LG autonomy: ALGON BoT reacts to Supreme Court ruling
The Board of Trustees of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria, ALGON, has hailed President Bola Tinubu over the decision to fight for local government autonomy in the country.
The chairman of ALGON BoT, Shaban Shuaibu, reacted to the Supreme Court judgment ob local government autonomy in an interview on Arise TV on Friday.
Shuaibu noted the President’s past experience in championing the democratization of local governments, adding that it was worth it that Tinubu has achieved a legacy with the court judgment.
On Thursday, in its lead judgment read by Justice Emmanuel Agim, the Supreme Court observed that the refusal of state governments to grant financial autonomy to local governments has gone on for over two decades.
In the suit filed by AGF, the Federal Government sought an order preventing the governors from arbitrarily dissolving democratically elected councils.The suit by the AGF was on 27 grounds.
The 36 state governors, who are defendants in the suit, opposed the AGF for instituting the case.
In his judgment, however, Justice Agim said the AGF has the right to institute the suit and protect the Constitution.
The apex court consequently directed that local government allocations from the Federation Account should be paid directly to them henceforth, and not to state government coffers.
Justice Agim, who stressed that the state governors’ retention of the monies meant for the local governments truncates the latter’s activities, ordered the immediate compliance of the judgment, stating that no state government should be paid monies meant for local councils.
