LG Allocation: Supreme court orders FG to pay allocations directly to LGAs

The Supreme Court’s decision mandates that moving forward, the federal government must directly allocate funds from the federation account to local government councils.

On Thursday, a seven-member panel of justices ruled in the lawsuit that state governments have been misusing funds allocated for LGAs and abusing their authority.

The apex court directed the federal government to suspend allocations to LGs led by unelected officials chosen by governors. In May, the federal government initiated legal action against all 36 state governors at the supreme court.

In case number SC/CV/343/2024, the federal government sought complete independence for all 774 local governments in the country.

Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, filed a lawsuit requesting the Supreme Court to approve the direct allocation of funds from the federation account to local governments as mandated by the constitution. The lawsuit was based on 27 key arguments.

The originating summons stated that the Nigerian constitution acknowledges federal, state, and local governments as the three levels of government.

It also mentioned that these tiers receive funding from the federation account established by the constitution. Despite attempts to enforce compliance with the 1999 Constitution’s requirement for a democratically elected local government system, governors have not adhered to this mandate.

Continuously allocating funds from the federation account to governors for fictitious democratically elected local governments is seen as a violation of the integrity of the 1999 constitution.

The federal government had asked the apex court to invoke sections 1, 4, 5, 7 and 14 of the constitution to declare that the governors and state houses of assembly are under obligation to ensure democratically elected systems at the third tier.