The Federal Government has set up a 10-member committee, headed by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), George Akume, to enforce the Supreme Court judgment granting financial autonomy to Local Governments in Nigeria.
Members of the committee, are Senator George Akume, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy; Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice – Member; Minister of Budget and Economic Planning; Accountant General of the Federation; Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria CBN; Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Finance; Chairman, Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission; Representative of State Governors; and, Representative of Local Governments.
Director, Information & Public Relations in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation OSGF, Segun Imohiosen disclosed this on Tuesday in Abuja.
He said the SGF, Senator George Akume, who inaugurated the Inter-Ministerial Committee would himself chair it.
According to the release, the committee’s primary goal is to ensure that local governments are granted full autonomy, allowing them to function effectively without interference from state governments.
“This move is in line with President Bola Tinubu efforts to give appropriate implementation to the provisions of the Constitution, which recognizes local governments as the third tier of government”, the statement added.
The Supreme Court had in its judgement on July 11, granted the local government areas autonomy. The Court declared that it is unconstitutional for state governors to hold funds allocated for local government administrations.
The court further declared that a state government has no power to appoint a caretaker committee, stressing that a local government council is only recognisable with a democratically elected government.
The seven-man panel, in the judgment delivered by Justice Emmanuel Agim, declared that the 774 local government councils in the country should manage their funds themselves.
The apex court held that the power of the government is portioned into three arms of government, the federal, the state and the local government. It ruled that state governments are perpetuating a dangerous trend by refusing to allow democratically elected local government councils to function, instead appointing their loyalists who can only be removed by them.
“A democratically elected local government is sacrosanct and non-negotiable,” the court said.
The judgement is a fallout of a suit filed by the Attorney General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), on behalf of the Federal Government, seeking to grant full autonomy and direct funding to all 774 local government councils in the country.
In response, the 36 state governments, through their attorneys general, filed a counterclaim, arguing that the Supreme Court lacked the jurisdiction to hear the case.
In the ruling, Justice Agim affirmed that the AGF has the legal authority to initiate the lawsuit and uphold the constitution. Justice Agim said, “I hold that the plaintiff’s request is hereby approved and all the reliefs granted.”
