Amid increasing calls for local government autonomy in Nigeria, former Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola has said it is unrealistic to expect local councils to function independently under the current Constitution.
Speaking on Sunrise on Channels Television on Saturday, Fashola argued that state governments and state houses of assembly exercise too much influence over local councils for genuine autonomy to exist.
He explained that since state assemblies make laws for local governments, autonomy in its true sense is undermined.
“The real debate we need is whether we truly want autonomous local governments,” Fashola said. “As things stand, it’s unrealistic to expect autonomy for local councils that were created by the Constitution.”
He added, “They weren’t designed to be autonomous. A close reading of the Constitution shows that, especially where it provides that state assemblies make laws guiding the economic activities of local governments. Autonomy means functioning without external influence or authority. If state assemblies are making laws for councils, that’s external influence.”
Fashola, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, also highlighted that land—vital for local development projects—is under the control of state governments.
Referring to the Fourth Schedule of the Constitution, Fashola noted that local government responsibilities such as operating abattoirs, cemeteries, regulating advertising hoardings, running primary schools, and health centres all depend on access to land.
“Since states control land, and land is necessary for councils to discharge their duties, I don’t believe autonomy was ever intended. If we now want true autonomy, then we must reconsider these legal and structural limitations.”
He added, “As it stands, what was likely intended was not full independence but some form of collaboration or oversight from the states. Section 162, which establishes the state-local government joint account, reflects that arrangement.”
Why States Oversee Councils
Fashola further explained that the joint account system emerged due to failures at the local level. Many local governments, he said, defaulted on paying salaries and pensions for teachers and healthcare workers after democracy returned in 1999.
“Before 1999, councils received funds directly from the Federation Account through a process known as JAAC—Joint Accounts and Allocation Committee,” he said. “However, during the early democratic period, many councils failed to meet basic responsibilities like salary payments. I inherited some of those debts when I became governor.”
“This failure partly prompted the creation of the joint account system to allow for some level of state supervision. Whether those supervisors have since become as ineffective as those they were meant to oversee is a different matter entirely,” he noted.
On the Supreme Court’s recent judgment granting financial autonomy to local governments and barring governors from dissolving elected councils, Fashola remarked that while the decision reflects a patriotic desire to fix a broken system, legal practitioners hold differing views on its constitutional standing.
Nonetheless, he acknowledged that allowing council elections to take place is a step toward greater independence for local governments.