The Supreme Court has mandated the Federal Government to make direct payments to Local Governments.

The Supreme Court has ruled that the Federal Government must immediately pay Local Governments their allocations directly from the federation account.

Justice Emmanuel Agim delivered this judgment on Thursday in a case where the Federal Government sued the 36 state governors, seeking full autonomy for the 774 local governments in the country. He stated that local government allocations should no longer be routed through states, citing years of abuse in the practice.

“I affirm that the federal government should pay local government allocations directly,” Justice Agim declared.

Lateef Fagbemi, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, argued in the lawsuit that states’ retention of funds meant for local governments violates Section 162 of the 1999 Constitution, which mandates the distribution of funds to all tiers of government.