Last Thursday’s judgment of the Supreme Court on the vexed issue of autonomy for local governments is a masterly, redemptive piece of craft. It scored a bullseye. It is an enthralling bailout that has fatally tugged at an insidious era of larceny that has been plaguing the third tier of government.
However, whether or not the judicial victory will be eventually consummated depends on if the beneficiaries of the victory, the local government chairmen, many of whom are sheer wimps, are able to muster the courage and willpower to fence off the onslaught that will confront them when push comes to a shove. We will get to that later.
The apex court’s verdict effectively affirmed the financial autonomy of the nation’s 774 LGs. The Federal Government, through the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi(SAN), had in May, this year, instituted the action against the 36 state governors, seeking the fiscal independence of the 774 LGs.
Last Thursday, a seven-member panel of the Supreme Court, who heard the suit, delivered a landmark judgment that has generated a lot of plaudits across the country, with only a few dissenting voices. Justice Emmanuel Agim, who headed the panel and delivered the lead judgment with which other justices concurred, upheld the suit brought by the Federal Government and granted virtually all the reliefs sought.
For over two decades, most of the LGs have been held captive under the suffocating stranglehold of the governors who routinely seize their federal allocations, usually paid into their joint accounts. Their excellences release piecemeal whatever pleases them to the LGs.
This invidious action has for over two decades emasculated the third tier of government as the tokens they receive from their governors can only take care of skeletal services. So, no meaningful development has been going on at that level of government as a result.
The governors’ overbearing control over the LGs in their respective states is also signposted by their periodic and arbitrary dissolution of their elected executives and the appointment of caretaker committees to replace them for as long as they wish. This infernal tendency had in the past generated a lot of obloquy and many judicial pronouncements adjudging it illegal and unconstitutional.
And with the state electoral commissions at their beck and call, their excellencies always coast home to victory in local government elections in which they field their lackeys as candidates. This electoral travesty has elicited strindent calls for the Independent Electoral Commission(INEC) to take over LG elections.
However, Thursday’s verdict gave the LGs fresh breath, as the apex court ruled that their allocations should, with immediate effect and henceforth, be paid directly to them from the Federation Account, thus bypassing their governors.
This is in accordance with Section 162(3) of the 1999 Constitution which provides that “Any amount standing to the credit of the Federation Account shall be distributed among the federal, state governments and councils in each state as may be prescribed by the National Assembly.” So, the Constitution does not contemplate a joint account between the states and the LGs. The Constitution, the court ruled, does not intend for states to retain and disburse funds on behalf of the LGs.
The Supreme Court also declared illegal the arbitrary dissolution of elected LG executives by the state governors. It declared that governors and state assemblies have no power to use laws enacted by the latter to dissolve democratically elected LG administrations and appoint caretaker committees.
“A democratically elected local government does not exist at the whims and caprices of the state government or as a mere parastatal of the state government,” the court pronounced, adding that the 36 states are rather obligated to ensure democratic governance at the third tier of government.
The apex court further empowered the Federal Government to withhold the allocation of any local government under an undemocratic set up.
Like we posited earlier, the Supreme Court judgment is capable of putting paid to the lethargy that has sat atop the LGs owing to the paucity of funds and breathe life and vibrancy into them. But will the LG hairmen seize the momentum and take due advantage of it? Will they not easily cave in to the plausible fight back from the powerful state chief executives who may bay their time to extract their own pound of flesh?
What is more, the direct consequence of governors’ meddlesomeness in LG administration is the constant emergence of hand-picked or elected officials at the helm who are rather too servile, wimpish and lily-livered to look at their governors in the face let alone question their misdemeanours or even refuse any request from them(governors) however obtrusive? This is the quandary.
The Kaduna senator and human rights crusader, Shehu Sani, drew this point home more poignantly in his comical reaction to the fiscal autonomy just granted the LGs by the Supreme Court. “Your Excellency sir,” he wrote on his X, “I received the alert, what should I do with it?” He drew home the import: “Despite the Supreme Court’s ruling, many LG chairmen will still behave like this when their accounts are credited directly.”
Another social media commentator similarly and anonymously upped the comical quips: “Hello, Your Exellency!!! My governor, I have just received alerts from the Federal Government. How much should I send to your account and what should I do with the rest?”
The above acerbic scenarios sound unserious and sarcastic, but they are probable whenever the LG chiefs begin to get their allocations directly from the Federation Account. To what extent will they really be able to operate independent of the overbearing and quite powerful governors who are still retaining the lever of political control since all the apparatuses of elections that bring in the LG chiefs remain at their beck and call.
In essence, the financial autonomy is a welcome development but it is only the first leg in the task of completely freeing the LGs from the suffocating grip of the governors. The Supreme Court ruling may afterall remain a Pyrrhic victory if the second leg does not follow. And that is stripping the governors of the power to contrive LG elections through their hand-picked electoral commissions whose officials do their(governors’)bidding.
Let the National Assembly amend the relevant sections of the Constitution for the INEC to take over the conduct of LG polls. The amendment should also be effected to accommodate independent cadidacy for the LG elections to pave the way for the gradual emergence of truly independent LG personnel.
It has been plaudits all the way as reactions pour in over the apex court’s verdict. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu hails the judgment, which he says aligns with the Constitution in intent and purpose.
In a statement released on his behalf by his Media Adviser, Ajim Ngelale, the President says the court’s decision aligns with constitutional rights and principles, describing it as “a historic milestone in strengthening Nigeria’s federal structure”.
He laments that the provision of some essential amenities and public goods such as the construction and maintenance of certain roads, streets, street lighting, drains, parks, gardens, open spaces and other residual responsibilities, including community security, has tottered owing to the emasculation of the local governments.
“By virtue of this judgment, our people, especially the poor, will be able to hold their local leaders to account for their actions and inactions. What is sent to local government accounts will be known and services must now be provided without excuses.
“This judgment stands as a resounding affirmation that we can use legitimate means of redress to restructure our country and restructure our economy to make Nigeria a better place to live in, a fairer society for all of our people,” Tinubu enthuses.
The President emphasizes that the onus now rests on local council leaders to ensure that the broad spectrum of Nigerians living at that level are satisfied that they are benefiting from people-oriented service delivery.
The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) in the 2023 presidential election, Atiku Abubakar, describes the ruling as a “step in the right direction” for national development and “a win for the people of Nigeria.”
“I align with the decision of the Supreme Court that the structure of the Nigerian government is portioned in three layers and of these, the local governments should be centres of development,” the former vice-president says.
The reaction of the governors, who are believed to be at the receiving end of the apex court’s verdict, is surprisingly temperate. The Chairman of their umbrella body, the Nigerian Governors Forum(NGF), AbdulRasaq AbdulRahman, who reacts on behalf of his colleagues,hails the judgment.
The Kwara State governor, who spoke in Abuja after meeting with President Tinubu, says governors welcome the verdict because it has relieved them of a burden.
“We welcome the ruling of the Supreme Court. Compliance is given and our Attorneys-General have applied for the enrollment order, which we will study.
“But by and large, governors are happy with the devolution of power in respect of the local government autonomy. It has relieved the burden on governors. Our people really don’t know how much states expend in bailing out local governments and that is the issue.”
In the final analysis, if the LG bosses play their cards well, the hitherto quiet and serene enclaves of the various councils across the country are expected to get boisterous in the next few weeks as the moribund wagon of
development roars into life in the third estate of the realm.
However, the anti- graft agencies are now expected to begin beaming their searchlight on that tier of government to ensure that the fiscal autonomy births with responsibility and decorum.
