In an attempt to enforce the entire autonomy of Nigeria’s local governments, the federal government has sued each of the 36 state governments in the Supreme Court.

The nation is home to 774 local government units. Nonetheless, the dominant power of state governors has impeded effective governance at the third tier of government level.

Local governments get monthly payments from their respective state governments from funds designated for them in the Federation Account.

However, in contrast to expectations, The state governors keep the money in joint accounts inside their own states and only distribute what they see fit to the local governments.

The utilization of the money in the joint accounts under the jurisdiction of the individual state governors is entirely up to the local governments in each state.

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At an effort to strengthen the protection of local governments’ independence, the Attorney General of the Federation and the Minister of Justice have filed a lawsuit at the Supreme Court.

The federal government asked the court to seek an injunction preventing state governors from initiating unilateral,

arbitrary, and unconstitutional dissolution of democratically elected local government leaders in the litigation designated SC/CV/343/2024.

Additionally, the plaintiff asked the Supreme Court to issue an order. allowing the money in local governments’ credits to be sent directly to them from the Federation Account in accordance with the Constitution’s provisions rather than through allegedly illegal joint accounts established by governors.

Furthermore, Lateef Fagbemi, the Attorney-General of the Federation, implored the court to prevent the governors from establishing, caretaker committees in the future to manage local government operations in opposition to the democratic system that is recognized and guaranteed by the constitution.

In addition, Mr. Fagbemi requested an injunction prohibiting the governors, their operatives,

and privies from accepting, using, or interfering with money disbursed from the Federation Account for local government purposes in the event that a democratically elected local government system is not established in each state.

According to court documents, each governor’s Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice was the target of a lawsuit.

grounds for the lawsuit

The federal government argued, laying the legal foundation for the lawsuit, that the Nigerian federation was established by the Constitution,

and that the president serves as the head of state, with the primary duty of upholding the Constitution’s provisions.

The nation’s top law officer maintained that the federal, State, and local levels of government are recognized under the Constitution.

Plaintiff further argued that democratically elected local government system is required by the Constitution,

and the Constitution does not provide for any other forms of governance at local government scale than democratically appointed system of local government.

‘Governors have not succeeded and declined to formally set in place a democratically elected local government administration regardless of whether no state emergencies has been announced to warrant the postponement of democratic institutions in the state,’ the minister of justice stated, citing the legislative rules.

‘Because they and the President have sworn to uphold the 1999 Constitution, the governors’ deliberate subversion of it by failing to implement a democratically elected local government system.’

‘That there has been no progress in getting the governors, to implement a democratically elected local government system as required by the 1999 Constitution,

and that continuing to give money to the governors from the Federation Account for nonexistent Under democratically elected local government, the 1999 Constitution’s sacredness will be compromised.

‘That the federal government is not required under section 162 of the Constitution to pay any State, funds standing to the credit of local governments where no democratically elected local government is in place, in light of the violations of the 1999 Constitution,’ the AGF claimed in the lawsuit.

The state governments may or may not have submitted a defense, but the matter is scheduled for hearing on May 30.

State governments objected to actions taken by the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari to uphold constitutional clauses stating local governments’ right to receive cash intended for them from the Federation Account.

However, the state governments filed a lawsuit to halt the specific action taken by the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU),

to eliminate the joint accounts into which the governors of the various states were transferring the monies of their local governments through Mr. Fagbemi, a private attorney at the time.

The governors contended in the lawsuit that, in a federal form of government, the NFIU’s action was unlawful.

They claimed that under the federal system, the federal government’s NFIU was powerless to dictate the state governments how to spend their monies.

Context

In most states, the excessive power of governors on local governments has severely hampered governance at the third tier of government.

Former President Muhammadu Buhari charged state governors with theft in December 2022. funds from the local government.

As previously reported by PREMIUM TIMES, state governors rebelled against an attempt by the NFIU to eliminate the joint accounts between the states and local governments, which gave them exclusive authority over local government finances nationwide.

Cash withdrawals from local government accounts are restricted by the NFIU to a daily maximum of N500,000. It advised banks to make sure they complied strictly.

The Nigerian Senate requested in December of last year that the federal government cease providing funding to local governments that are overseen by caretaker committees.

It’s possible that the current lawsuit is a reaction to the Senate’s resolution, which demands that the federal government uphold local governments’ financial independence.

Supreme Court for LG autonomy

The local governments are in a dangerously unstable situation, with severe instability and a breakdown of social and financial structures such as marketplaces, schools, and healthcare facilities.