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LG FINANCIAL AUTONOMY: SUPREME COURT JUDGEMENT, A MERE DIVERTISSEMENT - Ifedayo Iyaniwura




LG FINANCIAL AUTONOMY: SUPREME COURT JUDGEMENT, A MERE DIVERTISSEMENT - Ifedayo Iyaniwura

...judgement all about legal status and administrative law at play.

...for the emancipation of Local Government system, the Autonomy must be total.

...not all Governors in Nigeria abuse the Power of handling the affairs of a democratically elected local government council, as the Ekiti State Governor is exceptional.

A Former Governorship candidate in Ekiti State, Ifedayo Iyaniwura while featuring on Nigeria info 99.3 FM a short time ago, to talk about the implementation of Financial Autonomy granted to the Local Government Councils by Supreme Court in Nigeria has said that the Supreme Court Judgement on the Financial Autonomy for Local Councils is tantamount to mere divertissement.

According to him, "It was a common knowledge in 2019, the then President of Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari signed into law with an executive order a Financial autonomy for Local Government Councils in Nigeria, which was in line with the recommendation of Nigeria Financial Intelligent Unit (NFIU).

"Three years after, a succeeding Government, the present Government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu made known its intention to drag the Nigerian State Governors to Supreme Court for an adjudication over a manner in which the Local Government Councils could operate with Autonomy.

"On 11th of July, the supreme court granted Financial autonomy for the Local Government Councils, According to Iyaniwura this Supreme Court Judgement aside of its legal status and administrative law at play, there is no any further importance order than adjudication of the ambiguous Section 162, subsection (3) of the Nigeria constitution.

"Local Government Autonomy is a Constitutional issue, and if we are to talk about Local Government Autonomy, we should be talking of Total Autonomy, and not just Financial autonomy.

"Section 162 of Nigeria constitution talked about public revenue, the subsection (1) of Section 162 says, The Federation shall maintain a special account to be called "the Federation Account" into which shall be paid all revenues collected by the Government of the Federation. In subsection (3) of section 162, it says, any amount standing to the Credit of the Federation Account shall be distributed among the Federal and the State Governments and the Local Government Councils in each State. It has already been stated in this section 162 already that Local Government shall also share from the Federation Account, but silence about through what channel the Local Government Councils shall receive their own Money from the Federation Account, this is either through the State Governments or directly from the Federation Account. It was not unconstitutional when the Local Government funds released through the Government of the States. Also, the ruling of the Supreme Court was also in conformity with the position of the constitution. The implication of the Supreme Court Judgement on the Financial autonomy is that, it is now a Law in Nigeria to release Local Government funds directly from the Federation Account to Local Government Account. This Law remains valid, because it is a Supreme Court pronouncement, and one of the major sources of Law in Nigeria is Judicial precedent/case Law.

"However, public should not be deceived, Financial Autonomy for local government councils in Nigeria can't stop the Government of the States from its power to oversight the Local Government Councils in Nigeria, especially the States House of Assembly. Yes, the Nigeria Constitution encourages it, and how?

"Section 2 (1) of the Nigeria Constitution says, Nigeria shall be one indivisible and indissoluble sovereign state to be known by the name of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. In Subsection (2), it  says, and the Nigeria shall be a Federation consisting of States and a Federal Capital Territory. The implication of this Section 2 of the Nigeria Constitution is that, Local Council Areas in Nigeria are dependent on the Government of the States.

"Also in Section 7 (1) of the 1999 Nigeria Constitution (as amended), it says, The System of Local Government by the democratically elected Local Government Councils is under this constitution guaranteed; and accordingly, the Government of every State shall ensure the existence of Local Government Councils under a Law which provides for the Establishment, Structure, Composition, Finance and Functions of these Local Council Areas. This section of the Nigeria Constitution is devoid of ambiguity. It is self explanatory.

"With section 7 of the Nigeria Constitution, the conduct of Local Government Elections by the States Independent Electoral Commission put in place under a regulatory law is not illegal, because its enjoys the privilege of how Local Government Councils could be established. The existence of States Local Government service commission with the functions of handling appointments, promotion, discipline and welfare of centrally deployed (Unified) staff in the Local Government is constitutionally justifiable, because its enjoys the privilege of how Local Government Councils could function. The emergence of subdivision of Local Government Councils in some State is not out of place, because its enjoys the privilege of how Local Government Councils could be structured. The oversight of the States House of Assembly over the Local Government Councils is not unconstitutional because its enjoys the provisional privilege in the Section 7 (1) of the Nigeria Constitution.

"Despite all these constitutional provisions that make Local Government Councils dependent to  Government of the States in Nigeria, I can say that, we can convincingly see some Governors that still encourage smooth functional democratically elected Local Government Councils in their respective States,  at least, I can vouch for that of Ekiti State Governor that he doesn't touch Local Government funds, an assertion that was affirmed by the Ekiti State ALGON, which is the body of Local In Nigeria.

"If there should be a need for a total emancipation of Local Government system in Nigeria, then we should be talking of a Total Autonomy, which will provide local public administration authorities sufficient freedom of action in managing local council affairs, at the same time releasing the central authorities of the problems closely related to local communities, leaving the task of solving them to the local council authorities. And to achieve that, the National Assembly must work with the Federal Ministry of Justice to either make a constitutional provision that shall nullify the Section 7 of the Nigerian Constitution, or make an outright amendment of the Nigeria Constitution that will redefine the position of the constitutional law in respect of the Establishment, Structure, Composition, Finance and Functions of a democratically elected Local Government Councils in Nigeria. The 1999 Nigerian Constitution (as amended) never desired an independent Local Government System but a dependent. Sections 2(1-2), 7(1), 8,124, 162(5-8) and 4thschedule of the CFRN 1999(as amended), must be addressed to achieve a total Autonomy for Local Government Councils.

Until this is done, the Supreme Court on Financial autonomy judgement remains a mere divertissement, and tantamount to when one has a personal money, but lacks the total authority on how the money could be spent.

IFEDAYO IYANIWURA IS A FORMER GOVERNORSHIP CANDIDATE IN EKITI STATE. AND,
A FORMER CHAIRMAN OF CONGLOMERATION OF REGISTERED POLITICAL PARTIES. ALSO,
A RECIPIENT OF "A BALANCED THOUGHT ON POLITICAL CONTRIBUTIONS AND GENUINE POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT" AWARD IN EKITI STATE.

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