On July 11,  last year,  the Supreme Court delivered a landmark judgment affirming the financial autonomy of Nigeria’s 774 Local Government Councils. A move which was hailed by many as being necessary for development to get to the grassroots, since that tier of government is closer to the people.
The seven-member panel led by Justice Mohammed Garba unanimously upheld a suit brought by the federal government aimed at reinforcing the independence of local governments across the country.
The court also rejected the stance of state governments that sought to dissolve democratically elected local government councils.
As was expected, the local governments have barely made any significant step in that direction. And the reason for this is not far-fetched. Most state governors would not have any of this.
Their complaints, although not openly stated, being that the federal government in pursuing this objective is not sincere but only seeking ways to whittle down their relevance and grip on the LGs.
In pursuit of the Supreme Court verdict, the Association of Local Governments (ALGON), had announced earlier in the year that the 774 local governments were to open dedicated accounts with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for the direct disbursement of allocations to them from the Federation Account.
The National President, Bello Lawal Yandaki, had said the opening of the account is critical to the implementation of the Supreme Court ruling on direct allocations to the councils.
He said the apex bank is waiting for the Federal Government’s directive on the opening of the accounts.
Yandaki, who spoke in Katsina, the capital of Katsina State, allayed fears over the delay in the disbursement of funds to the councils.
He said there was no cause for alarm and attributed the delay to the failure of councils to submit necessary bank details to the Federation Accounts and Allocations Committee (FAAC) required for facilitating the payments.
He said, “The CBN is currently awaiting directives from the Federal Government to open local government accounts for their respective states, which can be done between 24 and 48 hours for each.”
However, six months after, many of the LGs have not opened their accounts with the CBN. Some have attributed this delay to the governors who have warned chairmen not to do that. It is also said that one of the stringent demands by the CBN is the submission of a two-month statement of account from each local government area, which was not available.
The reason, again being that it is still the governors who have been spending the money.
The challenges facing the implementation of the Supreme Court judgment are therefore not unconnected with the fact that most state governors cannot live to see the full implementation of the judgement.
Some governors explicitly warned their council chairmen against opening an account with the Central Bank of Nigeria for the direct payment of their allocations from the Federation Account.
The latest development represents yet another significant hurdle, one year after the Supreme Court granted full autonomy to the 774 local governments across the country, paving the way for direct payment of federal allocations.
As part of the Federal Government’s commitment to the Supreme Court judgment, a panel was set up to ensure the implementation of LG autonomy.
In line with its recommendation, the panel directed the Central Bank of Nigeria to open accounts for the 774 LGs for direct payment of their allocation.
This process has, however, faced delays with the CBN and LGs trading accusations.
The immediate-past Account-General of the Federation, Oluwatoyin Madein and the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, and other officials had commenced talks on the modalities for the LGAs to open accounts with the CBN for direct allocation but are reportedly facing challenges identifying LGAs with democratically elected officials.
A Federation Account Allocation Committee Technical Sub-Committee meeting revealed that only Delta State LGAs had submitted their account details.
Since the beginning of this democratic process in 1999, most state governors have simply treated the LGs with disdain, and in most instances, elections are not conducted throughout the tenures of some governors. Many would rather have in place caretaker committees who are in office at the mercy of the governors.
Even in states where elected officers run the LGs, these chairmen do not have a mind of their own and cannot afford to take any initiative of their own.
This sad development does not come as a surprise to a lot of people. How can anyone expect a local government chairman who was appointed either as caretaker chairman or selected (sorry elected) in a crooked process that was organised by state electoral commissions that is completely under the control of the governors, to do otherwise?
Last year, after the Supreme Court pronouncement, not a few persons expressed doubt about the implementation of this verdict. Except we have chosen to play the ostrich, the LGs cannot attain that autonomy. The chairmen themselves owe their allegiance to the governors who made them and not to the electorate.
The electoral process at the LG levels is sheer mockery of democracy. That is why the party of the sitting governors always wins 100 per cent of the chairmanship and councillors seat in the election. This is the situation in all the states.
The LG chairmen themselves can only murmur about their autonomy but do not have the balls to openly voice their dissent. They wish to have their autonomy but cannot be seen in public demanding it, because that would come with very dire consequences.
And now with 2027 already taking the centre stage, President Bola Tinubu would be arm-twisted to push this further as  the governors would want to take advantage. With most of the governors pledging already their loyalty towards 2027, it would be very unlikely that the FG would insist on the implementation of the Supreme Court verdict to offend the governors.
Already, we are in the second half of 2025 and real politicking has begun and will reach its peak in 2026, the full implementation of this local government autonomy as well as other bold policy shifts of this government might as well all be kept in the cooler until after the 2027 polls.
Perhaps, it is about time to consider the option of single term of five or six years for the president, governors and LG chairmen.
