The Supreme Court has ruled that the federal government must now pay allocations directly to local government councils from the federation account.
A seven-member panel of justices in their ruling on Thursday stated that state governments have been abusing their powers by retaining and using funds meant for Local Government Areas (LGAs).
In May, the federal government filed a suit against the governors of the 36 states. The suit, marked SC/CV/343/2024, requested full autonomy for the country’s 774 local governments.
Filed by Lateef Fagbemi, Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, the federal government sought the Supreme Court's authorization for the direct transfer of funds from the federation account to local governments, as mandated by the constitution.
The suit was based on 27 grounds, including that the Nigerian constitution recognizes the federal, state, and local governments as three tiers, each drawing funds from the federation account.
It highlighted that efforts to make governors comply with the 1999 Constitution's requirement for a democratically elected local government system had failed. Adding that continuing to disburse funds to governors for non-existent democratically elected local governments undermines the constitution's sanctity.
