The Presidency has said the responsibility for tackling poverty in Nigeria rests largely with local governments, arguing that they are best placed to address the needs of people because they are the closest level of government to the grassroots.
Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Economic Affairs in the Office of the Vice President, Mr. Tofe Fasua, made the statement during an interview on Politics Today, a current affairs program on Channels Television.
According to him, President Tinubu’s push for local government autonomy is aimed at ensuring that councils have the authority and resources needed to tackle poverty and improve the welfare of Nigerians at the grassroots.
Fasua said local governments are in the best position to identify the needs of their communities and respond quickly to the challenges facing residents.
“Fixing poverty is certainly a local government’s thing because local governments are the closest to the people,” he said.
He explained that meaningful efforts to reduce poverty must begin at the local level, where government officials have direct contact with communities and understand their everyday challenges.
“So the solution to poverty in Nigeria is actually at the local government level, and that’s the reason the President has advocated for local government autonomy,” Fasua added.
The presidential aide said the Tinubu administration believes that strengthening local government administration will improve service delivery, create more development opportunities and ensure that government interventions reach those who need them most.
He noted that local government autonomy would enable councils to function more effectively without undue interference, allowing them to focus on projects and programmes that directly benefit residents.
Fasua also argued that state governments now have stronger financial capacity under the current administration, saying improvements in public finances have helped reduce the problem of salary and pension arrears that affected many states in the past.
According to him, delays in the payment of workers’ salaries and pensions, which were common in previous years, have reduced significantly.
“I mentioned to you the fact that those days where civil servants will be owed 18 months, 12 months, six months, are gone. Pensioners are getting their money a lot, and I think that’s where it matters,” he said.
He maintained that prompt payment of salaries and pensions has helped improve the welfare of workers and retirees, while also boosting economic activities in many parts of the country.
To support his argument on the importance of local governments, Fasua recalled his experience in Lagos shortly after Nigeria returned to democratic rule in 1999.
He said local government councils in the state played an active role in supporting vulnerable residents, with many struggling citizens approaching council chairmen for assistance.
“In 1999, I used to go to many local governments in Lagos and I saw how local governments were working then.
“A lot of people were coming to the local government. The people who were really down financially would go to the local government chairman on a daily basis and they were being settled,” he said.
According to him, such direct interaction between local government officials and residents demonstrates why councils are better positioned to implement poverty reduction programmes than more distant levels of government.
His comments come amid renewed national debate over the role and independence of Nigeria’s 774 local government councils.
For many years, local governments have complained of limited financial and administrative independence, with critics arguing that the system has weakened service delivery and slowed development at the grassroots.
The issue gained fresh attention after the Supreme Court, in a landmark judgment delivered in July 2024, affirmed the financial autonomy of local governments. The court ruled that allocations from the Federation Account should be paid directly to democratically elected local government councils rather than through state governments.
The Federal Government has described the judgment as a major step towards strengthening grassroots governance and improving accountability in the use of public funds.
Supporters of local government autonomy argue that direct access to federal allocations will enable councils to invest more in primary healthcare, basic education, rural roads, water supply, sanitation and other community-based services that have a direct impact on poverty.
However, some analysts have cautioned that financial autonomy alone may not solve the challenges facing local governments unless it is accompanied by greater transparency, accountability and prudent management of public resources.
They also argue that effective poverty reduction will require stronger collaboration among the federal, state and local governments, as well as sustained investment in agriculture, education, healthcare, infrastructure and job creation.
The Tinubu administration has repeatedly said that its economic reforms are designed to lay the foundation for long-term growth despite the hardship currently being experienced by many Nigerians.
Government officials have maintained that strengthening local governments is one of the key strategies for ensuring that development reaches communities across the country and that poverty reduction programmes are implemented more effectively at the grassroots.
Fasua’s remarks reinforce the Federal Government’s position that empowering local governments is central to addressing poverty and improving the living conditions of millions of Nigerians, particularly those in rural communities where access to public services remains limited.