Following the Supreme Court judgment on local government autonomy, implementation seemed to have hit a brick wall with some state governors explicitly warning their council chairmen against opening an account with the Central Bank of Nigeria,CBN, for the direct payment of their allocations from the Federation Account.
The development is dashing the hope of a common man nine months after the Supreme Court granted full autonomy to the 774 local governments across the country, paving the way for direct payment of federal allocations, a directive that has failed to be enforced.
As part of the Federal Government’s commitment to follow through 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.
A directive the apex bank has continued to foot-drag about its implementation through unexplained 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 recently commenced talks on the modalities for the LGAs to open accounts with the CBN for direct allocation but are reportedly facing challenges in 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.
It was learned that some governors have resorted to intimidation and coercion of their council chairmen to abstain from opening any account with CBN for direct allocation payment.
Punch spoke with some council chairmen on condition of anonymity who revealed that their respective governors have instructed them to stay away from opening any accounts with the CBN for the direct receipt of their allocations.
Other source revealed that some governors met with President Bola Tinubu recently to lobby that they preferred the LGs to open accounts with commercial banks instead of the CBN.
Though it is not clear whether the President has accepted the idea to do so
Meanwhile, another LG chair, explained that the CBN’s stringent conditions might be the reasons the governors were not positively disposed to the idea, aside from the fact that it will cut off their access to LG funds.
It was learned that one of the stringent demands is the submission of a two-month statement of account from each local government area, which was not available.
“But as simple as that condition may look, all council areas here in our state can’t meet up. The situation is not peculiar to our state. If you check well, most states can’t meet up simply because their governors are the ones spending their allocation.
“They are only giving those in LGAs whatever they feel like giving them. That is the problem,” the LG boss said.
It was also learned that other governors are not different as most of them have strongly opposed to the opening of CBN accounts, fearing it would hinder their un filtered access to the local government funds.
However, a negligible number of governors are said to be disposed to the idea of their LGAs opening the CBN accounts.
Nigerians are aware that state governors are trying to frustrate the financial autonomy of local government areas because it will automatically shut them out of control and that is why they are opting for commercial banks instead.
“They know that the moment the money is paid to CBN, it will go directly to us, and they will not have access to it. So, that is the reason the governors are frustrating the move.” He said
However, on their part, the Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees, NULGE, in Nasarawa State has expressed its readiness to comply with the directive to open accounts and is prepared to receive funds from the Federal Government.
The NULGE Chairman in the state, Adamu Sharhabilu, who disclosed this to our correspondent in Lafia on Monday, revealed that the state government and the House of Assembly have been working in collaboration with local government workers to ensure that local government autonomy is fully realized in the state, showing a unified effort to support the implementation of the Supreme Court’s ruling.
Another official however, lamented that “What we are facing now is the fault of the Federal Government because the federal allocation committee is supposed to send the money straight to the local governments, not the joint account. We have so many accounts to receive the money, but they refused to send the money to the local government coffers.”
He, therefore, urged the Federal Government to align itself with the Supreme Court’s judgment and allow for the full implementation of the LG autonomy by ensuring that the funds are paid directly to the LGAs. PUNCH