by Takim ETTA
OVERVIEW OF THE CASE
The Supreme Court today, the 11th of July 2024, has resolved the constitutional issue of financial autonomy for local government councils throughout the 774 local government areas in Nigeria. Over the years, local government area councils, being the government closest to the people, have always been underfunded and financially neglected, leading to compounding issues ranging from insecurity to the non-payment of local government staff by the state governments. These and many more issues led to the growing need for restoration of the financial autonomy until there was an urgent need to act.
The Federal Government of Nigeria swiftly intervened in the matter by bringing an action against the 36 state governments of the Federation on the 36th of May 2024, challenging the powers of the state governments to control state funds. The case, with suit no SC/CV/343/2024, was duly filed by the Attorney General of the Federation, challenging the constitutionality of the state governments undermining the powers of the local government. The Federal Government prayed the court for the following orders: “an order prohibiting state governors from the unilateral, arbitrary, and unlawful dissolution of democratically elected local government leaders for local governments,” and that funds meant for the local government should be paid directly to the local government account.
Furthermore, the caretaker committee system, where the governors would deliberately refuse to conduct elections and appoint puppets who may not even be known by the people to man the local government council as caretakers, should be abolished. There shall be democratically elected citizens to occupy the office of the Chairman of the Local Government Council. The AG further prayed the court to invoke the provisions of sections 1, 4, 5, and 7 of the constitution, declaring the acts of the governors void.
Today, the 11th of July 2024, the Supreme Court finally granted the prayers of the federal government against the states, granting financial autonomy to the 774 local government councils in Nigeria. The judgment read today by His Learned Justice Emmanuel Agim had the following implications:
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EFFECTS OF SUPREME COURT RULLING
- Financial Autonomy: The Supreme Court held that the channel of disbursement of local government allocation through the state government account is unconstitutional. Henceforth, monies would be paid directly to the accounts of all the 774 local governments in Nigeria. The Supreme Court stated that the issue of financial autonomy for local governments has been unresolved for over two decades, with the chairmen and the entire local government councils depending on the discretionary mercies of the state governors. It is noteworthy that currently, the Federal Government gets 52.68%, states get 26.72%, and local governments get 20.60% of the country’s monthly revenue allocated by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), which operates under the Presidency and is disbursed by the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC). This means that our local governments have been stagnated because of this anomaly.2. Restoration of Democratically Elected Persons: The Supreme Court held that the appointment of caretaker committees to manage the administration of local governments is unconstitutional. Consequently, only democratically elected individuals should serve as administrative heads of local government areas in Nigeria. The effect is to give flesh to the true intent of the constitution, ensuring that local people choose their leaders who will govern them, rather than having leaders imposed by the governors of the states.
FINANCIAL AUTONOMY UNSETTLED QUESTIONS
Who is responsible for the conduct of LGA elections in Nigeria? Some citizens have expressed concerns over the tendency of the state government to technically influence elections, owing to the fact that all elections are conducted by the State Electoral Commission, which is most times not independent of the influence of the governor. Would the governor not handpick any chairman he wants to place in a particular local government? The provision of the new Electoral Act has made manipulation nearly impossible. The use of BIVAS machines during the electoral process ensures that the votes of the people count. However, this opinion is still open to further criticisms. As the local governments can now enjoy full financial autonomy, we believe that the Nigerian people will one day achieve full political power.
CONCLUSION
With the issue of local government financial autonomy settled, we are expecting full compliance throughout the 36 states of the federation in the coming weeks. We believe there will be positive effects in the following aspects. There will be full restoration of universal basic education as owed salaries of primary school teachers will be completely paid. There may be improvement in our markets and local parks, which would, in turn, boost production and distribution, and competition that would reduce the cost of food in the country. There may be rural development as the government in rural areas would have a greater sense of responsibility. There may be an improvement in security throughout the country because the incessant kidnappings are carried out in local governments that do not have enough funding to mobilize local security architecture. At VOTP News, we say thank you to the federal government.
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