The Supreme Court of Nigeria is set to deliver its judgment on a landmark suit seeking full autonomy for the 774 local governments in the country on July 11. Notices regarding the development have been dispatched to the involved lawyers.
The suit, marked SC/CV/343/2024, was instituted by the federal government against all 36 states of the federation. Filed by Lateef Fagbemi, Attorney-General of the Federation, the federal government is also seeking an order to prevent governors from arbitrarily dissolving democratically elected councils.
Additionally, the federal government has requested the apex court to authorize the direct transfer of funds from the federation account to local governments, in accordance with the constitution. The suit is based on 27 grounds, asserting that the constitution recognizes federal, state, and local governments as three distinct tiers of government, each drawing funds from the federation account created by the constitution.
The originating summons reads, “The constitution of Nigeria recognizes federal, states, and local governments as three tiers of government and that the three recognized tiers of government draw funds for their operation and functioning from the federation account created by the constitution.”
It further states, “By the provisions of the constitution, there must be a democratically elected local government system, and the constitution has not made provisions for any other systems of governance at the local government level other than a democratically elected local government system.”
The federal government contends that despite the clear provisions of the constitution, governors have failed and refused to implement a democratically elected local government system, even in the absence of any declared state of emergency that would warrant the suspension of democratic institutions in the state.
The summons highlights, “The failure of the governors to put in place a democratically elected local government system is a deliberate subversion of the 1999 Constitution, which they and the President have sworn to uphold. All efforts to make the governors comply with the dictates of the 1999 Constitution in terms of putting in place a democratically elected local government system have not yielded any result, and continuing to disburse funds from the federation account to governors for non-existent democratically elected local governments undermines the sanctity of the 1999 constitution.”
In the suit, the federal government has asked the apex court to invoke sections 1, 4, 5, 7, and 14 of the constitution to declare that governors and state houses of assembly are obligated to ensure democratically elected systems at the third tier of government.
