A former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Dr. Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), and his law firm (OAL) have aligned with President Muhammadu Buhari after the latter accused State governors of pilfering local government funds.
President Buhari, during the presidential parley with members of the Senior Executive Course 44 (2022) of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) at the State House, on December 1, accused State governors of stealing allocations meant for local governments.
Reacting to the development, Agbakoba’s law firm (OAL), in its Policy Report 2022 titled “Big Issues for the 2023 General Elections deals with strengthening the local government system in Nigeria,” argued that the local government system is not functioning optimally.
“President Buhari has pointed out that the failure of the local government is because of the undue interference of state governors. We support the president’s position,” OAL stated.
According to the law firm. “Local Governments are the closest level of government to the people. They perform critical functions such construction and maintenance of roads, streets, street lightings, drains, public highways, parks, markets, gardens, and open spaces, etc.
“We also note that this issue is not well articulated in the campaign manifestoes of presidential candidates. We urge the presidential candidates to make statements on how they intend to strengthen the local government system.”
The OAL is a leading legal solutions provider with clients in diverse sectors of the Nigerian economy.
“Providing innovative legal solutions is basic to who we are and what we stand for. Our diversified skills ensure that our client’s commercial needs are satisfied promptly and professionally, always conforming to high ethical standards in the provision of quality legal services,” the OAL added.