Theliberationnews bring you some points to take note of in the landmark ruling of the Supreme Court today granting financial autonomy to the 774 local government areas in the country.
1. Allocations are to be paid directly to Local Government Councils with immediate effect
2. The Section of the Constitution for joint allocations is automatically deleted without NASS’ Amendment.
3. Appointment of Caretaker committees is illegal and unconstitutional, no governor has any powers to appoint any such Committee
4. That State governors have “constituted themselves as dangerous species to the development of democracy.”
5. The court held that the provision of the constitution that funds meant for the local government councils be sent to the states is for them to act as agents of the federal government for the onward disbursement of same. It adds that the states are therefore not required to hold on to the money and use at will. That the states are exploiting the roles handed to them by the Constitution by holding onto funds meant for local government councils — lamenting that this has been on for over two decades, crippling the effective functioning of the third tier of government, the LGAs.
