Why LG financial autonomy is yet to be implemented – Edun
Omeiza Bilal
The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun has stated that more consultation is needed by various stakeholders before the federal government can begin the implementation of financial autonomy for local governments.
Edun, said this at the Agora Policy Conversation Tuesday in Abuja.The event had as its theme “Local Governance Reforms a Year after Supreme Court’s Ruling”.
The coordinating minister of the economy noted that local government development is at the heart of the heart of the Federal Government’s Human Capital Opportunities for Prosperity and Equity (HOPE) programme.
The programme is a World Bank-backed initiative designed to improve education, healthcare, and governance outcomes across Nigeria.
On his part, Chief Executive, Hamzat Lawal, Connected Development (Code), has said a lack of capacity on the part of local government chairman officials responsible for the delay in implementing the Supreme Court judgment on Local Government autonomy. is
According to Hamzat, the implementation is taking too long one year after the apex court ruling.
To be able to implement it, the Code boss said, the government needs to put in place a framework that guarantees transparency and accountability.
He said, “This is taking far too long for implementation, but I understand the sentiment because when you interact with an average local government chairman of today, he doesn’t have the capacity. There is no framework for even financial management.
“A lot of them don’t even have accounts to manage resources. And a lot of them have this understanding that probably this is some free money that’s coming to their coffer, because we all know that before now, what happens is the state governors say, oh, this is a joint account between state and local government, and they don’t release this fund down to local government chairman
“And also tying this to the national financial intelligence units that came up with the policy framework that if anybody want to transfer money from government accounts, anything above 500,000 must be a wire transfer so that we can follow the money. So, a lot of local government chairmen don’t have the capacity. They don’t have the administrative and technical know-how.
To fasttrack the implementation process, he insisted that the government must build the capacity of local government personnel. This is even as he urged the government to stop postponing the take-off date.
According to him, “one year is far too long to achieve this, because as far as governance is concerned, after that judgment, government, particularly the federal government should have put in place mechanism to build their capacity, put in place structures for accountability and ensure that these monies are paid directly to local government account, not joint account between state and local government.
“I think one thing federal government can also do is create an account for all the local government at the central bank so that when FAAC allocation is being shared, these monies are paid directly to local government and state percentage are paid into the state account, not jointly within the state governors and the local government chairman.
In his welcome address, the Chair, Agora Policy – Ojobo Ode Atuluku said the Supreme Court’s landmark judgment affirming the constitutional autonomy of local governments was not merely a legal milestone, but a constitutional reaffirmation of the principle that local governance must be closer to the people, more transparent, and more accountable.
“In our usual way of improving public policy and governance through evidence-based research, policy dialogues, and capacity building, Agora Policy immediately swung into action and by 9th August 2024, just a month after the judgement, we published an Agora Policy Note and urged structural reforms beyond legal rulings to empower LGAs as effective democratic institutions.
“If we are truly committed to restoring the promise of local democracy, then we must pursue a roots-and-branch reform of our local governance system, going beyond legal pronouncements to dismantling entrenched patronage, overhauling compromised electoral structures, and rebuilding local councils as transparent, accountable, and citizen-driven institutions,” he said.
