By Okon N. Efut (SAN)
There are substantial provisions in the Nigerian Constitution and other enabling enactments of the National Assembly on the creation, structure, function, and funding of the Local Government as the third tier of government in Nigeria. The failure of the Local Government system to work as intended by the makers of the Constitution is not due to the absence of constitutional or statutory provisions. It is rather a consequence of the failure or refusal of successive Nigerian governments to comply with the law as recently declared by the Supreme Court of Nigeria in line with the constitutional or statutory safeguards made in that regard. The Supreme Court pronouncement on this matter is unmistakable, that the Local Government Council allocations from the Federation Account should henceforth be paid directly to the Local Government Councils. No nation can progress on a substantial and sustainable basis when Court orders are disregarded and the basic unit of governance is neglected and grossly emasculated by the higher tiers of government (the Federal and the State governments).
Indeed, the myriad of structural and systematic challenges facing Nigeria as a nation and as a Federation can be attributed to the absence of the right political will to comply with, and enforce constitutional and statutory provisions elaborately spelt out in the Nigerian Constitution and Federal and State enactments.
According to the provisions of Section 7(1), (3), (5) and (6) of the Nigerian Constitution, local governments in Nigeria must be democratically elected; they must participate in economic planning and development; they must receive public revenue from the federation account and from the State revenue; and their functions are clearly specified in the Fourth Schedule to the Constitution.
This constitutional recognition and guarantee of the system of local government Nigeria has placed the local government as the third tier of government, to operate alongside with the Federal and State Governments. This is intended by the makers of the Constitution to spread the democratic principles, practices, instruments and organs of governance to all parts of the federation and ensure that Nigerians at the grassroot or far-flung rural areas are connected to, and involved in, the affairs of government which ultimately affects them and directly impacts human capital and infrastructural developments vertically and horizontally. It also ensures that governmental powers are not concentrated at the center (Federal or the State) but devolve and percolate to the smaller units which are closer to the people. The spirit, intendment, and general principle of these constitutional safeguards for the local government system is to bring development down to the people who are the ultimate beneficiaries of government policies and programmes.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had, on Friday, the 19ª day of December, 2025, indicated to the state governors that he might be led to issue an Executive Order to enforce and ensure direct allocation of funds to local government councils if they failed to comply with the Supreme Court judgment in AG of the Federation v. AG of Abia State & Others (2024) 17 NWLR (Pt. 1966) 1 at 118, per Agim, JSC. Mr. The President does not need to issue any executive order to enforce clear provisions of the Constitution. He should rather uphold the Constitution and ensure compliance with the judgment of the Supreme Court since he has sworn to uphold the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Sadly, the local government system in Nigeria has not been allowed to function as was intended by the makers of the Constitution. This is largely due to the deliberate interference with, and usurpation of its powers, functions and funds, by the respective State governments, in total disregard of the constitutionally guaranteed separation of governmental powers, and the sharing formulae of revenue from the Federation account into which all revenues of the federation are paid. This propensity of the State governors to deny the local governments their powers and funds has been successfully challenged in the Supreme Court by the Chief Law Officer of the Federation, the Hon. Attorney-General of the Federation, Chief Lateef Fagbami, SAN and the Supreme Court has made far-reaching pronouncements which should leave no one in doubt that the autonomy of the local governments is firmly guaranteed in our constitution and statute books, and judicially affirmed.
In the Supreme Court case of AG of the Federation v. AG of Abia State & Others (Supra) local government autonomy was unequivocally given a stamp of judicial validity and authority, and financial independence was re-affirmed for the third tier of government. Indeed, we must applaud the Federal Government and in particular, the Honourable Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Chief Lateef Fagbemi, (SAN) for taking the bold step of submitting to the apex court, the contentious constitutional issues which had surrounded the application and implementation of full financial autonomy for the local government councils. The Supreme Court, in the landmark judgment affirmed the Constitutional provisions which guarantees financial autonomy to local government councils, and held that the local governments are constitutionally entitled to receive their own share of federal allocation from the Federation Account directly, and not through the State.
In more specific terms, the apex court held that the State Government’s retention of funds allocated to the local government councils was unlawful, illegal, unconstitutional, null and void. That, where funds are allocated to the local governments, such funds should be transferred immediately to the relevant local governments, and that funds allocated to local governments be paid directly into accounts of democratically elected local governments. In a commendable display of a liberal and purposive slant in
the construction and application of constitutional provisions, the Supreme Court interpreted Section 162 of the Constitution in a manner to promote good governance and the people’s welfare in the following words: The Federation can pay Local Government allocations from Federation Account to Local Government Councils directly or pay to them through States. In this case, since paying them through States has not worked, the justice of the case demands that the Local Government Council allocations from the Federation Account should henceforth be paid directly to the Local Government Councils.
It smacks of grave erosion on the efficacy of the judicial powers of Nigerian courts and a sad commentary on the potency of court judgments and orders, that the pronouncements of the Supreme Court on this vexed issue of local government autonomy have remained unheeded and unenforced by successive governments, authorities and agencies of government in Nigeria. Even more appalling is the emerging scenario that it is going to take the stern warning of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the meeting of the National Executive Committee of Nigeria’s ruling party (APC) for the judgment of the Supreme Court to be obeyed and enforced. Under normal circumstances, judgments of the Supreme Court or any court of law for that matter require no presidential proclamation, executive order or warning before enforcement. By virtue of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), judgments of court must be obeyed by all persons, governments and authorities, without recourse to presidential intervention, executive orders or warning of reprisals against the state governors, who have been identified as the principal actors in the grand design to frustrate the full and effective operation of financial and other forms of autonomy at the local government level, as envisaged by the Fourth Schedule to the 1999 Constitution.
By virtue of Third Schedule, Part 1, Item N (32) (a) and (b), the Federal Government agency empowered to allocate funds to the third tiers of government is the REVENUE MOBILISATION ALLLOCATION AND FISCAL COMMISSION. The Commission is vested with power to
“monitor the accruals to and disbursement of revenue from the Federation Account; Review, from time to time, the revenue allocation formulae and principles in operation to ensure conformity with changing realities”
The commission must therefore ensure that it carries out its constitutional mandate strictly, fairly, and equitably, in a manner that does not subjugate the local governments to the whims and caprices of the State governors. There is no reason why Mr. President and the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission should not enforce or implement the Supreme Court’s decision on local government autonomy as enshrined in the Constitution.
Section 287 of the Constitution makes it clearly mandatory that all authorities, persons and courts are duty bound to enforce decisions, judgments and orders of courts established by the Constitution. In relation to the decisions of the Supreme Court, it is clearly spelt out in subsection (1) that: “The decisions of the Supreme Court shall be enforced in any part of the Federation by all authorities and persons, and by courts with subordinate jurisdiction to that of the Supreme Court”.
It is a sad commentary on the true measure of our collective adherence to the rule of law, that this provision of the Constitution on the enforcement of court judgment has been observed more in breach than in compliance.
Now that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has spoken and warned the State Governors, it is expected that the Supreme Court’s judgment on this matter will be accorded the required measure of reverence, and that the concept of local government autonomy will no longer be treated as a worthless creation of the Nigerian constitution but a functional system fully operating independently like the States and Federal Government. This can only be achieved by the Federal Government upholding the revenue allocation formula in line with the approved percentage which goes to each tier of government.
That will mean an appreciable portion of revenue accruing to the federation account will ultimately get to the local governments as mandated by the constitution. If this is allowed to take place, the huge amount of money allocated to that level of government from the Federation account and the corresponding State Government’s allocations to the councils should result in increased financial and economic activities at that level of government. Once there is a rise in economic activities, many more citizens of Nigeria will be encouraged to reside and do business at the local government areas. With businesses and economic activities picking up or rising at the local government areas nationwide, the social-economic phenomenon of rural-urban drift or migration to the urban centres will be alleviated, as many more people will realize that what they seek to achieve by migrating to urban centres can as well be readily achieved at the rural or local government areas.
The ripple effect will equally bring about a reduction in the rising number of slums or ghettos in our cities. The spread of slums and ghettos and the attendant squalid and sordid sanitary condition, springing up within and around our cities are as a result of unemployment and unemployable low-income earners who left the villages in search of greener pastures but are unable to afford the high cost of living associated with life in the cities. It is therefore worth emphasizing that the need for a functioning and viable system of local government in Nigeria is not only a matter of political expediency for creating more centres of government, but also constitutes a far-reaching economic and social engine of growth in terms of meeting the developmental and socio-economic needs and targets of the rural dwellers.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu must therefore not stop at merely declaring and warning the Governors of the imperative of local government autonomy (as a vain political manifesto) but ensure that it is enforced with all the federal executive might and vigour required to empower, revitalize, and stabilize a system which has been held down for too long by the state governors who should facilitate and make it work.
It is unconscionable and inequitable for the State Governors to usurp the funds paid into the State Local Government Joint Account, when they have not paid any counterpart funds into that account. This forms the basis of the Supreme Court’s well-considered order that the allocation from the Federation Account be paid directly to the Local Government Councils, thereby giving life to Section 162(3) of the Constitution.
If one were to juxtapose the level of infrastructural development going on in some Nigerian states like Abia, Bornu, Rivers and the FCT, against what is going on at the local governments or district council levels, the picture will display a yawning disparity that the local government areas have been short-changed and are terribly lagging behind in political, economic and infrastructural developments.
With the system of democratically elected local government councils explicitly guaranteed in the Constitution and positively affirmed by the Supreme Court of Nigeria, one is left to wonder why the implementation and enforcement of the local government autonomy has remained a mirage. The seeming unwillingness and intransigence of the state governments to allow the direct allocation of funds to the third tier of government. reflects underlying political underpinnings which have tended to thwart or frustrate effective democratic and autonomous governance at the 774 Local Government Areas in Nigeria. The absence of the right political will to comply with constitutional provisions and enforce binding court judgments has been the bane of our development aspirations. Political correctness or expediency remains a cog in the wheel of the full democratic framework and realization of democracy dividends for the citizens, especially at the grassroots level. The propensity to usurp the powers and misapply funds meant for the local governments has largely gone unchecked because, the Federal government itself, has become engrossed with the 2027 re-election plans thereby craving the cooperation and collaboration of the State Governors to guarantee victory in the general elections of 2027.
The President and APC governors are expected to speak with one voice on this critical issue of national importance. The spirit, letters and general principles of the Constitution, and the positive pronouncement of the Supreme Court, with the bold warning of Mr. President to the State Governors should bring about a full-scale operation of the local government as a third tier of government in Nigeria. This should bring some measure of relief to the grassroots and bring the government and the dividends of democracy closer to the people. A viable, functional and effective local government system will generate the much-needed mass participation of the people in the affairs of governance. It will also make the flight of people and resources from the rural areas to the capital cities and the urban areas less attractive, and entrench robust democratic, economic and political activities in the local governments. Local contractors and businessmen will then have their sphere of operations hugely financed and functional. This is one sure way to demonstrate the true meaning of democracy as a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.
The local governments themselves should be challenged to live up to their constitutional responsibilities and be ready and well-equipped to carry out its functions as spelt out in the Constitution and statute books. They must also look inward to generate revenue internally, to complement allocations from the Federation Account and the State’s counterpart funding.
The functions and elaborate areas of operation of the local governments as enshrined in the constitution and statutory enactments, are a clear indication that the third tier of government was designed and created to comprehensively deal with matters of urgent national importance at the grassroots, with the ripple effect of mobilizing the people, and this can result in a robust and massive participation of the people in political and economic activities. The ball is now in the court of Mr. President to ensure that the clear provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria are enforced and the orders of the Supreme Court are strictly complied with. Local government autonomy must not remain a mere creation of the statute books and a vain pronouncement of the Supreme Court but a functioning, viable and effective system of governance in Nigeria. Mr. President, who has shown commendable courage in implementing his major policy thrusts, should walk the talk in this regard.
