This was part of the governor’s commemorative lecture for the celebration of 2016 democracy day in Abeokuta on Thursday, with the theme: ‘Democracy in Nigeria, the pains, the gains: Ogun example’. The event was put together by the State chapter of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, as part of activities to mark the Democracy Day.
The Governor posited that the resources allocated to the Federal Government when compared to what was being allocated to the states was quite disproportionate, given the fact that states had more responsibilities than the centre.
He said, “The federalism enshrined in our constitution is an important area of our democracy. But do we have a good federalism in Nigeria?
What we have in Nigeria has been described as fraudulent federalism, because a federalism that put all the power, all the levy and all the money at the centre but put all the responsibility at the state is not a good federalism.
“Today in Nigeria, the Federal Government takes 74 per cent of the wealth of the nation, the 36 states and Abuja share 26 per cent.
“But the states are given all the bureau agencies. So, there is pain. Ogun State, as an example, has 70 bureau agencies, most of these agencies require the state to support their activities financially.”
Amosun, who was represented at the event by the Secretary to the State Government, Taiwo Adeoluwa, pointed out that all levels of governance in the country had gone through the pains and gains of democratic rule in the past 16 years.
He however expressed optimism that as the country progressed, the fledgling democracy in the country would continue to be refined.
He said, “Whether it is perfect or imperfect, let us continue to refine it and refine it until it gets to an acceptable level.”
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