As of Monday, August 12, reports disclosed that the federal government and state governors had reached an agreement for a three-month moratorium on the Local Government (LG)’s autonomy over concerns arising from its impact on salary payments and operational viability.... CLICK TO READ THE FULL NEWS HERE▶▶
The Punch reported on Tuesday, August 13, that this development means local governments may wait until October 2024 before implementing the law requiring direct payment into their respective accounts.
On July 11, 2024, the Supreme Court delivered a judgement granting financial autonomy to the 774 LGs in the country.
The apex court also directed the Accountant-General of the Federation to pay LG allocations directly to their accounts, as it declared the non-remittance of funds by the 36 states unconstitutional.
However, more than a month after the Supreme Court judgement, the order of the apex court had not been complied with.
The Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), however, waited in vain to get the money paid directly into the LG accounts receiving N337.019 billion, The New Telegraph reported.
The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, attributed the delay to the proceedings of the Supreme Court, which had not been communicated to the Attorney General of the Federation for proper study and implementation.
But as of July 25, the federal government had not yet commenced direct payment of the monthly allocations to the 774 Local Government Areas.
LG allocations: Why the delay? FG’s next step
Multiple sources close to the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) and the federal government, disclosed on Monday, August 12, that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s government was in a fix on how to proceed with the implementation of the judgment on the financial autonomy for local governments.
“From what I know from the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, the Federal Government and the states are looking for a political solution to manage the fallout of the Supreme Court judgment.
“The first step is the three-month moratorium on the judgment. For the next three months, the LG allocation will still be paid into the joint account with the respective states, while a permanent solution that will serve the objectives of financial autonomy as envisaged by the Supreme Court judgment is worked out,” one of the sources told The PUNCH.
