Sovereign Wealth Fund is unconstitutional, says Adeyeye

A LAGOS lawmaker, Dr. Ajibayo Adeyeye, has described the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) as unconstitutional and urged the Federal Government to give more resources to state and local governments.Adeyeye told the News Agency of Nigeria that the constitution demanded that all monies accruable to the Federal Republic of Nigeria be paid into a consolidated revenue fund.He said the constitution also stated that money should be disbursed to the states from the fund.'It is foreign. It is illegal for anybody to smuggle in the SWF. The SWF is illegal, unconstitutional, null and void.'The right process is that all monies accruable to the federation be paid into the consolidated revenue fund and from it we share to the state and local governments', Adeyeye said.The lawmaker, who represents the Kosofe Constituency 1 and is the Majority Leader in the Lagos State House of Assembly said the Federal Government had controlled much of the resources.He said the federal government had not managed the resources well since 1999.Adeyeye then urged it to allow the state and local governments control more of their resources for infrastructure development.The lawmaker explained that if government practised true federalism and allowed states to control more resources, development would be more rapid in the country.'The earlier we come to terms that we must weaken the centre, the better for all of us.'The earlier we agree that little money should go to the centre to handle few things like defence, immigration, and probably the SSS, with other things left to the states, the better for us,' he said.Adeyeye also urged the Federal Government to hand over the Ministries of Aviation, Works, Transport and other infrastructure development to state governments.He said government would move closer to the people with speedy development if the states were given more responsibility and some assigned to the local governments.'Most of the infrastructure in the country today were put in place during the regional government period.'In the West, the only thing I can remember standing that was not done by the regional government is the Third Mainland Bridge.'Most of those skyscrapers in Lagos, especially those in Marina and Broad Streets, were built during the regional government,' Adeyeye concluded.
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