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Despite a Supreme Court ruling in July that granted financial autonomy to all 774 local governments in Nigeria, Charles Soludo, Anambra State governor, has introduced a new bill that would compel local governments in the state to remit a portion of the allocations they receive from the federal government into a state government-controlled consolidated account, FIJ reports.
Titled “Anambra Local Government Administration Law 2024”, the bill was submitted to the Anambra State House of Assembly on Tuesday.
Prior to the submission of the bill, the Labour Party (LP) caucus in the National Assembly had registered their displeasure over the governor’s plans to ensure that 20% of funds allocated to the local governments would be deducted as proposed by the bill on October 3.
Section 13(1) of the bill states that the state shall maintain “a State Joint Local Government Account, into which all federal allocations to local governments in Anambra State must be deposited”.
Section 14(3) of the bill stipulates that “each local government in the state must remit a state-determined percentage to the consolidated account within two working days of receiving their allocations from the Federation Account”.
Section 14(4) maintains that if the “state receives the local government allocation on their behalf, it must deduct the specified percentage before disbursing the remaining funds to the local governments”.
On Wednesday, the Senate faulted moves being made by governors to enact similar laws in their states.
At the session, the Senate also urged all three tiers of government to fully comply with the Supreme Court judgment.
On its part, however, the Anambra state government, through Law Mefor, its Commissioner for Information, has said the bill was introduced in accordance with Section 7 of the Nigerian Constitution, which empowers the state house of assembly to make laws regulating the local government.
Mefor also argued that the section of the constitution empowers the state government to “oversee” the affairs of the local governments both in administration and finance.
He said the state government’s aim was to safeguard the finances of the local governments and “direct” council chairpersons to their responsibilities, especially for projects often carried out in collaboration with the state government.
On July 11, the Supreme Court held that all 774 local governments across the country should receive their allocations directly from the Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF).
