By Amarachi Onyemma, News/Comments
The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, has applauded the Supreme Court Justices over the Thursday’s July 11, ruling, ending the financial torment of state governors against the independence of local governments. The apex court had ruled against the 36 state governors for disbursing federal allocations to council areas contrary to the position of the 1999 Constitution.
Justice Emmanuel Agim, one of the Judges who read the lead judgement, maintained that state governors had, over the years, used the privileges conferred on them by the 1999 Constitution to intentionally cheat and rob the local governments of their rights.
Fagbemi, who spoke with our editor-in-Chief, Mark Orgu, in a telephone interview earlier today, praised the Justices, even as he feels happy:
“I feel great for our nation, for the masses, for the people who are in the local government levels and I’m happy that one of the practical steps to having security at the local government levels and at the state levels has been set and taken. So, I salute the courage and dedication of the justices of the Supreme Court who have given this landmark judgement.”
Asked about his earlier proposal on INEC conducting all elections, including local government areas, the Minister stressed
“Let us see what happens, it is step by step. We have just started, let’s just continue to pray to God to give us the enablement to complete the exercise, and there will be other segments to it. However, in the fullness of time, we will come to all that.”
The Erudite jurist who responded to the editor’s question of the effectiveness of the judgement in states, whether some of the governors will not be finding ways of getting funds from the local governments since they put them there. “How do you intend to monitor all these, because, you know, the governors are very tactical in the area of funds”
The AGF hinted:
“The governors are democrats. So, I believe they will respect the judgement of the supreme Court, and in any case, this one does not require too much from the governors. However, when we get to that bridge, we will cross it”
In a similar vein, A security expert, Chief (Dr) Nzeribe Okegbue, JP, who is the Managing Director/Chief Executive officer, Combatant guards limited has corroborated the statement of the Minister, saying, in the area of local security, the financial freedom the supreme Court granted to local governments will go a long way in strategic planning and financing of security and other grassroots challenges. He also commended the AGF for initiating the suit while advising FG to ensure strict monitoring of the funds.
Governors Should Begin To Adjust-Professor Akinboye
Meanwhile, a professor of political science and international relations, University of Lagos, Solomon Akinboye, has hailed the AGF, on the landmark victory at the supreme court, saying, it is a win for democracy, especially, grassroots development. He spoke to our editor on the development.
Prof Sir, what is your view on the Local government autonomy and the Supreme Court ruling.
The judgment of the supreme Court is laudable and commendable. I have been an advocate of local government autonomy, although, it is a Constitutional matter. The 1999 constitution as amended clearly and categorically states, that, there should be local government. In other words, the existence of local government is fully guaranteed by the constitution. The constitution is the organic law of the land and it is supreme and no one is above it. Ideally, local government is supposed to be under state and such creation of the local government should be the responsibility of the state. . It is not a debate that the 1999 constitution the country is operating is faulty with so many anomalies.
So, I applaud the Attorney general of the federation for taking the issue to the Supreme Court. Local government autonomy has always been a contentious issue and of course since the Supreme Court has the highest authority, its judgment is final.
Do you see that, solving the problem of the local government financial freedom?
Not really, but in a way, it can. What the Supreme Court ruling meant, is, funds will be allocated to the local government account directly. And so, what I will advocate here is; there should be proper monitoring since more funds will now be at the disposal of the local government chairmen, and so, they must not be allowed to spend money arbitrarily since the governors will not have any opportunity to disburse funds to the joint state local government account. Whatever goes to the local government should be properly monitored and to avert diversion of funds. Local governments need better development. Also, the issue of accountability is very crucial and critical.
What about the issue of INEC conducting also local government election
I agree with that. There should be just one electoral body in the country. I know it will confers higher responsibility on INEC. What this means is that, INEC will be properly funded while more people will be engaged for effective performance. I believe, INEC is supposed to be the only body to conduct election in the country, federal, state and local government. The only thing is that, INEC should be empowered financially, morally and given all that it needs in other to ensure the success of elections.
Senator Okurounmu says, Supreme Court is taking the country back to unitary system of government
I won’t agree totally because the country is operating under the 1999 constitution as amended. As long as that constitution is still in existence, everything there must be taken into consideration. We have to abide by whatever the constitution says. Ideally, I would have agreed with Baba, that what we are operating is not the ideal thing. We have been speaking against it for a long time -that what we operate feud Federalism and it’s not Federalism that should be practiced. Feud Federalism should be highly condemned.
Judiciary and election
There are some issues that are politicized by the judicial system in favor of the federal government and it’s the constitution that should be blamed. But as long as we follow the existing constitution, the country’s challenge will continue. The country needs a new constitution.
Local government is a creation of 1999 Constitution-Barr. Oghojafor
Speaking with a legal practitioner , Barr. John Oghojafor , who shares his thoughts on the supreme court judgment, giving financial autonomy to local government, has said disagreed on the notion of the supreme Court taking the country back to the unitary system rather than Federalism where each region will decide the kind of local government they want to run, stating that, it is a constitutional issue, and If that has be, then, the 1999 constitution has to be amended, because local government is a creation of the current constitution.
He continues, local government roles are clearly spelt out. In section 7 of the 1999 constitution, local government is tied to the state. Those ones are inherent errors in the constitution. Even the constitution didn’t make provisions for true federalism as far as local government is concerned because if it has addressed the issue of true federalism, then the constitution would have made a solid provision for the local government not using it as an appendix of the state. So, when we talk about the three tiers of government, local government should stand alone on it own but it is not so. So, who is talking about true federalism when it belongs to the local government administration.
The constitution did not make provisions for complete true federalism for the local government, the constitution only provided for it in section 7 tying it to the apron spring of the state government. That is why till today even with the judgement that supreme Court has delivered, it didn’t remove it from the strangle hold from the state. As we speak the state government and the administration of the local government is still being controlled by the house of assembly of the state.
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