By DAPO AKINREFON
LAGOS—A university don, Dr. Isiaka Aransi, has said that granting autonomy to local government administration would enhance rapid development at the grassroots level.

Speaking in Lagos, yesterday, at a lecture to mark the 50th birthday of the former Lagos State Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Prince Rotimi Agunsoye, he said the bane of development at the grassroots level was  the over-centralisation of power at the centre.

He regretted that “it has adversely affected developmental role of grassroots governance.”

Aransi, who is  Head of Department, Local Government Administration at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, said: “Since local government areas are the closest administration to the people, it should not be dependent on federal allocations but should be autonomous.”

He highlighted the challenges facing the councils to include corruption, lack of continuity, inadequate funds and widespread poverty in the land, noting that with autonomy for the councils, all the challenges would be things of the past.

He stressed the importance of local government administration and called for the creation of more councils in the country.