Deputy speaker flags youth deviance as local government autonomy remains unimplemented

The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Benjamin Okezie Kalu, has warned that the continued lack of local government autonomy in Nigeria is contributing to youth deviance, largely driven by limited access to sustainable employment opportunities.

Speaking at his Bende country home over the weekend, Kalu stressed that unimplemented local government autonomy laws were undermining national development and creating fertile ground for the recruitment of young people into social media propaganda and online abuse networks.

“Lack of autonomy handicaps local governments from engaging youths, leading to their recruitment for social media insults and propaganda,” Kalu said.

He added that granting local governments control over their resources would provide platforms for meaningful youth engagement, create jobs, and reduce the operational burden on state governors.

The deputy speaker highlighted that the current system, where local governments lack financial independence, has allowed politicians to exploit young Nigerians as “e-rats” to attack opposition figures online.

“Youths given tablets to insult people, particularly opposition politicians, on social media are being under-developed.

”At the end of the day, we create deviants. When we hand over tablets to young people to sit at home, earn money at the end of the month, based on how many insults they give to opposition, you are creating monsters, who will end up fighting us later, and that is the sad fact,” he said.

Kalu noted that despite laws and a Supreme Court ruling affirming local government autonomy, implementation has been slow, with state governors reluctant to allow councils full control of their resources.

To address this, he revealed that the National Assembly is fine-tuning legislative measures to ensure effective enforcement of the Supreme Court decision and related laws.

“If the constitutional court of the land has taken a decision on an issue, it should be recognised.

”At the constitutional amendment level, we are also fine-tuning that. This will embolden the local government to be autonomous,” Kalu stated.

The lawmaker commended the President Bola Tinubu administration for its commitment to implementing local government autonomy, citing the potential benefits for national development.

He said autonomous local governments would allow governors to focus on state development while providing opportunities for youth employment and engagement at the grassroots level.

“Truly speaking, some of these interventions we are making are because of the weak local government system.

”If the local governments were working efficiently, there would be less for us to do.

”Most of the legislators would focus more on lawmaking and oversight functions.

”But because there is a gap, that is why, as representatives at the federal level, we are intervening to see that our constituents are not allowed to suffer,” Kalu explained.

The Deputy Speaker noted that implementing local government autonomy would reduce political exploitation of youth, generate employment opportunities, and enhance state-level development.