BILL

The National Union of Local Government Employees on Thursday said it wouldn’t rule out seeking redress in court should the Anambra State Governor, Charles Soludo, or other governors introduce bills to frustrate the Supreme Court judgment on direct allocation of funds to LGAs.

The union also called on President Bola Tinubu and the Attorney General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, to call Soludo to order over alleged moves to prevent LG funds from being utilised by chairmen for the betterment of the people at the grassroots.

The National President of NULGE, Hakeem Ambali, said this in response to the reported moves by the Anambra State governor to circumvent the apex court’s judgment granting full administrative and financial autonomy to local councils.

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.

They alleged that the bill was an attempt by Soludo to arm-twist the council chairmen into paying their federal allocation back to the state.

The Secretary to the Speaker of the Anambra State House of Assembly, Emma Madu, confirmed that the assembly passed the bill titled, ‘Anambra Local Government Administration Law 2024,’ on Tuesday.

Reports indicate that some other state houses of assembly have also enacted similar bills on local government administration.

Henry Mbachu, a member representing Awka South I State Constituency (Labour Party), raised the alarm on Tuesday, urging the governor to withdraw the bill, which he said would allow the state government to share in funds meant for local government councils, potentially undermining their financial independence

However, Soludo defended the bill, asserting that it did not contravene the Supreme Court’s judgment on local government autonomy.

He challenged anyone who believed otherwise to seek redress in court.

In response, the Senate, on Wednesday, faulted moves by some governors to enact laws to mandate the local government councils in their states to remit allocations into a joint account.

It endorsed the Supreme Court judgment of July 11, 2024, which granted financial autonomy to the 774 Local Government Areas across the country.

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 of the judgment.

The resolutions followed a motion sponsored by the Deputy President of the Senate, Jibrin Barau, and seconded by Abdul Ningi and Tahir Monguno.

Speaking on the development with one of our correspondents on Thursday, NULGE president, Ambali, said, “This act of illegality is condemnable and Governor Soludo should be called to order. This is a move to take local government funds.

“The FG should be proactive and withhold LG funds from such governors. The move by Governor Soludo is an affront to the law of the land. He needs to understand that nobody is above the law. What he is doing is totally against the judgment of the Supreme Court. NULGE thereby calls on the President to call Governor Soludo to order.”

Asked what steps would be taken to halt the perceived threat against LG financial autonomy, Ambali said, “We have not ruled out going to court. We can join the AGF in a suit in court.”

Some state officials of NULGE, who spoke with The PUNCH, however, said there were no signs that governors in their states were also looking at introducing bills to frustrate the Supreme Court judgment on direct allocation of funds to LGs.

“Well, to the best of our knowledge, we have not seen any move of Governor Dapo Abiodun to frustrate the working of the LG autonomy either by opening of another account for the LG funds or otherwise,” a NULGE official in Ogun State, said.

“Remember that the national president of NULGE, Akeem Ambali, is from Ogun State, he is very close to the government, so, Ogun State won’t get involved in such illegal act.

“But if it happens, God forbid, I don’t think the workers will take it kindly, they will definitely react, but like I said, NULGE is having a cordial relationship with this government and we shall definitely want that to be sustained.”

NULGE chairman, Akwa Ibom State chapter, Mrs Anestina Iweh, said she was unaware of any plan by the state government to create a separate account in to divert local government funds. “Iam not aware of such plan in Akwa Ibom State and I don’t think it will happen,” she said.

In Baylesa State, the NULGE chairman, Thank-God Singer, said there were no plans by the government to divert FG allocations meant for local government councils.

“There’s nothing like that in Bayelsa,” Singer stated.

In May, the Federal Government, represented by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, filed a lawsuit to challenge the governors’ authority to receive and withhold federal allocations meant for Local Government Areas.

The suit sought to prevent state governors from unilaterally dissolving democratically elected local government councils and establishing caretaker committees.

The AGF argued that the constitution mandated a democratically elected local government system and did not allow alternative governance structures.

The Supreme Court, on July 11, 2024, gave a landmark judgment affirming the financial autonomy of the 774 LGs in the country, asserting that governors could no longer control funds meant for the councils.

The seven-member Supreme Court panel, led by Justice Garba Lawal, held that it was illegal and unconstitutional for governors to manage and withhold LG funds.

The apex court also directed the Accountant-General of the Federation to pay LG allocations directly to their accounts, as it declared the non-remittance of funds by the 36 states unconstitutional.

On August 20, the Federal Government instituted a 10-member inter-ministerial committee to implement the Supreme Court’s ruling on local government autonomy.

The committee members include the Minister of Finance & Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun; Attorney General of the Federation & Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi SAN;  Minister of Budget & Economic Planning, Abubakar Bagudu; Accountant-General of the Federation; Oluwatoyin Madein and the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Olayemi Cardoso.

Others are the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Finance, Mrs Lydia Jafiya, the Chairman, Revenue Mobilisation Allocation & Fiscal Commission, Mohammed Shehu, and representatives of state governors and the local governments.

The committee’s primary goal is to ensure that local governments are granted full autonomy, allowing them to function effectively without interference from state governments.

The spokesman for the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit, Sani Tukur, declined comments on the moves by the governors to frustrate the Supreme Court judgment.

However, a senior official at the agency, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorised to speak on the matter, stated that the NFIU was aware of the antics of some state governors attempting to gain control over local government funds.

He added that their mandate was to ensure local governments received their funds.

The official said, “In terms of monitoring the trends, we are doing that. We are all together in the country. Whatever any governor does, money meant for local governments must go to them. That is the position of the law.

“Whatever the LGs do afterwards, the law enforcement agencies responsible are out there watching; I am sure they would do the needful. NFIU’s mandate is to ensure local governments get their money; that is what the Supreme Court declared.”

Speaking on the issue, Yusuf Ali (SAN), urged the governors to obey the apex court order granting autonomy to local governments.

He said, “Well, let me say this upfront, the Supreme Court has spoken, and anybody who is a democrat and believes in the rule of law will not do anything to undermine the authority of the highest court in our land, except people are asking for anarchy because the thing about using devious methods to override the Supreme Court is like riding a leopard or a lion.

“Anybody who rides a lion or a leopard will end up in his belly. So, I want to counsel people that they should not do anything. The courts are not the last hope of the common man; they are the last hope of everybody.

“And our governors should remember that most of them hold their seats with the judgments of the courts. So, people should just remember. I think I won’t say more than that.”

In the same vein, Ifedayo Adedipe (SAN), said it was wrong for any governor not to comply with the judgment of the Supreme Court granting financial autonomy to local governments.

“You know, the challenge our society has had is the lawlessness of people in power who believe that power belongs to them, forgetting that it is strict adherence to law and order that will keep society going.

“Any state government that does that is in contempt of the decision of the Supreme Court, the highest court of the land. The reason our society is not making progress is our disdain for law and order, nothing more.

“If the Federal Government were to behave the way some of these state governments are behaving, there would be crisis and chaos in the polity.  I mean, we all are in this country.

“Whenever monies are being shared, the Federal Government will make it public how much money goes to each state and state governor but the state governors see themselves as emperors. The ones whose words are laws cannot be questioned.

“Unfortunately, we have, regrettably, in the House of Assembly, those who believe that they must worship the governors forgetting that the governor is a trustee of the people. It is wrong for any government to do that, it is very wrong.”

Civil Society Organisations also condemned attempts by the Anambra State government to bypass the Supreme Court order on LG autonomy, describing it as being in contempt of the judgment.

“What is happening in Anambra state is actually supposed to be described as contempt of the Supreme Court judgment. And the governors and every member of the Houses of Assembly that are making or considering such laws should be marked down. As soon as the governor loses his immunity, he should be promptly arrested and charged with contempt of the court,” Chairman, Centre for Accountability and Open Leadership, Debo Adeniran, stated.

“It is not right, it is anti-democratic, it is unwarranted. It is against the principles of fair justice. It is inhuman for them to want to muzzle the local governments within the states. It should not be allowed, and Federal Government should not watch while the states muzzle the LGs just because they have the opportunity of being called state government. Local governments should begin to also create their own structures, running their own courts and ensuring that there is fairness at the grassroots level of governance.”

On his part, the Executive Director, United Global Resolve for Peace, Olaseni Shalom, insisted that the Federal Government must sponsor a bill at the National Assembly to block every loophole, noting that otherwise Anambra would only be the first among others.

“What would save all of this drama is a bill sent to the National Assembly, that would ensure that all of these loopholes, all the money sent to the local governments, they do with it as they please. You separate the local government autonomy clearly from the state. So, if that is the law of the land, stated in the constitution, assented to by the President and ratified by the states, there is no way they can make any other law that will contradict it.

“So, Anambra is just the beginning of all of these things we will see. There are lots of loopholes that must be blocked. Until all these loopholes are blocked, we will continue to see all of these legal and constitutional loopholes,” he said.