The deputy senate president alleged that some of the state governors are frustrating local government autonomy because of their interests.

The Deputy Senate President, Barau Jibrin, has said some state governors are used to diverting local government allocation to personal use.

The Deputy Senate President stated this on Wednesday when he presided over the plenary session.

Mr Barau was commenting on a motion sponsored by Kawu Sumaila (NNPP, Kano South) on the need to prioritise local government autonomy.

The deputy senate president stressed that some of the state governors are frustrating the local government autonomy because of their interests.

He said the governors used to divide funds allocated to financing local government thereby committing financial fraud.

"The local government system is dead. Their monies are being illegally appropriated by the governors. They will tell you, go and write a request, we want to do this. They write a request purporting to be theirs, and the money will be split by the governors. This is what we see every day.

"Well, let me not generalise. Some governors, of course, are nice. They don't do that, but some do that. But there are some good governors out there," Mr Barau said.

The deputy senate president noted that the best way to achieve local government autonomy was to have a constitution that would guarantee LG autonomy.

"But the best thing is to safeguard the system by making a general alternative constitution to safeguard the local government system," he said.

He cautioned governors found guilty of diverting local government allocation to desist from doing so for the sake of the country.

"So we thank you very much, and we thank those governors who are abiding by the province of the constitution, who are not temperate with the funds of the local governments and those who are doing that should desist for the sake of our nation, for the security of our country.

"To this end, let me commend all the senators who contributed to this bill because it is unanimously supported. No one person went against this motion.

"So we thank you very much for your contributions and your demonstration for the well-being of our people, because you demonstrated that you care for those who are at the grassroots of our nation."