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Financial Autonomy Act Will End Impunity, Says Adegboruwa

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President Muhammadu Buhari. (Photo credit: File photo)

Mr Ebun Olu-Adegboruwa, a Lagos lawyer and human rights activist, has commended President Muhammadu Buhari’s Act granting financial autonomy to legislative and judicial arms of government at all levels, saying it will end impunity and arbitrariness on the part of the executive.

Adegboruwa, while speaking to NAN, said “Assenting to a bill that will successfully checkmate the powers of the Executive arm of government is a remarkable effort on the part of the President.

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“It is now left to the various state legislatures and indeed the judiciary, to assert their independence in the proper sense, by detaching and extricating themselves from all forms of self-imposed timidity by which they had hitherto operated more like appendages of the executive arm,”

The lawyer still eulogizing the signing of the bill, he said: “I, therefore, commend the National Assembly and indeed the President for this great initiative.”

Naija News recalls that the president gave an official nod to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 Alteration Acts (4th Alteration Act 4, 9, 16, and 21).

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According to the lawyer, the empowering of the various institutions and arms of government and in fact true federalism is now feasible with the new assented act.

“The way towards the practice of true federalism is to empower the various institutions of the various tiers of government to be independent and autonomous, especially in the area of their finances.

“In this regard therefore, the 4th Alteration Bill passed by the National Assembly and assented to by the President is a laudable endeavour towards achieving true federalism.

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“It helps to strengthen the legislature and the judiciary more to be able to perform their roles and monitor the executive arm from all forms arbitrariness and impunity.” he noted.

He however admonished the legislature and the executive to work together with the aim of achieving true restructuring.

According to Adegboruwa, this can only be achieved by decongesting the exclusive legislative list to allow the “ubiquitous federal government to shed its weight and allow the other tiers of government to function maximally.”