at the issue wholly and come up with a resolution.