The Senate, on Wednesday, expressed alignment with the Supreme Court judgment of July 11, 2024, which granted financial autonomy to the 774 Local Government Areas across the country.
It faulted moves by some governors to enact laws to mandate the local government councils in their states to remit allocations into a joint account.
The Anambra State House of Assembly passed the Local Government Administration Bill 2024 on Tuesday, amid condemnation from civil society groups and opposition parties, including Labour Party lawmakers in the assembly.
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They alleged that the bill was an attempt by Governor Chukwuma Soludo to arm-twist the council chairmen into paying their federal allocation back to the state.
Reports indicate that some other state houses of assembly have also enacted bills regarding local government administration.
On Wednesday at the plenary, the Red Chamber urged all three tiers of government to fully comply with the judgment and resolved to collaborate with the House of Representatives to amend certain provisions of the 1999 Constitution to ensure full implementation.
The resolutions followed motions sponsored by the Deputy President of the Senate, Jibrin Barau, and seconded by Abdul Ningi and Tahir Monguno.
Barau said, “I stand to move on behalf of this Senate for the approval of two prayers in respect of the motion that was brought by Tony Nwoye (Anambra North), thereby discarding the earlier prayers in the motion as sponsored by the mover.
“The two prayers are as follows: all states and local governments must fully comply with the recent Supreme Court judgment on the disbursement of and utilisation of funds accruing to all local governments in Nigeria.
“That the Senate ensures alterations to the relevant provisions of the constitution to provide for the full autonomy of the local governments in Nigeria.”
However, the resolutions came two hours after it faced challenges regarding the enforceability of the Supreme Court judgment at the state and local government levels.
At the commencement of the plenary, Nwoye (LP, Anambra North) invoked Senate Standing Orders 41 and 51 to raise a motion about alleged moves by some state governments to circumvent the judgment by passing counter-laws through their respective Houses of Assembly.
Nwoye, who informed the Senate that nine other senators co-sponsored the motion, specifically alleged that some governors were enacting laws to mandate local government councils in their states to remit funds into the State/Local Government Joint Account, which had been ruled against by the Supreme Court.
After Nwoye’s presentation, which included six prayers for enforcing the judgment and was seconded by Osita Izunaso (APC, Imo West), Adamu Aliero (PDP, Kebbi Central) raised a constitutional point of order to stop the debate on the motion.
Citing Section 287 of the 1999 Constitution, which makes Supreme Court judgments enforceable nationwide, Aliero urged the Senate not to “over-flog” the issue.
He said, “The Supreme Court judgement is enforceable across the country. There is no need for us to debate anything that has to do with it here.”
In agreement with Aliero, the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, highlighted Section 162, Subsection 6 of the 1999 Constitution, which created the State/Local Government Joint Account.
He noted that the provision must be amended to allow for the full implementation of the Supreme Court judgment.
Before a final decision could be made on the motion, Nwoye invoked Order 42 of the Senate Standing Rules for a personal explanation.
Abdulrahman Kawu Summaila (NNPP, Kano South) raised a similar point of order.
The simultaneous motions led to confusion, prompting many senators to consult with the Senate President, resulting in an emergency closed-door session at 12:46 pm.
The emergency session, which lasted nearly two hours, adopted the two separate motions moved by the Deputy President of the Senate.
Anambra LP lawmakers fault LG administration bill
Faulting the passage of the LG Administration Bill in Anambra, the opposition groups said going by the extant order of the Supreme Court, the Assembly could not make laws seeking to compel the LGs to pay their federal allocations to the state government under whatever guise.
Lawmakers, who spoke during the session, said the bill would empower local governments to function effectively, insisting that there was no way to separate LGs from the states.
While passing the bill, the Speaker, Somtochukwu Udeze, said, “It seeks to clearly define the powers of the chairmen and councillors at the local government level as they relate to the council areas.
“Some of the contents of the law, such as primary school teachers, primary healthcare centre, Anambra State Universal Basic Education Board, Local Government Service Commission, and Pension Board, among others, are areas where the state and local governments interface to ensure proper administration at the local government level.”
But members of the LP in the assembly, comprising Jude Umennajiego, Paul Obu, Nkechi Ogbuefi, Patrick Okafor, Fredrick Ezenwa, Kingsley Udemezue, Henry Mbachu and Justice Azuka, in a briefing on Wednesday, said going by the extant order of the Supreme Court, the assembly could not make laws seeking to compel the local governments to remit allocations to the state under whatever guise.
“Recently, Anambra State Local Government Administration Bill was brought to the Assembly.
“Some sections of the bill, particularly sections 13, 14 and 16 seek to compel the Local Governments to pay their federal allocation into an account to be established by the state government, thereby running foul of the Supreme Court judgment.
“Consequently, we as the Labour Party caucus in the state House of Assembly wish to state as follows: That we stand by the decision of the Supreme Court, the highest court in the land, on the autonomy of the Local Government and the management of their funds.
“That going by the extant order of the Supreme Court, the state House of Assembly cannot make laws seeking to compel the local governments to pay in their federal allocation to the state government under whatever guise.
“We, therefore, stand with the overwhelming majority of Anambra people in upholding the constitution and the Supreme Court decision.”
Reacting, the Executive Director of Civil Rights and Liberty Organisation, Dr Ralph Uche, described the bill as “anti-people” aimed at denying the Local Government the funds meant for grassroots development.
Uche, a lawyer, said, “The bill seeks to compel local government areas to remit a portion of their federal allocations into a consolidated account controlled by the state, which is a wrong development, considering that the local government areas have suffered lack of dividends of democracy in the last 10 years.”
The spokesman to the Speaker of the Anambra Assembly, Emma Madu, confirmed that the assembly passed the bill on Tuesday, with 26 lawmakers in attendance.
Section 13(1) of the bill stipulates that the state shall maintain a “State Joint Local Government Account,” into which all federal allocations to LGAs must be deposited.
Section 14(3) further mandates that each LGA must, within two working days of receiving their allocations from the Federation Account, remit a state-determined percentage to the consolidated account. This requirement applies even if the allocations are received directly from the Federation Account.
Section 14(4) outlines that if the state receives the LGA allocation on their behalf, it must deduct the specified percentage before disbursing the remaining funds to the LGA.
Oyo awaiting committee recommendations
Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, said the state still awaits the recommendations of the two committees set up to review the July 11 Supreme Court judgment granting financial autonomy to Local Government.
The governor, on July 15, set up two committees, technical and legal, with a mandate to review the judgment and come up with recommendations, within six weeks.
Makinde had said the decision to form the committees was because the judgment created a constitutional lacuna that could throw up challenges and problems to the effective running of local government administration.
Though the six weeks had expired, Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Dr Sulaimon Olanrewaju, speaking with The PUNCH, on Wednesday, said the committee was still meeting and yet to turn in its recommendations.
He said the next move of the state government concerning the judgment would be informed by the recommendations of the committee.
Aside from expecting the recommendation of the state’s committees, Olanrewaju said it was also curious that the Federal Government was yet to come up with a template for implementation of the judgment in states.
He argued that the Federal Government also identified the challenges in the implementation of the judgment, which informed its decision to set up a committee headed by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
The FG committee was also yet to turn in its recommendations.
He absolved Makinde of being keen on frustrating the judgment, adding, however, that the governor desired to resolve the identified lacuna that could create problems for people at the grassroots.
The Punch
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