After years of calls for the third tier of government to be freed from the apron strings of state governments, the Supreme Court of Nigeria, last Thursday, finally granted financial autonomy to the 774 Local Government Councils in the country, reports Jude Atupulazi.
In a landmark judgement on Thursday, the apex court ordered the Federal Government to immediately start the direct payment of local government funds to the latter’s exclusive accounts in what is surely a blow to state governors who have been leveraging local government funds to operate.
In its lead judgement read by Justice Emmanuel Agim, the apex court scolded the decades-long refusal of the state government on financial autonomy for Local Governments.
Justice Agim noted that the 774 Local Government councils in the country should manage their funds themselves.
He dismissed the preliminary objections of the defendants (state governors).
The apex court directed that local government allocations from the Federation Account should be paid directly to them henceforth, and not to state government coffers.
Justice Agim pointed out that the state governors’ retention of the monies meant for the local governments truncates the latter’s activities.
Justice Agim ordered the immediate compliance of the judgement, stating that no state government should be paid monies meant for local governments.
This latest development must come as a disappointment to many state governors who will have to look elsewhere to raise funds, unless they collude with local government chairmen to work out a formula for sharing the funds. This is especially so in states like Anambra which have been using appointed chairmen for the third tier of government rather than elected.
Events in the coming months will throw more light on how the states are coping with the latest development.
