LG autonomy: Senate urges governors to comply with Supreme Court judgement

The Senate on Wednesday called on state governors to ensure full implementation of local government autonomy in their states, especially in utilising and disbursing funds to the councils.

The upper chamber also resolved that it would amend the constitution to ensure full autonomy of the local governments in the country.

The resolutions were a sequel to a motion sponsored by Tony Nwoye (LP, Anambra North) during the plenary.

The Supreme Court, in a landmark judgment on 11 July, affirmed the financial autonomy of Nigeria’s 774 local governments.

Mr Nwoye, while presenting his motion, said that despite the Supreme Court judgment, some state governors are using state houses of assembly to undermine and manipulate the local government’s autonomy, saying he was worried about the development.

He said, “Senate is aware and concerned that despite these constitutional prohibitions and the binding decision of the Supreme Court, few state governments through their respective state houses of assembly, through their different states of survival, have been seeking to enact laws, while some have already enacted laws and continue to take action that undermine the financial autonomy of local governments, thereby breaching the Constitutional Prohibition 1999 Constitution as well as the judgment of the Supreme Court.

“The Senate further concerns that the modus operandi of subverting this financial autonomy of local governments by state governments through their houses of assembly is to insert clauses in their state laws that require local governments upon receipt of this allocation from financial accounts to remit all or majority or a substantial part of the allocation to a dedicated account which the state government will keep on controlling, managing and disbursing as they like, using nomenclature like state through local government joint account system, state through local government consolidated revenue, as well as state joint security trust accounts.”

Mr Nwoye said if the actions of the governors and the state lawmakers go unchecked, they will lead to the extinction of local governments in Nigeria.

Debate

The majority of the senators supported the motion.

Osita Izunaso (APC, Imo West) commended the federal government for pushing for autonomy for the local governments.

“This motion has come at the right time when the country is yearning for a change of attitude concerning the local government administration in Nigeria.

“You can see that after the Supreme Court judgement, it yielded results to the extent that every state in Nigeria is now rushing to conduct the local government election to qualify them to get their normal statutory allocation. But the law did not say that the Senate should tamper with the funds of the LG,” he said.

Mr Izunazo stressed the need to amend section 7 of the 1999 constitution further to guarantee the autonomy of local government in the country.

Adamu Aliero (PDP, Kebbi Central) cited section 87 of the Nigerian constitution to enforce Supreme Court judgment.

After the debate, the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, put the motion to voice vote, and the majority of the senators supported it.

Mr Akpabio, in his comment, urged the state governors to comply with the Supreme Court’s judgement.

He also assured that the National Assembly would go through the procedures of altering any section of the Constitution or any law to give birth to the complete autonomy of the local governments.

“I would like to use this opportunity to thank my colleagues for all their contributions. I would like to thank the Senator, Tony Nwoye, who brought up the motion bordering on an attempt to circumvent the ruling of the Supreme Court.

“And I want to thank all of you for your contributions. And I assure you that the 10th Senate, working with our colleagues in the House of Representatives, will alter any aspect of our Constitution and amend any section of our laws to ensure full autonomy to the local government administrations in this country.”