Civil Society Groups Demand Implementation Of S/Court Ruling On LG Autonomy

The Nigeria Civil Society Organisation (CSO) situation room and the Citizens Centre for Integrated Development and Social Rights (CCIDESOR) have called for the full implementation of the Supreme Court judgment on local government autonomy in the country.

The groups equally called for direct payment of local government allocations from the Federation Account to the councils, constitutional reforms to eliminate ambiguities surrounding the Joint Account System as well as strengthening local government accountability architecture including transparent budgeting, open procurement systems and citizen monitoring mechanism.

Founder and CEO of the Citizens Centre for Integrated Development and Social Rights (CCIDESOR), Dr Emeka Ononamadu, made the call in his quarterly press briefing in Owerri during where he maintained that local government autonomy and improved accountability would reduce corruption in the country and strengthen the local economy.

According to Ononamadu, the Supreme Court Judgment on July 11, 2024, affirmed the financial autonomy of local governments in the country which was consequent upon a case filed by the federal government, through the Attorney General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi, seeking to protect the local government from financial control by the state governments.

He argued that full implementation of the judgment would equally guarantee credible democratic elections at the local government level across all states.

Ononamadu who decried the serious economic and governance challenges rocking the nation and which manifests in excruciating poverty, unemployment, declining rural infrastructure and growing insecurity across many communities warned that the nation would never achieve meaningful economic recovery without empowering its local governments.

The CCIDESOR boss also took exception to the state local government Joint Account System provided for under section 162 of the Nation’s 1999 constitution as amended and dismissed it as a “structural Driver of corruption”.

He lamented that while section 7 of the constitution guarantees the existence of local governments, the joint account structure had historically enabled state governments to control, deduct and sometime divert this fund meant for local government administration.

Onunamadu listed the advantages of local government autonomy to include: economic recovery and stability in the country, job creation, delivery of essential services and reduction of insecurity.