
The Presidency has confirmed that from the end of January, local government areas in the country will receive their money directly from the Federal Allocation Account Committee.
The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Public Communications, Sunday Dare, disclosed this in an interview on Arise News on Thursday night, saying President Bola Ahmed Tinubu would ensure the local government autonomy.
Dare emphasised President Tinubu’s commitment to implementing the Supreme Court’s landmark July 2024 judgment, which declared state control over local government funds unconstitutional.
On July 11, 2024, the Supreme Court, in a unanimous judgment read by Justice Emmanuel Agbim, said “The state’s retention of the local government funds is unconstitutional.
However, given the ineffectiveness of the latter, the court-mandated direct payments to local councils.
The judgment followed a suit filed by the Attorney General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, advocating for the financial autonomy of Nigeria’s 774 local government areas.
Speaking during the interview on Thursday, Dare confirmed that direct payment for the councils would begin in January end.
“We have a President who ensures local government autonomy. I spoke to a local government chairman, who said, ‘Oh, I will be getting N2.9bn, instead of the N200m I was getting before’.
“From the end of this month, LG will receive the money directly,” he said.
Dare stressed that the current focus should shift more towards state and local governments.
He cited an example of a state that collected N499bn last year, which is four times its previous amount, yet had not shown any noticeable improvements.
“Blaming the Federal Government all the time, I think we need to revert it. One state last year alone collected N499bn, almost four times what it was collecting before. Now, go to that state and see if there is any improvement, N499bn is not a small amount of money.
“The framers of our constitution, who said we should have the federal, state and local governments, it’s for a reason. The Federal Government cannot take care of the entire country.