A renowned senior lawyer, Alex Izinyon has called on the National Assembly to make enabling laws to give adequate effect to the judgement of the Supreme Court on financial autonomy for local governments in the country.
He accused the National Assembly of failure to live up to expectations despite Supreme Court’s efforts to ensure that, the right thing is done in local government administration in the country.
On July 11, 2024, the Supreme Court had, in a landmark judgement declared that funds accruing to the local government areas in the country should be directly paid into their accounts for smooth local government administration in the country.
According to Izinyon, as expected, the decision attracted several accolades from laymen, jurists, scholars, legal pundits and legal practitioners adding however that, there is the other side of the divide who differ entirely.
“Their contention primarily, is that it amounted to judicial legislation and making pronouncement against the principle of Federalism. Even politicians also had their day and say”, he said.
Izinyon, while reacting to the judgement in a lengthy write up said, the Supreme Court, “Constitutionally remains the final court of the land. They are final in all ramifications of finality in any dispute that are brought before it.
“The Supreme Court, as a court of law and policy, over time even though final, have taken into consideration social, economic and political factors or called it the reality of time in arriving at certain decisions as a policy court. These are decisions that have a larger touch on the society as a whole, like the Nigerian citizens as a whole,” he said.
He added that, among the three tiers of government, the federal, the state governments and the Local Government Areas, the federal and the state governments are visible so to speak in many respects.
He said, “The Constitution makes provision for 774 Local Government Areas and they are expected to be autonomous. It is no longer news that apart from the few State Governors who had kept to this autonomous nature of the Local Government, others have swallowed them up as part of their departments and in most cases dissolved the democratically elected Local Government Area Councils and appointed Caretaker Committees.
“Have we forgotten so soon that apart from some few States, no election has been held in many of the Local Government Areas, but run by Caretaker Committees in Nigeria for over 10 years”, he said and cited the case involving A-G Lagos state Vs A-G Federation, where despite the clear provision of Schedule 1 of the 1999 Constitution which listed out 20 Local Government Areas for Lagos State, the then Governor of Lagos State created additional Local Government Areas which prompted the then President to withhold the entire Lagos State allocation, which included the Constitutionally 20 Local Government Councils and the additional created Area Councils?
“The Supreme Court in that case on ground of policy as a policy Court held that the President had no power to withhold the State allocation or suspend it and that the State was entitled to the said allocation to be so released but tied to the 20 Local Government Councils created by the Constitution and not the additional Local Government Areas created.
He said, the courts have never hidden their disdain for the unconstitutional acts of the State Governors dissolving democratically elected Local Government Chairmen and appointing Caretaker Committees in their stead.
The learned silk said the state governors never took heed to the numerous pronouncements by he apex court, despite their respective states being manned by Attorneys-General and Commissioners of Justice and added that, the National Assembly has failed to play its role effectively, despite the many judgements of the Supreme Court on the issue.
“In all these years, where is the National Assembly after the Supreme Court decision in A-G Lagos Va A-G Federation (Supra) to correct by legislation or amendment that the joint account referred to, are for the State and the Local Government Areas, created by Schedule 1 of the 1999 Constitution.
“Despite the pronouncements of the Supreme Court on the unconstitutionality of the Governors sacking duly elected Local Government Chairmen and their Counselors in the cases just cited over these years, has the National Assembly risen to the challenge urgently to remedy this situation? They did not and may never.”
He said the Supreme Court has always risen to the task when it involves policy as a policy court, to make decision in the interest of justice by adopting a more purposive approach in the interpretation of any provision of the law especially the Constitution.
He said, “The Supreme Court as a policy Court in this particular case went into their legal archive and decisions where they had declared that the dissolution of a democratically elected Local Government Council by a Governor of a State is unconstitutional and illegal.
“It was not therefore surprising that the Supreme Court went into details to review the antecedent of what had been happening. It interpreted the provision of Section 162(3) of the 1999 Constitution, and that it cannot mean that the State Governors would hold and disburse the funds on behalf of the Local Government Council the said money coming from the Federation account, as sub sections (6),(7) & (8) of the said Constitution stipulates that all monies belonging and due to Local Government Council from the Federation Account, should be distributed to the Local Government Council in the State.
“This view is to cure the mischief by judicial fiat as a policy court, the incurable injury that has been done to the Local Government Area Councils for two decades without the National Assembly doing the needful.
“What is left is for the National Assembly to proceed with the enabling legislation to give teeth to this profound decision and make other adequate safeguards by legislation to ensure proper accountability and the relevant authorities to beam their search light in case the Local Government Councils fall short of this golden opportunity,” he said.
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