By Abiola Olawale
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has described Thursday ruling of the Supreme Court on local government autonomy as a win for Nigerians.
The president who hailed the judgement of the apex court, said Nigerians will now be able to hold all their leaders accountable.
This was contained in a press release issued by presidential spokesman, Ajuri Ngelale.
In the statement, Tinubu maintained that the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the constitutional rights and ideals of local governments as regards financial autonomy, and other salient principles, is significant and further reinforces the effort to enhance Nigeria’s true federal fabric for the development of the entire nation
The president was quoted as saying: “By this judgement, our people – especially the poor – will be able to hold their local leaders to account for their actions and inactions,”
“What is sent to local government accounts will be known, and services must now be provided without excuses.
“My administration instituted this suit because of our unwavering belief that our people must have relief and today’s judgement will ensure that it will be only those local officials elected by the people that will control the resources of the people.
“This judgement stands as a resounding affirmation that we can use legitimate means of redress to restructure our country and restructure our economy to make Nigeria a better place to live in and a fairer society for all of our people.”
Tinubu also commended the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), for his diligence and patriotic effort, describing the case as an important assignment.
The New Diplomat reports that the apex court on Thursday declared that the various states governments collection of funds meant for local government areas (LGAs) is unconstitutional. A seven-man panel of the Supreme Court on Thursday delivered the ruling.
Justice Emmanuel Agim, gave this verdict while delivering judgment in the suit marked: SV/CV/343/2024, which was filed by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, against the 36 state governors seeking full autonomy for the 774 local governments in the country.
The ruling came after several years of calls for local government autonomy as the efficiency of the third tier of government has been hampered by state governments.
Currently, the Federal Government gets 52.68%, and states get 26.72% while LGs get 20.60% of the country’s monthly revenue allocated by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC).
