The Nigerian government has appointed a committee comprising 10 persons to enforce the Supreme Court judgment granting financial autonomy to local governments.
Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) George Akume was named head of the committee, spokesman of the office of SGF Segun Imohiosen said in a statement on Tuesday.
Other members of the committee are the minister of finance and coordinating minister of the economy, Wale Edun; attorney general of the federation and minister of justice, Lateef Fagbemi; minister of budget and economic planning; accountant general of the federation; governor, Central Bank of Nigeria CBN; permanent secretary, Federal Ministry of Finance; chairman, Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission; representative of state governors; and, representative of local governments.
“This move is in line with President Bola Tinubu efforts to give appropriate implementation to the provisions of the Constitution, which recognizes local governments as the third tier of government,” the statement added.
The Supreme Court had in its judgement on July 11 granted the local government areas autonomy. The court declared that it is unconstitutional for state governors to hold funds allocated for local government administrations.
The court further declared that a state government has no power to appoint a caretaker committee, stressing that a local government council is only recognisable with a democratically elected government.
