One year after the Supreme Court’s landmark judgement that granted financial autonomy to local governments, the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led administration has yet to enforce the ruling, as state governments under the leadership of governors continue to have control over the councils’ coffers.
As the third tier of government, local governments are saddled with the responsibilities of ensuring the well-being of the people at the grassroots through the provision of primary education, primary health centres, marketplaces, inner roads, parks, sanitation, among other essential services. But over the years, state governments have usurped these roles.
To reverse the trend, the apex court on July 11, 2024, ruled on a suit filed by the federal government through the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), against the 36 state governments. The lawsuit sought full autonomy for the 774 local governments in Nigeria whose efficiencies have been imperiled by the overbearing influence of sub-national governments.
The judgement stopped state governments from collecting and withholding councils’ allocations from the federation account and ordered that the Accountant General of the Federation pay them directly.
“…since payment through states has not worked, the justice of this matter demands that LG allocations from the federation account should henceforth be paid directly to the LGs,” the court held, demanding “an immediate compliance with this judgement.”
In August 2024, a 10-man inter-ministerial committee chaired by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, was set up to enforce the ruling. Other members of the committee are: Minister of Finance & Coordinating Minister of the Economy; Attorney General of the Federation; Minister of Budget & Economic Planning; Accountant General of the Federation; Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Finance; Chairman, Revenue Mobilization Allocation & Fiscal Commission; Representative of State Governors and Representative of Local Governments.
Findings revealed that one year down the line, bureaucracies and political manoeuvring have clogged up the implementation of the ruling.
The enforcement first had a setback in August when the federal and state governments reached an agreement on a three-month moratorium over concerns bordering on salary payments of council workers, the need to conduct local government elections in some states, among others.
It hit another brick wall in February 2025 as the CBN directed local governments to provide at least two years of audited financial reports as a prerequisite to receive their allocations directly, insisting they must meet this requirement before they can open accounts for direct remittance of their allocations.
Meanwhile, the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), lawyers, and civil society organisations have kicked against what they described as delay tactics, urging the federal government to enforce the judgement forthwith.
In March, ALGON dragged the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and 23 others to a federal high court in Abuja, demanding the implementation of the Supreme Court judgement and inclusion of local governments in the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC).
The association contended that the AGF, Ministry of Finance, states’ Commissioners of Finance and CBN had taken “precipitate action to frustrate the implementation of the [Supreme Court’s] decision.”
“After the judgment, we approached the AGF’s office, requesting that local governments be allowed to open accounts with commercial banks of their choice. But the AGF instead directed the CBN to open accounts on their behalf. That defeats the idea of autonomy,” ALGON Secretary General, Muhammed Abubakar, said.
“This directive essentially centralises what should be a decentralised process. It’s a contradiction. We believe true autonomy means each local government should be able to choose its bank and receive its allocation directly, without intermediaries or imposed conditions,” he added.
LGs received N3.408trn through the states in 11 months.
Daily Trust analysis showed that 11 months after the Supreme Court ruling that restored local government autonomy, over N3.408 trillion accrued to the 774 councils from the federation account was paid to the state and local governments’ joint account.
In July 2024, FAAC distributed N431.079 billion to the federal government, N473.477 bn to the state governments, and N343.703bn to local governments. The total amount comprised distributable revenue from various sources, including statutory revenue, Value Added Tax (VAT), Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL), Exchange Difference, and Solid Mineral revenue.
Of the N1.203 trillion distributable revenue in August 2024, the federal government received N374.93bn; state governments got N422.86bn, while councils received N306.53bn. In September 2024, councils collected N306.53bn through state governments, which got N422.86bn of their own, while the federal government received N374.92bn. The following month, FAAC shared N1.411 trillion between the federal government, N433.021bn; state governments, N490.696bn, and local governments, N355.621bn, while N132.404bn (13% of mineral revenue) was shared among the benefiting states as derivation revenue.
In November 2024, the federal government received N581.856bn; state governments got N549.792bn, while local governments received N402.553bn indirectly. In the succeeding month, councils received N361.754bn through state governments, which got N498.498bn of their own, while the federal government received N451.193bn.
In January 2025, state governments got N590.614bn; local governments received N434.567bn, while the federal government collected N552.591bn. In February, local governments received N410.559bn through the joint account; state governments collected N562.195 while the federal government got N569.656bn. The following month, local governments received N165.209bn through the same means, while states and the federal government got N214.290bn and N422.485bn, respectively.
In April, the federal government received N431.31bn; states got N218.77bn, while councils were given N168.66bn. In May, the federal government collected N393.518bn, states received N199.598bn, and local governments got N153.881bn. FAAC has not published the June record as of the time of this publication.
NULGE, lawyers, CSOs flay FG, govs
The National President of NULGE, Aliyu Haruna Kankara, lamented that relevant government agencies meant to enforce the judgment are paying lip service to it. He wondered why the CBN came up with the condition of two-year audited financial reports, stating that the apex bank had not issued any circular or guidelines to local governments on the opening of accounts.
“We expect them to issue a circular or guidelines for local governments to come forward and open accounts, but up to this moment, there is no such thing. The Office of the Accountant General of the Federation or the CBN is supposed to issue this circular. I don’t know what the CBN has to do with the two-year audited accounts of local governments. I don’t know of any local government that has opened an account with the CBN yet.
“We have continued to engage relevant stakeholders, and at the centre, the NLC (Nigeria Labour Congress) is also doing its best. The NLC has even written to Mr. President, seeking his audience so that we can talk to him face-to-face and explain to him that this judgment has not been implemented up to this moment,” Kankara said.
The NULGE president also fingered governors in the delayed enforcement, warning that if the federal government continued to buy time, the union might embark on mass protests.
“These are the same people who have been truncating efforts made to grant local government autonomy. They are the same people who have been working tirelessly to ensure that they continue to control the resources of local governments. From the information available to us, they are the same people blocking the implementation of this Supreme Court judgment. They are just playing politics with the implementation.
“It’s likely they (the governors) have an understanding among themselves and the federal government to continue to delay this implementation. Relevant organs of our union will sit and decide on the next line of action, and we cannot rule out mass protests,” he stated.
A lawyer and Deputy Director, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), Kolawole Oluwadare, said the delay speaks to politicking that has defined several government actions. He said the Supreme Court ruling was very clear and the only reason it had not been enforced was because the federal government felt “it is not politically expedient to do so.”
“It would appear that over the years, and mostly in this administration, actions are taken for political reasons rather than for good governance. And that affects the outcome of such political actions taken by the government. After the Attorney General of the Federation went to court, the Supreme Court gave the judgment.
“The AGF knows what to do. So why hasn’t that been done? Are we saying those who are disobeying the implementation of the order of this judgement are more powerful than the federal government or the Attorney General of the Federation? I do not think so. If the judgement is yet to be enforced, it would be as a result of the same problem that mars the enforcement of judgements in Nigeria,” Oluwadare added.
Barrister Malachy Ugwumadu, a human rights lawyer and former president, Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR), said the beauty of the judgement had been compromised “in the womb of Nigerian politics,” blaming the delayed implementation on the pushback from the political class, especially state governors, and a lack of political will on the part of the federal government.
