By Late Adegbite
Aminu Mua’azu Malifata, chairman, Lafia Local Government of Nasarawa state,and National President, Association of Local Government of Nigeria, ALGON, is a happy man. Malifata’s source of happiness was the Supreme Court Thursday, Juy 11, 2024, ruling which had granted ‘’financial autonomy’’ to the 774 Local government areas in Nigeria.
Describing it as a’’ welcome development’’, an elated Malifata, who could not hide his feelings had lamented that ‘’the action of the state governors holding and managing local government funds’’, which is the country’s third tier of government, describing it as ‘’unconstitutional’’.
Going by the current Federation Account Allocation Committee, FAAC, revenue sharing formular, the Federal government receives 52.68 allocation to facilitate the funding of basic infrastructural facilities in the country like construction of roads, bridges, provision of basic healthcare and educational facilities facilities across the country ,states 26.72% and ocal governments Administration, 20.60%, meaning that what FAAC, remits to the joint account operated by the state and Local governments on a monthly basis was 47.32%.
Suffice it to say that the local government Leaders know little or nothing about the running of the joint account except what may be disbursed to the councils by the state government monthly which the governor sees as a favour. This may have informed why the ALGON, National President would want the governors’ ‘’to allow the local governments to breathe by letting the court verdict take its full course’’.
The ALGON national president, Malifata, may have shocked Nigerians when he revealed that the councils have been fighting the battle for their own financial autonomy over the last 12 years, noting, they cannot say for now ‘’to be losers or winners’’ as the verdict was a unanimous decision of the apex court Justices who had handled the case.
.Segun Osoba, a former governor of Ogun, former President Olusegun Obasanjo home state, had described as ‘’undemocratic’’ for governors to enthrone their party men as chairmen of local governments in their respective states to disburse funds to them as they deem necessary.
Last June, Fubara Siminalayi, a former Accountant General of Rivers state, during Nyensom Wike’s Administration, who incidentally is the minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, under the present Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Administration, and an ex-governor of the Niger Delta state, had unilaterally removed the 23 elected local government chairmen and other elected local government officials at the council level on grounds that that their three –year tenure have expired.
The governor may not have made moves within his over one year in office to provide the needed funds to the state Independent Electoral Commission to organize, election to introduce new set of elected local government chairmen, vice chairmen and councilors to run the affairs of the Local government councils for another three years.
The governor was said to have moved a step further to appoint caretaker committees in the 23 local government Areas in the state to run the affairs of the Councils for the next six months, thus making mockery of the 199 constitution.
The state House of Assembly may have provided the ammunition for the elected council officials to protest their removal as the state Lawmakers had extended the tenure of the local government elected officials by one year, making it for years for them to remain office.
But Siminalayi, the Rivers state governor, who would not take it from the Martin Amaewhule, a loyalists of Wike, led state Assembly had stood his ground that the elected council Leaders whose tenure had expired must go. The Rivers state governor may have had his way in appointing caretaker Committees in the 233 Local government s of the state, which legal experts had said he must be prepared to fund them from the state purse.
If the statement by Mike Ozekhome, a Senior Advocate of Nigerian SAN, is anything to goby that ‘’if you are not a democratically elected government councils, you cannot receive funds from the Federation Account’ it means that the unelected councils are in trouble ’. The 199 constitution as amended was very clear on this when it stated that ‘’ if you are not democratically elected local government council, you cannot receive money from the Federation account under section 162, subsections 5 and 6.
This clearly shows that Siminalayi, the Rivers state governor and other governors in the class of the governor would have to carry the financial burden of the caretaker committees in their respective states until a democratically elected council is put in place. Already, the apex court was said to have ordered the Federal Government ‘’ to withhold allocations of LGAs, governed by unelected officials appointed by the governor’’.
The governors may have made the Local government chairmen to understand n assumption of office that the bulk stops on their table, forcing many of them to go hand in begging to remain in office. It was not therefore not very surprising that with the expiration of their first term in office which is three years, the greedy governors had quickly moved to settle political cores with the council chairmen by removing them from office and appointed caretaker committees to run the affairs of the Councils for a given period of six months
Many believe that the ongoing battles between the governors and the elected council chairmen and councillors, may have forced Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, and minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, who has the backing of the Nigerian President to have dragged the governors of the 36 states of the Federation to the Supreme Court last May ‘’ seeking full autonomy for Local government areas in the country.
Indeed, the Nigerian President had left no one in doubt that his Administration had instituted the suit against the state governors because of its unwavering belief that ‘’people in the grass root must have relief’’ stressing that the Supreme court judgment will ensure that ‘’ it will be only those local government Leaders elected by the people that will control the resources of the people’’.
The governors were said to have been sued by the Attorney General of the Federation through their respective states’ commissioners of Justice and Attorneys General. The Federal Government which could no longer tolerate the abuse of the Local Governments Administrations by the state governors was said to have fully moved into action to stop it. The Attorney General of the Federation who may be acting out a script of the Government, was said to have prayed the court ‘’to issue an order , prohibiting the 36 state governors, who constitute the Nigerian Governors Forum, NGF, from embarking on unilateral, arbitrary and unlawful dissolution of democratically elected Local Government councils.
True to the Federal Government demand , the Supreme Court, had barred governors from dissolving democratically elected Local Government Councils Leaders in the country, noting that doing so would ‘’amount to a breach of the 1999 constitution as amended. The apex court which was said to have also granted ‘’financial autonomy to the 74 Local Government councils in the country appears to have sent a message to the governor that it is no longer business as usual.
The Nigerian President who was said to have sounded it loud and clear that ‘’we can use legitimate means to restructure Nigeria and restructure the economy to make the country a better place to live in and fairer society for all Nigerians’’.
He was said to have given kudos to the apex court for ‘’upholding the constitutional rights of local governments of financial autonomy which he had described as’ ’historic and a significant step towards ‘’strengthening the country federal structure for national development’’.
Until the court made the historic ruling the state and Local governments had operated a joint account. This is because the 1999 Constitution as amended b had recognized ‘’the pooling of all financial allocations due to the 74Local Government Councils from the Federation Account, for onward distribution by the state governments to the Councils.
Given ‘’’ lack of adequate technical capacity and constitutional loopholes’’ associated with the creation of the state and local government joint accounts, were aid to be the key factors that had affected the efficient financial management of the Local government councils.
While the state governments and local governments collect taxes, they also depend on financial allocations from the Federal government. Ever since the joint account between the states and Local government councils, were created, the governors were said to have found a way of suffocating the third tier level of government, which was unexpected.
There is no gain saying the fact that with the Supreme Court ruling, ‘’it means that the Local Government council in the country would be able to manage their funds themselves’’. This may not be too good for the governor who had been tampering with the Local government funds over the years as the court directive had enjoined the Federal Government to pay the councils allocations from the Federation Account directly to them and not to the state coffers’’.
The governors may have put up a bold face to show that all is satisfied with the Supreme Court ruling on the financial autonomy of Local Governments Area in the country. Abdurahman AbdulRazaq, governor of Kwara state and Chairman, Nigerian Governors Forum, NGF, who may have spoken the mind of the governors had said that the apex court ruling on Local Government Financial autonomy would be ‘’relieving the governors of the financial burden of the councils’’. ‘’’’We welcome the ruling of the Supreme court with respect to the Local Government autonomy, the governor had said.
Aware that some Local Government Chairmen may want to abuse the new privilege of managing the funds of their respective councils may have encouraged Femi Falana, SAN, to have called on Nigerians , ‘’to be prepared to monitor the activities of the Local Government officials in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling’’.
He was said to have told those that cares to listen that ‘’the Supreme court judgment is going ‘’to advance the struggle for accountability if Nigerians can own the system’’ and be prepared to monitor the activities of the council , states and Federal government officials. This is the only way the country can have political stability and security, he had said.
