By Our Reporter
The Supreme Court has, Thursday, delivered judgement in favour of the 774 local government areas in Nigeria, granting them financial autonomy, while barring the 36 governors of the federation from further retaining or utilizing funds that are meant for the 774 Local Government Areas, LGAs, in the country.
The apex court held that it is illegal and unconstitutional for governors to dissolve democratically elected Local Governments
It also orders the Federal Government to henceforth withhold allocations to Local Governments governed by unelected officials appointed by the Governors.
The court also in its lead judgement stopped the Federal Government from further paying LG allocations through the state governments since the practice has been abused by the Governors.
It maintained that the “dubious practice” which has gone on for over two decades, was a clear violation of Section 162 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.
“Demands of justice require a progressive interpretation of the law. It is the position of this court that the federation can pay LGA allocations to the LGAs directly or pay them through the states.
“In this case, since paying them through states has not worked, justice of this case demands that LGA allocations from the federation account should henceforth be paid directly to the LGAs,” the apex court held.
It further declared unconstitutional the appointment of caretaker committees by governors to run the affairs of the LGAs.
It held that the 36 states are under obligation to ensure democratic governance at the third tier of government.
The judgement followed a suit brought to it against the 36 state Governors by the Federal Government filed to secure financial autonomy for the LGAs.