Di Supreme Court of Nigeria don deliver ogbonge judgement wey uphold di autonomy of di local government councils for Nigeria as di third tier of government.
Dis judgement follow a law suit wey di Attorney General of di Federation, Lateef Fagbemi bin file, asking di court to order say di take over of local government administrations by state governors dey illegal and unconstitutional.
Oga Fagbemi point out as state governors dey hold on to local goverment monies and also how governors dey dissolve democratically elected local government councils anyhow, come replace dem wit appointed caretaker chairmen or administrators.
For di lead judgement wey Justice Emmanuel Agim deliver on behalf of a seven-man Supreme Court justices, e hold say, “the state retention of monies meant for local government councils dey illegal unconstitutional”.
E note say di 1999 constitution don already tok say “monies accruing to di federation go dey distributed between di federal, state, and local governments in a manner to be determined by di national assembly”.
“I hereby hold dat local government allocations shall henceforth be paid directly through local government accounts,” Justice Agim tok.
“Governors no get power to keep, control, manage, or disburse LG Funds under any guise whatsoever.”
On di issue of appointment of caretaker chairmen to replace elected local government chairmen, Justice Agim also tok say e dey very illegal and unknown to di constitution.
“A state governor no get power to appoint anybody as chairman or administrator of a local government,” Justice Agim tok, since di constitution don clearly provide say local government leadership go emerge only through a democratic election.
Di oda six justices of di Supreme Court wey dey di panel agree wit di lead judgement, though one of dem, Justice Habeeb Adewale Abeni, disagree small wit di lead judgement.
Justice Abeni disagree wit di part wia di judgement say state governments no fit interfere whatsoever wit di way local government funds dey administered.
E say if di local government council agree wit di state government on how dem suppose use funds belonging to dem, no be di business of di court to forbid am.
Wetin dis judgement go mean?
Na di Attorney General of di federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, bin file di suit against di 36 states of di federation, and e bin want di Supreme Court to give order wey go prevent state governors from interfering wit local governments anyhow.
One of di tins wey oga Fagbemi bin want from di Supreme Court na to stop governors from suspending a local goment chairman wey come to office through election, and also for di court to order say local government money from di federation account go dey go straight to di local government accounts according to di constitution.
For inside di originating summons, Fagbemi tok say di constitution recognise di federal, state, and local governments as di three tiers of goment, and dat di three tiers of goment go dey collect money to carry out dia functions from di federation account.
E also tok say di constitution provide say di leadership of di local governments go be by a democratic election, but state governors don suspend di constitutional provisions even wen a state of emergency no dey in place for di states.
“The failure of di governors to put democratically elected local government system in place na deliberate subversion of di 1999 constitution wey dem and di president bin swear to uphold,” Fagbemi tok.
E argue say since di government don refuse to ensure a democratically elected system for di local governments, e go dey against di constitution to continue to dey release funds to dem.
Di Supreme court grant all di reliefs.
With dis judgement, dis concerns suppose be a thing of di past.
E mean for instance say things go need to change and states like Rivers and odas wia di governors appoint caretaker chairmen or sole administrators for di local goment areas, go need to adjust to comply to di Supreme Court ruling.
Wetin go happen to di joint State and LG account?
Di state goments bin argue dat paying local goment monies directly to dia accounts go be a violation of di constitution.
Dem cite section 162 (6) of di constituion wey “Each State shall maintain a special account to be called ‘State Joint Local Government Account’ into which shall be paid all allocations to di Local Government Councils of di State from di Federation Account and from di Government of di State.”
But di Justices of di Supreme Court tok say di intention of di framers of di constitution no be to enable state goments to hide behind dis provision to dey illegally hold on to funds wey suppose go to di local goments.
Justice Emmanuel Agim wey read di lead judgement tok say section 162(3) bin don already clearly tok say di money wey accrue to di federation go dey shared between di federal, state and local goments, so for di state goments to dey hold on to local goment money hiding under secion 162(5) and (6), dey unconstittional.
In di case of dis matter, di word ‘shall’ in section 162(6) of di constitution – even though e mean something mandatory – can be interpreted as ‘may’, Agim tok. And di oda five justices agree wit am wit di exception of Justice Habeeb Adewale Abeni.
Na di Attorney General of di federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, bin file di suit against di 36 states of di federation, and e bin want di Supreme Court to give order wey go prevent state governors from interfering wit local governments anyhow.
One of di tins wey oga Fagbemi bin want from di Supreme Court na to stop governors from suspending a local goment chairman wey come to office through election, and also for di court to order say local government money from di federation account go dey go straight to di local governemnt accounts according to di constitution.
For inside di originating summons, Fagbemi tok say di constitution recognise di federal, state, and local governments as di three tiers of goment, and dat di three tiers of goment go dey collect money to carry out dia functions from di federation account.
E also tok say di constitution provide say di leadership of di local governments go be by a democratic election, but state governors don suspend di constitutional provisions even wen a state of emergency no dey in place for di states.
“The failure of di governors to put democratically elected local government system in place na deliberate subversion of di 1999 constitution wey dem and di president bin swear to uphold,” Fagbemi tok.
With dis judgement, dis concerns suppose be a thing of di past.
‘Govnors no support LG autonomy’
Currently, di Federal Government dey get 52.68%, and states get 26.72%. In comparison, LGs get 20.60% of di kontri monthly revenue allocated by di Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) wey dey operate under di Presidency, and disbursed by di Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC).
Some state govnors no dey hide dia disagreement wit di idea of local government autonomy.
Governor Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra State bin don give toks for different forums dey argue say LG autonomy “dey against di spirit of true federalism”.
“E no get any federal system for di world wey get three federal units,” Soludo tok as a guest speaker on The Platform Nigeria during the 2024 democracy day celebration.
“Di counties for America wia we copy our democracy from, dia local goments no dey go to di centre to collect money.”
“Each state suppose get power to design di kind local goment system dem want. Dat na wetin true federalism be about.” E tok.
