Politics
Controversy persists over LGs fiscal autonomy

…as President Tinubu, AGF, others disagree on implementation
Unsettled dust is still trailing the perceived autonomy of the Local 774 local government in Nigeria following the Supreme Court decision last year.
The latest statement by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu when both the Vice President, Kashim Shettima and the governors visited him to pay homage during the New year, over the autonomy granted by the Supreme court to the Local governments seems to be confusing and appears to have brought new dimensions into the subsisting argument on the issue.
President Tinubu had said during the visit that there was no disagreement between him and the governors but all he wanted was the development at the grassroots.
He argued that there were gossips everywhere that “we had disagreements on local government autonomy. No. Just drive development at the local government level. Nobody wants to take them away from you, but we need collaboration.”
At the same time, he called on the governors to ensure that local governments fulfill the expectations of the people, saying that they are the bedrock of development.
President Tinubu pointed out that there was the need for stronger collaboration between the federal and state governments, to solve the pressing challenges being faced presently in Nigeria, in order to accelerate national development.
He highlighted the important role of state governors in driving economic growth, food security, and grassroots development.
With these words coming from the President at a time when Nigerians seem to have lost patients over the delay in implementing the Supreme court’s order concerning the Local governments, there appears also that there was contradictions and confusions on the matter. It was argued in some quarters that
President Tinubu knew what he was doing, that he was only playing politics and that does not prevent the implementation of the Court verdict, which is now sacrosanct based on the law.
A public affairs analyst and former Press Secretary to the former Oyo state governor, Dr. Omololu Olunloyo, Elder Moses Olorode, said that the statement of President Tinubu, did not indicate that the law would not be obeyed, saying that the governors have no place to hide. He argued that apart from the fact that they would be in people’s court, they would be liable and as well don’t have moral justification not to implement what the laws says and backed by the judgment of the highest court in the land, which verdict brings the issue to a final conclusion.
Before President Tinubu’s statement, the Attorney General of the Federation, and the Minister of Justice. Lateef Fagbemi, had warned that it was not right for the governors not to implement what the Court pronounced, saying defiance amount to an impeachable offence.
Fagbemi argued that disregarding the verdict by some governors now passing state laws in contrast to the apex court’s judgement could lead to impeachment.
The AGF, knocked the governors recently at the 2024 Annual General Conference of the Abuja Chapter of the National Association of Judiciary Correspondents (NAJUC),
He disclosed that the federal government would not rest, and therefore, threatened that charges would be filed against elected officials teaming up with governors to divert allocations meant for the 774 Local governments in Nigeria.
Fagbemi frowned at the reports that council staff have to notify governors in advance before they could spend their own money for basic things such as stationery.
“And we have listened to such funny arguments before and after the judgement, to the effect that, oh, they are not matured enough. I said, how better are you? Are you any better? Leave them alone.
“And we have been drumming this into the ears of the local government officials that look, the governors have immunity, but you don’t have. So, it is very easy for you to get yourself to Kuje or other prisons spread across Nigeria.”
“Before I go further, let me say that even before the pronouncement of the Supreme Court, there were so many pressures coming from left, right and center.”
“But I give kudos to the President of Nigeria, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who in spite of the pressure, was able to stand up and say that he is the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and that the 774 local governments are also people to be protected and he did so.”
What the Attorney General did to get the Supreme court verdict for fiscal autonomy for the councils was a decade battle because the activities of the LGS have been completely grounded and that was why, it has been a landmark judgment.
Although the states fought and struggled not to allow that to happen, the Court insisted that it was not right to allow the status quo remain, while it condemned the usual practice by the governors to dissolve democratically elected councils, once a new government is in place, despite the fact that those dissolved are yet to complete their terms, and ordered that their funds paid directly to them, since withholding it is unconstitutional.
The joint account allocation as it was constituted made the LGs an inferior partner, which could not raise any eyebrow, on how the states are disbursing and sharing the allocation and this process contravenes section 162 of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria of 1999.
The governors have also been seeing themselves as lords, and therefore, give out what pleases them to the councils and, as such, the councils were incapacitated to perform their statutory functions as directed by the constitution.
As enumerated by the Attorney General of the Federation Fagbemi, with the fiscal independence of the LGs, they would be and should be able to be responsible for the primary schools, health care centres, which had eluded them before the new order.
As it were, some local government chairmen who were bold enough to challenge the governors were intimidated and removed. This situation made the LG chairmen appendages of the governors and they dare not talk.
According to a legal luminary and former chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Ikeja Brach, Barrister Bisi Ade-Ademuwagun, despite the jubilation over the LGs autonomy, there are still some lacuna, causing the controversies and confusions. He said though, the LGs would receive their allocations directly, to determine what they would do with it,, execute projects independently and even determine sources of their revenues, the grey area are that the Supreme court did not go into the powers of the State Assembly, that the Assemblies have no powers over the LGs and as such, the way their finances would be administered is still subject to the Assemblies at liberty to promulgate laws for the states, which the Local governments are under.
He argued that although the local government have their by-laws, which are not superior to that of the State, Assemblies.
it was argued that the 1999 constitution has many faulty provisions, which are not expected to be sorted out by the apex court in the land. Some of these flaws are what it was believed the states would capitalize on to still put the LGs under their armpits.
As the Deputy Governor of Oyo State, Barrister Bayo Lawal, argued, people must not look at the Supreme Court judgment in isolation; they should take critical and holistic look at the constitution and why it is still difficult to enforce the the judgement.
“Many people have said a lot about this issue. I was at the National Economic Council meeting (NEC), held before the New year. The governors said that we have that judgment on our hands and the Attorney General of the Federation said that judgment must be enforced. It can not be enforced because it is standing on grounds not formidable.”
The Judgment, which is hanging, would be difficult to enforce and any judgment that is difficult to enforce becomes “odious: as we lawyers would say and it becomes unenforceable.”
With these situation now on ground, section 8 and 9 of the Constitution of Nigeria, ensures and guarantees that the existence of the Local government is democratically under the state government, warning that local government can’t exist unless you have a state in existence. And so Local government can’t or should not by any interpretation, be an independent arm of any government and if this were to be so, I would say that it was not proper for the Local government chairmen to be in attendance at the NEC Meeting, which i attended, representing Oyo State, to be present and “what kind of arrangement is that?
“This is why right thinking people, CSOs, lawyers and Journalist should come out to do holistic interpretations of the judgment”
“Let me blow your minds. In 1999 I was the Attorney General of Oyo State, and people should remember that it was an era of zero allocation to local government across the Federation and we should not forget that there were a lot of local governments across Nigeria then, that could not pay salaries of their workers.
“It amuses me that Nigerians are not deep in their thinking and have not bothered to find out why the local government joint account was created. If people care to know it was done under section 162 (5) and in spite of the Supreme Court judgment in july 2024, that section still stands and it has not been repealed, neither amended.
“We should note that this is a section standing on its own and the Supreme Court judgment also standing on its own.”
According to him, “Nigerians should be educated about what is happening and this is where you journalists come into the picture, to let people know what is happening and the situation of things.
“You see the perception up there is that governors are depriving the local governments what is due to to them. No, that is not true; the constitution is clear about the whole thing.
“As such, if that judgment is fully implemented, the councils would be the losers and greatly affected and I can assure you that it would bring us back to the 1999 era of zero allocation with the local governments.”
However, Barrister Bayo Lawal’s argument got a support of the Minority judgment on the local government, with the dissenting voice of Justice Habeeb Abiru, who was of the opinion that the court cannot take over the job of the National Assembly. He averred “the court cannot use liberal or broad interpretation principles to fill in perceived gaps in the provisions of the constitution; that is the job for the legislature.”
Justice Abiru pointed out the case of the Attorney-General of the Federation versus Atiku (2007), where Akitan (JSC) held that ”for the court to enact or write into the constitution what its makers failed to insert would amount to the court enacting laws and Lord Simmons described such an act ”a naked usurpation of legislative function under the thin guise of interpretation, and it is the less justifiable when it is guess work with what material the legislature would, if it had discovered the gap, have filled it in. If a gap is discovered, the remedy lies on the amending Act.”
With the argument still ranging, there are strong indications that the last is not yet heard about the debate on the Local government autonomy and with various lacunae both in the constitution and the judicial pronouncements, it is clear that if some governors succumbed, there are others, who would not and would want to pursue the matter to a logical conclusion, despite the last Supreme Court judgment, which some of them have found to be with flaws.
It was also argued that some of the States would not let go easily because they have committed so much, which are tied to the local government funds.
It would be recalled that some of the past state governors had issues with the the Economic Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) over the way the local government funds were spent and it was argued that many serving governors today are likely to face the same faith, when they are out of office and would not have immunity to favour them for various financial crimes they must have committed while in office.