By Fred Itua, Abuja

More than 25 years after a raging constitutional bottleneck was smuggled into the 1999 constitution, the Supreme Court, on Thursday, resolved the quagmire. With the Supreme Court judgment, the 774 Local Government Areas have now been freed from the stranglehold of governors, who have been repeatedly accused of meddling with monthly allocations for Local Government Areas in their respective states.

The judgment

In its judgment, the apex court directed that local government allocations from the Federation Account should be paid directly to them, going forward. The Supreme Court declared that it is unconstitutional for state governors to hold onto funds meant for local government .

In its lead judgment read by Justice Emmanuel Agim, the highest court in Nigeria, observed that the refusal of state governments on financial autonomy for Local Governments has gone on for over two decades.

Justice Agim said Local Governments have since stopped receiving the money meant for them from the state governors who act in their stead. He noted that the 774 Local Government Councils in the country should manage their funds themselves. The revered Justice dismissed the preliminary objections of the defendants (state governors).

In the suit filed by the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, the Federal Government sought an order preventing governors from arbitrarily dissolving democratically elected councils. The suit by the AGF was on 27 grounds. Justice Agim said the AGF has the right to institute the suit and protect the constitution.

It directed that local government allocation from the Federation Account should be paid directly to them henceforth.

The genesis

The creation of the State Joint Local Government Account System (SJLGAS) by section 162 of the 1999 Federal Constitution of Nigeria was meant to facilitate rural development of the local communities through effective supervision of the distribution and efficient management of revenue accruing to the local government councils from the Federation Account.

Rather than being a vehicle that should drive rural development, the State Joint Local Government Account system has over the last two decades served as a means of making unnecessary deductions from revenue accruing to the Local Government Councils from the Federation Account to the coffers of State Governments in Nigeria. The excessive and unwanted deductions of fund from the Local Government Statutory allocations from Federation Account by State Governments in Nigeria through the Joint Account Allocation Committee (JAAC), improper management of finance and endemic corruption in the local government administration in Nigeria, are believed to have made rural sustainable development a mirage.

Previous attempts to grant LGs financial autonomy

In March 2022, both chambers of the National Assembly voted on the report of its Joint Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bills, 2022. The move was thwarted by the State Houses of Assembly, who are believed to be controlled by state governors. According to the 1999 Constitution, for any amendment to be effective, 24 out of 36 State Houses of Assembly must concur before the President can sign a bill into law. When the 9th National Assembly forwarded the Financial Autonomy Bill to State Assemblies, over half voted against it.

Again, May 2024, the Senate, through a motion, called

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to champion the cause of full autonomy for local governments in Nigeria. The move, according to lawmakers, will combat persistent security threats, rural-urban migration, crumbling infrastructure, and widespread unemployment.

The upper chamber’s resolution highlighted the erosion of local autonomy by successive governments, leading to limited financial resources and decision-making control. “Corruption and resource mismanagement have further marred some local governments’ image, exacerbating uneven development across the nation,” the motion had argued.

It emphasised the pivotal role some governors play in obstructing local government autonomy through constitutional alteration processes. It argued that with constrained financial and operational autonomy, local governments struggle to address local security concerns such as community policing and infrastructure maintenance effectively.

Lawmakers unanimously condemned state governors impeding grassroots development and recognised the urgent need to address Nigeria’s security challenges. Consequently, the Senate urged President Tinubu to leverage his leadership and influence to garner support for ful Local Government autonomy.

The lawmakers also urged President Tinubu to champion constitutional amendments to guarantee genuine independence for local governments, granting them control over resources and decision-making. They urged federal agencies to fully comply with existing legal provisions that empower local governments, ensuring the timely release of allocated funds directly to their bank accounts and streamlining administrative processes.

Within the same period, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, urged the 36 state governors to prioritise the development of Nigeria and support President Tinubu in his quest to grant full autonomy to the local government areas across the country. The speaker, who decried the challenges of the third tier of government, however, said the House is committed to making the local government administration function optimally according to their mandate.

He said: “The failure of local government is well known to us. Despite the extensive provisions of the 1999 Constitution regarding the existence and functions of local governments, that tier of government has failed to live up to its billing. Some of the most significant challenges impeding their ability to fulfill their constitutionally assigned roles include the covert usurpation of local government functions by state governments, a lack of financial autonomy due to the State Joint Local Government Account, political instability from tenure irregularities, and pervasive corruption.

“A critical component of the President’s Renewed Hope Agenda is the integration of local governments into the mainstream of governance in Nigeria. In a significant move, the Federal Government recently instituted legal action against the governors of the 36 states at the Supreme Court, addressing alleged misconduct in the administration of Local Government Areas (LGAs). This action underscores the President’s profound commitment to this issue, one he is intimately familiar with from his tenure as Governor of Lagos State.

“We in the 10th National Assembly are determined and committed to ensuring local governments are recognised and sufficiently empowered to perform their constitutionally assigned roles. As contained in our legislative agenda, the House will continue to play a crucial role in advocating for and enacting the necessary legislative frameworks to ensure that local governments are granted the autonomy they rightfully deserve.

“This is not just a legislative duty but a commitment to the democratic aspirations of the Nigerian people and the Constitution. For this reason, I call on all governors to put Nigeria first and collectively support the president in the quest to grant full autonomy to local governments.”

Relying on the strength of the motion by the Senate, Tinubu commenced a historic legal battle in June to free local governments from the grips of state governors. As expected, state governors, in their usual posturing, resisted the move and challenged Tinubu’s court action. In a landmark judgment, the argument has been rested by the country’s apex court.

Prior to the court action, Tinubu had criticised state governors over what he termed an overbearing influence on the administration of Local Government Councils in the country. According to Tinubu, issues of accountability and ineffectiveness hinder the growth of local council authorities, and state governors must be held accountable.

“We are running a constitutional democracy. I will appeal to you to summon the governors. I am doing my very best to enhance the revenue base of the country. They must equally be sympathetic, and they must urgently consider the needs of the local people.

“People reside in the local communities. That is where they work, farm, and live. If the local governments are not effective in delivering services, as leaders, we must not hang on to the numbers. We have 774 local government areas, but are they truly effective? Do they solve problems for Nigerians? Do they coordinate development programming with the state and federal governments?

“Who is being held accountable for the performance of the 774 local governments? Maybe we should look at recalibrating. What was good four years ago may not be good today. When we want the votes, we go to the locals; when we get the votes, we move to and focus on Abuja,” the president said.

Governors’ concerns, fresh agitations

Many serving and former governors opposed to financial autonomy for Local Governments, have often based their arguments on a number of concerns. Some expressed fears that a full financial autonomy for local governments will create a crisis in the states. For them, a financially-autonomous Local Government system will render state governors powerless.

A former governor who spoke to Daily Sun in confidence said: “If Local Government Areas get full autonomy, governors will be impeached. Some local governments get billions of naira as monthly allocations. If about 10 Local Government Areas in a state are aggrieved and decide to remove a state governor, they can pull their resources together and compromise a State House of Assembly.

“If one state tries it and succeeds, Council chairmen will begin to determine who becomes a state governor and not what we have currently. Local government chairmen will become too powerful to control, and the main reason why they were established will not be achieved. While we celebrate the judgment by the Supreme Court, we must watch out for the dangers that lie ahead.”

Like Oliver Twist, always asking for more, Nigerians are asking for an immediate constitutional amendment or another pronouncement by the Supreme Court, to enable the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct elections into Local Government Areas. According to them, governors will be disallowed from fixing their stooges as Council chairmen.

Many Nigerians are also pushing for withholding of funds for Local Government Areas where there are no elected chairmen. They have argued that governors can still control funds earmarked for Local Governments in the absence of a substantive chairman. There are attempts by the current National Assembly to review the Constitution and transfer the responsibility of conduct of Council elections to INEC. Whether or not it will succeed is a different call.

Chairman of INEC, Mahmoud Yakubu, has added his voice to the raging argument on the need to transfer the conduct of Council elections to the national umpire. According to him, unless necessary constitutional amendments are made, INEC will only continue to organise national and state elections.

“The same section of the Constitution that establishes INEC also establishes the State Independent Electoral Commission, and we can not take over their duties.

“It is good for people to engage in advocacy for INEC to take charge of the whole elections, but the Constitution has to be amended for that to happen. For now, INEC can only conduct the local government elections in the Federal Capital Territory with six area council chairmen and 62 councilors.

“And it is in the FCT. The conduct of council elections has been regular, and we are proud of what we have done to the best of our capacity. So, we are encouraged by what we have done, but as for taking over the LG elections in the states, the constitution has to be amended, and we are not there yet,’’ Yakubu said.

Similarly, the AGF has proposed that the State Independent Electoral Commission (SIECs) should be dispensed with. Fagbemi also posited that the powers of SIECs should be transferred to INEC. Fagbemi said governors have exploited the flaws in certain sections of the 1999 constitution, effectively rendering local governments powerless and irrelevant.

The minister said these inadequacies have allowed the governors to abuse the rights of local governments by using SIECs to impose leaders on them through sham elections. He said other governors who do not conduct sham polls appoint vassals as caretaker leaders for the local governments. He called for a robust constitutional amendment that will remove all hindrances to the development of local governments and bolster their ability to fulfill constitutionally recognised mandate.

“To achieve this, many experts have proposed that there is a need for the scrapping of the state independent electoral commission. Their functions and powers should be transferred to the independent national electoral commission because the state independent electoral commission remains an appendage to every incumbent governor. This is perceived as the root cause of the problem of local government administration in Nigeria,” he said.

The Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) is also calling for the taking over of the conduct of elections at the third tier of government across Nigeria. President of the union, Ambali Olatunji, attributed the near-collapse state of Local Governments in Nigeria on the mode of the emergence of Council chairmen, whom he said emerge through coronation, appointment and promotion, devoid of any form of credibility.

He insisted that only a democratically elected local government administration would be accountable to the people. Therefore, the state electoral body should not conduct the elections.

He said: “We clamour for political autonomy for Local Government whereby Independent National Electoral Commission will be conducting the Local government Elections. The creation of state electoral commission has brought in a lot of abuse and lack of transparency in the conduct of LG elections. What they are doing now is not an election, it is a coronation, appointment, and promotion of political jobbers and political cronies into the administration of Local Government, thereby creating an avenue to siphon local government resources.

“That is why NULGE clamour for the conduct of credible and acceptable Democratic election at the LG level. If the process is thorough, the leadership would be a leader voluntarily elected by the people that would be accountable to the people, not to the state government.”