Over two months after the Supreme Court affirmed local governments’ financial autonomy, the federal government is still routing councils’ allocations through states.
Consequently, the maintenance of the status quo prompted Incorporated Trustees of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) to issue legal threat, threatening to drag the Forum of Commissioners for Finance of Nigeria to court for failure to comply with the judgement of the Supreme Court that mandates them to pay monthly allocations directly to the accounts of 774 local governments.
Latest report on the matter attributed the delay to implement the judgment of the apex court to “practical impediments.”
It said the Federal Government is plagued by how to proceed with the implementation of the judgment on the financial autonomy for Local Government Areas and has turned to a political solution.
This is according to Punchng citing an unnamed source as saying, “From what I know from the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, the Federal Government and the states are looking for a political solution to manage the fallout of the Supreme Court judgment.
“The first step is the three-month moratorium on the judgment. For the next three months, the LG allocation will still be paid into the joint account with the respective states, while a permanent solution that will serve the objectives of financial autonomy as envisaged by the Supreme Court judgment is worked out.”
