A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Mike Ozekhome, has said the Supreme Court judgement on Local Government Council Autonomy means the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) will not send funds to local government areas headed by Caretaker Committee Chairmen (CTC).
Ozekhome said this on Channels Television’s breakfast programme, The Morning Brief, on Friday.
“The judgement of the government is clear. If you want to receive funds from the federation account, then conduct an election,” Ozekhome said while reacting to Thursday’s judgement.
“If what you have in place is a caretaker committee as local government chairman, be sure that it will not have money from the federation account.”
Ozekhome also stated that with the ruling, local council development areas (LCDAs) created in some states are not qualified to receive funds from FAAC.
“What this law is saying is that if you are not a democratically elected local government council, you cannot have this money under section 162 subsection 5 and 6 of the 1999 Constitution. So, what it means is that money should now be ploughed to those local governments that are in existence democratically.”
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After the funds are paid to the recognized LGAs, Ozekhome believes the funds can be shared with the local council development areas. “That is their internal business, nobody can control that one. But, for now, the money can only go to those local government areas named in the constitution. Don’t forget they are even named in the constitution, 774 local governments,” he said. “If you want money from the federation account, such councils must be democratically elected.”
In Thursday’s ruling, the Supreme Court declared that the federal government should henceforth pay allocations directly to local government councils from the federation account. The seven-member panel of justices declared that it is unconstitutional for state governors to hold onto funds meant for Local Government (LG) administrations.
The highest court in the country barred governors from dissolving democratically elected Local Government councils in the country. Also, it ordered that the Federal Government should withhold allocations of LGAs governed by unelected officials appointed by the governor.
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