Exploring The Gains Of Fiscal Autonomy For Local Government Councils In Ondo State – Vincent Adodo, Esq.
The landmark judgment of the Supreme Court in SC/343/2024: Attorney General of the Federation v. Attorney General of Abia State & 35 Ors (2024) LPELR- 62576 has completely changed the narrative of the local government system in Nigeria for good. In less than seven months after the delivery of the judgment, several states who have hitherto been operating illegal caretaker committees have deferred to the judgment and conducted elections to usher in democratically elected officials to administer the affairs of their local government areas as mandated by section 7 (1) of the 1999 Constitution as amended.
In the landmark decision, the Supreme Court liberated the local government system from the age long shackles of States Governors who had hitherto treated the local government councils as appendages of their offices as principally manifested by the seizing of their monthly allocations from the Federation Account through the Joint Account Allocation Committee (JAAC) which has now been disbanded or in the least rendered moribund per the Supreme Court Judgment.
The onslaught against this vital tier of government was further consolidated with the appointment by State Governors of caretakers to oversee the affairs of local government areas in their States in clear breach of section 7(1) of the 1999 Constitution which mandates that local government areas in the country must be administered only by democratically elected officials.
On the 18th day of January 2025, the Ondo State Independent Electoral Commission (ODIEC) in compliance with the Supreme Court judgment conducted elections into the 18 Local Government Areas of Ondo State and at the end of the exercise, all candidates of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) were declared winners of the 18 Local Government Chairmanship and 203 Councillorship seats in the State, the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) having withdrawn from the election few days before the day of polls.
Hopefully, the reinstatement of what appears to be a democratic process at the local government level in Ondo State would mark a permanent paradigm shift in local government administration in the State given that in the last 16 years, local government elections were conducted just about once and only during the tenure of the late Governor Oluwarotimi Odunayo Akeredolu, SAN. For a larger part of these years, the local government system in the State had been in a comatose state with an incumbent Governor running the local government as an appendage of the Governor’s office through stooges christened caretakers.
The newly elected local government chairmen in the 18 Local government areas of Ondo State are very privileged and well positioned at this time to bring the dividends of good governance to their local territories as the main excuse for inefficiency in the past being lack of or paucity of funds have become a thing of the past. Lack of funds can no longer be an excuse for non performance with the direct release to local government councils of revenue due to them from the Federation Account.
It is at this juncture necessary to commend the efforts of the Federal Government through the office of the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice for the efficient implementation of the Judgment of the Supreme Court especially the commitment towards ensuring that local government areas receive the allocated funds due to them from the Federation Account directly to enable easy access to and control over funds without external interference.
The new local government officials in Ondo State must be reminded that citizens have the right and indeed the duty to hold them accountable for the funds they collect from the Federation Account through the invocation of the Freedom of Information Act 2011.
Remarkably, Section 29(6) of the Freedom of Information Act 2011 designates the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation as a statutory enforcer of the Act, it provides:
“The Attorney General shall in his oversight responsibility under this Act ensure that all institutions to which this Act applies comply with the provisions of this Act.”
Moreover, local government council officials in Nigeria are not immuned from investigation and prosecution for corruption even while in office as they do not come within the province of Section 308 of the 1999 Constitution which enacts immunity from criminal and civil proceedings for certain officials of government who are basically the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, his Vice, Governors of States and their Deputies
It’s pertinent to note that the fiscal autonomy granted by the Constitution to local government areas and recently affirmed by the Supreme Court opens up opportunities for meaningful grassroot developments in view of the functions imposed on local government councils by the Fourth Schedule to the 1999 Constitution. Deserving of special mention is paragraph 1(f) of the 4th Schedule which empowers local government councils with: “construction and maintenance of roads, streets, street lightings, drains and other public highways, parks, gardens, open spaces, or such public facilities as may be prescribed from time to time by the House of Assembly of a State.”
Furthermore and among others, Paragraph 1 (k) (vi) of the 4th Schedule to the 1999 Constitution (as amended) empowers the local councils for the “control and regulation of licensing, regulation and control of the sale of liquor.”
The implication of these far reaching powers and responsibilities for the positive development of villages and settlements in Ondo State cannot be overemphasised. For instance, in recent times, many young people are known to have become a menace to the society as a result of abuse of and excess consumption of alcohol, the local governments councils cannot be said to be entirely handicapped to rescue the situation if provisions such as paragraph 1(k) (vi) of the Fourth Schedule are adequately harnessed.
While contemplating that local government councils are autonomous entities free from control or interference by State Governments in the conduct of their affairs and activities, the framers of the Constitution at the same time provided a connecting route for productive partnerships between them and State Governments. Paragraph 2 of the 4th Schedule to the 1999 Constitution imposes a duty on local government councils to participate in the Government of their States with respect to certain matters- provision and maintenance of primary, adult and Vocational education; development of agriculture and natural resources; provision and maintenance of health services and other functions as the House of Assembly may confer on a local government council.
However, It should be stated that the modus and terms of such partnerships between local and State Governments must be made clear to all citizens especially where it involves the utilisation of funds due to the local council from the Federation Account.
Congratulations to the new local government officials as they ascend their new positions. It is the hope of an average Ondo State citizen that this new era shall bring with it greater manifestation of the dividends of democracy at the grassroots.
Vincent Adodo, Esq., LL.M, NP.
Legal Practitioner
28 Jan. 2025.
