LG autonomy: 36 state governors break silence on Supreme Court judgement, disclose next action

• The state governors have expressed support for the Supreme Court judgement that granted full financial autonomy to local governments across the federation
• The governors under the aegis of the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) maintained that they have been relieved of a burden
• Kwara governor, AbdulRazaq AbdulRahman, who is the chairman of the NGF, said the 36 state governors would hold a crucial meeting regarding the verdict and come out with a resolution

Legit.ng journalist Esther Odili has over two years of experience covering political parties and movements

Governors from the 36 states of the Federation, under the aegis of the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF), have scheduled a crucial meeting next week to review the Supreme Court's judgement granting autonomy to local government councils in the country.

The chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), and Governor of Kwara, AbdulRazaq AbdulRahman, said governor who have been using their resources to bail out local governments have been relieve of a burden.

He disclosed this to the State House Correspondents after a meeting with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

As reported by Daily Trust, the NGF chairman also affirmed that the state chief executives were comfortable with the Supreme Court judgment.

AbdulRazaq, who was flanked by the governors of Imo, Hope Uzodimma, and Bauchi, Bala Mohammed, stated that the ruling is a devolution of power that relieves governors of the significant financial burden of bailing out local governments, an expense that he noted many Nigerians are unaware of, The Nation reported.

“We welcome the ruling of the Supreme and our Attorney Generals have applied for the enrollment order, which we’ll study carefully.”“But by and large, governors are happy with the devolution of power in respect to local government autonomy. It relieves the burden on governors. Our people really don’t know how much states spend in bailing out local governments, and that’s the issue there.”

LG autonomy: State govs to meet over judgement next week

The Kwara governor affirmed that the NGF had requested for the enrollment of the judgment and would be reviewing it to decide the way forward.

“The forum will meet next Wednesday, to look at the issue wholly and then come up with a resolution on that.”“Like I said, we haven’t seen the enrollment of the court order and so we really don’t know what is in there,” he stated.

LG autonomy: "State not tampering with funds"

Speaking further, Governor AbdulRahman said the judgement would not negatively affect Kwara state as the state has not been tampering with council funds.

“It’s not going to affect the state we’ve never tampered with local government funds. So it’s going to continue. What the local governments have to do is to manage themselves, especially with the oncoming minimum wage, to manage their affairs and make sure salaries are paid, traditional rulers get their 5% and those are the main issues,” he said.

LG autonomy: Falana interprets Supreme Court judgement

Earlier, Legit.ng reported that human rights lawyer Femi Falana has hailed the Supreme Court’s judgment which gave full financial autonomy to the local governments.

Falana expressed support for the apex court's decision and noted that the judgement would promote accountability at the grassroots level.

He urged the 36 state governors to study the judgement and noted that the ruling "was not meant to strip the state governments of their influence over the LGAs".

Source: Legit.ng