A committee tasked with implementing the Supreme Court judgment on local government autonomy has been set up by the federal government.
Remember that Supreme Court on July 11 ruled that the 774 local government councils in the country should manage their funds themselves.
To this day, the judgment is yet to take effect, with the usual practice whereby the monthly allocations of local governments are routed by the federal government through their state counterparts still lingering.
The situation excited threat from Association of Local Governments in Nigeria, ALGON, who threatened to drag state Finance Commissioners to court.
Now, the federal government on Tuesday inaugurated a 10-man inter-ministerial committee to enforce the apex court’s judgment.
The committee constitution was made known by a statement the Director of Information and Public Relations, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Segun Imohiosen, released.
According to the information, the SGF, George Akume, would lead the committee made up of Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice; the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning and the Accountant General of the Federation.
Other members are the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria; the Permanent Secretary (Federal Ministry of Finance), Chairman, Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission, representatives of state governors and representatives of local governments.
“The Secretary to the Government of the Federation has inaugurated an Inter-Ministerial Committee to enforce the Supreme Court judgment delivered on 11th July, 2024 granting financial autonomy to Local Governments in Nigeria.
“This move is in line with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s efforts to give appropriate implementation to the provisions of the Constitution, which recognises local governments as the third tier of government,” the statement read.
