January 17, 2025
If statement from the Presidency is anything to go by, starting from the end of January, local government areas across Nigeria will begin to receive their allocations directly from the Federal Allocation Account Committee, FAAC, in actualization of the government autonomy.
Special Adviser to the President on Media and Public Communications, Sunday Dare, made this disclosure on Thursday night during television interview
He emphasized President Bola Tinubu’s commitment to implementing the July 2024 Supreme Court’s landmark judgment, which granted autonomy to local government administration.
In a unanimous decision delivered by Justice Emmanuel Agbim, the apex court had ruled that allocations to local governments should either be paid directly or through states, but 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.
READ MORE; BREAKING: Supreme Court grants LGs financial autonomy
Implementation of the judgement had been delayed to ensure proper mechanisms were in place.
The minister, confirmed that the mechanisms are now in place paving the way for local governments to now receive federal allocations directly by the end of January.
“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, local council will receive their allocations directly,” Dare explained.
Dare also called for greater scrutiny of state and local government financial management. “One state collected N499 billion last year—nearly four times its previous allocation—yet there’s little to show for it,” he noted.
He urged citizens to look beyond that Federal Government and also focus on making states and local governments accountable
