The Supreme Court of Nigeria has reserved judgment on the case filed by the Federal Government against the 36 state governments, seeking the complete autonomy of the 774 local governments in the country. A seven-member panel of Supreme Court justices, led by Garba Lawal, ruled that the decision would be communicated to the parties involved
The Supreme Court of Nigeria has reserved judgment on the case filed by the Federal Government against the 36 state governments, seeking the complete autonomy of the 774 local governments in the country.
A seven-member panel of Supreme Court justices, led by Garba Lawal, ruled that the decision would be communicated to the parties involved in the case in the subsequent days.
The suit, which was filed by the Attorney General of the Federation, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), on May 20 with the Supreme Court and marked SC/CV/343/2024, accused the state governments of abuse of power over the local governments.
While some states claimed they were being denied fair hearings because they did not receive the summons within the required time, their Attorneys-General and the representatives of the state governor adopted the statement of brief in court today, requesting that the Supreme Court dismiss the case file filed by the Attorney General of the Federation.
The AGF, on the other hand, refuted their claims in his submission, stating that they were all briefed before June 10th. He thereby asked the court to dismiss the states’ preliminary objection and grant his summons.
He further explained to the court that he sent copies of the affidavits to the defendants via WhatsApp and emails. He said the court bailiff also served the defendants.
The federal government has always maintained that state governments’ interference with local governments throughout the state is impeding the process of achieving an equitable distribution of democratic benefits at the grassroots.
To address this, the Federal Government of Nigeria decided to drag the 36 states to the Supreme Court to demand complete local government autonomy.
Based on 27 points, the Attorney General argued on behalf of the federal government that, according to the 1999 constitution, Nigeria is a federation with three levels of government: federal, state, and local. He went on to say that the state government’s failure to follow the constitution is an aberration in the law.
The suit also requested that the court issue an injunction prohibiting the state government from receiving, spending, or tampering with funds released from the Federation Account for the benefit of local government councils while no democratically elected local government system is in place in the states.
While the apex court is yet to announce a date to resolve the issue, the state governors are already fuming at the decision of the federal government to take legal action against local government autonomy.
In his statement yesterday, the Kwara State Governor, Abdul Rahman AbdulRazaq, who is also the Chairman of the Governors Forum, said there is a need for a constitutional amendment to expunge the Joint Account Allocation Committee (JAAC) before the federal government could implement the full financial autonomy of local governments.
According to the chairman of the Governors Forum, as long as JAAC still pulls resources together to pay all teachers, health workers, traditional rulers, and other statutory duties listed in the schedule of the local government areas, the financial autonomy of the local government might seem difficult.
“If we all want these to change as a national consensus, we believe that the constitution will have to be amended to expunge JAAC,” AbdulRazaq said.
