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Sen Rilwan Adesoji Akanbi, representing Oyo South Senatorial District, has expressed support for members of the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) on their insistence on autonomy for local governments, saying it should be supported in every state until it is actualised.
“I stand for local government autonomy, I want it to become a reality in our democracy”, he said recently while handling over an industrialized Solar-Powered borehole he constructed for public use at the popular Idikan rubber shoe market in Ibadan.
“I stand with local government workers on the issue of autonomy because there might not expected speed of development at the grassroot especially in terms of infrastructural development if there is no autonomy at the Local Government administration”, he added.
Speaking to his constituents at another event at Odinjo Community in Ibadan South-East Local Government, the APC senator stressed that the call for the restructuring of the country must be sustained.
At the event where he commissioned a 500KVA transformer which he donated and installed for the entire community, said: “not until we restructure our National system of administration and governance, and we allow for genuine reconciliation and healing of every wound to give room for institutional balance, then there will continue to be disequilibrium in our polity and system of governance”.
According to him, even the best president in the world will fail in Nigeria if the country is not reconstructed to reflect true federalism.
In a brief chat with journalist after the programme, Akanbi, who was asked about his plans for 2019, said he was only thinking of his legislative and people-oriented duties as his political ambitions and aspirations are in God’s hands.
His words: “I have only spent two and half years at the Senate, why should I be disturbing myself with what is going to happen in 2019 which is far away and belong to God. Everybody has plan and wishes but we all subject it to God. When the time comes, people of Oyo South Senatorial District will tell me the direction to go,2019 is strictly about the people, it’s not about power or ones timetable or selfish ambition, so let us get there first before we know which bridge to cross and how to cross the bridge.