Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Monday faulted the Federal Government’s suit against 36 state governors over local council autonomy.
The Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, had sued the 36 state governors at the Supreme Court seeking the enforcement of full autonomy of the local governments in Nigeria.
Speaking while declaring open the two-day Lagos State Justice Reform Summit in Ikeja, Lagos on Monday, Sanwo-Olu said the only mistake the AGF made was to sue all states of the federation not minding that some states complied with the local council autonomy.
He said the AGF should have done due diligence by identifying the states that were not in compliance with the local council autonomy and take them to the Supreme Court.
In his words: “It was in the news today that the Attorney General of the Federation sued all 36 states because we are not with the local government autonomy law.
“The only mistake made by the Attorney General of the Federation was that some of us are in compliance. The AGF should have done due diligence to identify the states that are not in compliance, whether it is 31 or so and take them to the Supreme court.”
Speaking on the Summit, Sanwo-Olu compared Lagos with Singapore that has made giant stride in its judiciary system and access to justice which had boosted the ease of doing business in that country.
He said Lagos is home to international businesses and has also taken a lead in judiciary reforms in the nation, adding that what the state needed right now is to take the level of its success to the international scale, stressing that “we cannot sit back, Singapore is less than the population of Lagos.”
On rule of law, the governor stated that no nation could be peaceful without rule of law, charging members of the judiciary in Lagos to think out of the box at the summit.
“We cannot sit back and hope that is the best we can do. As a nation, do we just want to be the giant of Africa for nothing with no proper rule of law and access to justice? Singapore has make wave on ease of doing business. We are not near the level they have attained on the ease of doing business,” he said.
