In recent years the contentious issue of Local Governments as an extension of state governments has hug the headlines for various reasons.
State governors see the Local Government Areas (LGAs) as an integral part of their governments hence they decide how much they get in spite of what accrues to them from the Federation Account.
They also determine how long the local government chairmen stay in office through the instrument of `sole administrators`, `interim chairmen`, or whatever nomenclature they so desire.
READ ALSO: BREAKING NEWS: Supreme court affirms financial autonomy for Local Governments
So, at will, they remove them from office in spite of the fact that they were supposed to have fixed terms and emerge through an electoral process.
The governors took advantage of what they contrived as Joint Account to divert local governments funds thereby depriving them of the much needed resources to deliver infrastructure to the grassroots.
However, all these seem to be about to change following a landmark ruling.
On July 11 the nation’s apex court, the Supreme Court delivered a judgement that if respected by the affected parties, will transform the country’s political space by extricating the Local Government Councils from the grip of governors.
In the Suit No: SC/CV/343/2024 AGF v AG Abia and 35 others the highest court in the land ruled that the state governments had no right to withhold allocations to the third tier of government.
The suit was filed by the Federal Government against the governments of the 36 states, seeking full autonomy for 774 Local Government Councils.
Delivering the lead judgement, Justice Emmanuel Agim declared: “I hold that the state’s retention of the local government funds is unconstitutional.
“Demands of justice require a progressive interpretation of the law. It is the position of this court that the federation can pay LGA allocations to the LGAs directly or pay them through the states.
“In this case, since paying them through states has not worked, justice of this case demands that LGA allocations from the federation account should henceforth be paid directly to the LGAs.”
The case offered the court the opportunity to reinforce transparency of local government administration and accountability by ruling by insisting that elected local government councils cannot be dissolved arbitrarily by state governors.
The court subsequently ordered that: “the amount standing to the credit of local government councils must be paid by the federation to the local government councils and not by any other person or body.
“An order of injunction is hereby granted restraining the defendants from collecting funds belonging to the local government councils when no democratically elected local government councils are in place“.
He also declared: “an order that henceforth no state government should be paid monies standing to the credit of the local government councils.
Agim further declared: “an order for immediate enforcement and compliance with these orders by the state governments and successive governments henceforth.”
As expected, the ruling has rattled the political space, eliciting reactions of different hues and from different groups and personalities, with one of such reactions coming from the highest office in the nation, the Presidency.
“It affirmed the spirit, intent, and purpose of (Nigeria’s) Constitution on the statutory rights of local governments.”
“By virtue of this judgment, our people – especially the poor – will be able to hold their local leaders to account for their actions and inactions.
“What is sent to local government accounts will be known, and services must now be provided without excuses’’, said President Bola Tinubu, himself a former governor.
The case was successfully prosecuted by the Attorney-General of the Federation, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN).
“I call it Local Government Emancipation Judgement, because it has really emancipated the Local Government from the shackles of the past”, said an excited Fagbemi.
Tinubu’s political rival and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the 2023 Presidential Election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar described the ruling as a win for Nigerians.
In a statement released on Thursday via X, Atiku criticised the earlier arrangement, stating that it was borne out of “Politics of hasty compromise”, while describing the earlier arrangement as a product of “Politics of hasty compromise.”
Some governors seem helpless in the face of the judgement, one of them is Gov. Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra, a southeastern state.
“As a Democrat, I believe in the rule of law. You know that once the Supreme Court has spoken it has spoken,” he said.
Leading stakeholders are also reacting, with National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) cautioning against the violation of the apex court ruling
The President of NULGE, Akeem Ambali, who cautioned against disobedience of the judgment, called for strict adherence to NFIU guidelines, adding that it would help prevent the diversion of funds.
“We believe that once local government is free, council chairmen will be able to touch the lives of average workers and the masses and change things for good. That’s our impression about it”, he said.
“It is a welcome development about the historic verdict’’, the media quoted the ALGON National President Maifata Aminu Mu’azu, as saying.
But not all stakeholders are enthused James Ibori, a former governor of Delta and one of the beneficiaries of Joint Account is not impressed about the judgement. He took to his X (formerly Twitter to express that).
Expressing his grouse, Ibori claimed that the Supreme Court’s ruling was a recipe for chaos.
According to Ibori, the judgment has dealt a severe setback on the principle of federalism as defined by section 162(3) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
He said the section expressly provides that: “any amount standing to the credit of the Federation Account shall be distributed among the Federal and State Governments and the Local Government Councils in each state on such terms and in such manner as may be prescribed by the National Assembly”.
Sections 6, he said, further provide further clarity on the subject matter: “(6) Each State shall maintain a special account to be called ‘State Joint Local Government Account’ into which shall be paid all allocations to the Local Government Councils of the state from the Federation Account and from the Government of the State.”
One of the potential challenges facing the ruling is the joint account and conduct election into Local Government Councils, But a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mr Mike Ozekhome says the ruling has laid that to rest.
“The judgement of the government is clear. If you want to receive funds from the federation account, then conduct an election.
“If what you have in place is a caretaker committee as local government chairman, be sure that it will not have money from the federation account”, said Ozekhome.
Another area of concern is the fate of the Local Council Development Authorities (LCDAs) and care committees, some of which were created by Tinubu.
“What this law is saying is that if you are not a democratically elected local government council, you cannot have this money under section 162 Sub Section 5 and 6 of the 1999 Constitution.
“So, what it means is that money should now be ploughed to those local governments that are in existence democratically”, the legal luminary said.
After the financial autonomy ruling, the conduct of election into council chairmanship positions and councillorship remains the next challenge and stakeholders want it to be as swiftly resolved as possible.
They say that is only by doing so that the third tier of government would be truly autonomous and those in charge of legislation say it is top on the agenda.
The chairman, Senate Services Committee, Sen. Sunday Karimi, who represents Kogi West said the National Assembly was poised to do so.
He said the lawmakers will meet that yearning by passing a legislation to transfer conduct of local government elections from the State Independent Electoral Commissions to Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
“We will ensure that capable individuals can step forward to contest local government elections.
“Experienced people will be needed to manage the funds effectively, and prioritise the development of the grassroots for the masses to become actively involved in shaping the future of their local governments.
“A lot of money that has gone to the local governments, over the years were either taken over by the state governments through the joint account or not accounted for’’, he said.
