Group appeals to Tinubu to dismantle State – LGA’s Joint account system  

By, Chinelo Kodilichukwu Enugu 

The Nigeria CSO’s Situation Room in partnership with the Citizens Centre for Integrated Development and Social Rights (CCIDESOR) has called on The president of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinubu to dismantle the state – local government joint account system in Nigeria and  implement full local government autonomy in order to grow economy.

The Executive Director, Emeka Ononamadu made this call during a quarterly press briefing in Enugu with the theme ” Local government administrative, political and fiscal autonomy in Nigeria, a recipe for economic recovery”.

Ononamadu lamented that Nigeria is confronted with rising poverty, unemployment, weak rural infrastructure, and declining public trust in governance. Yet, one of the most powerful tools for reversing these trends already exists within Nigerian governance architecture which is the local government system. 

He noted that Local governments are the closest tier of government to the people. If properly empowered, can drive Nigeria’s economy in several ways, through rural economic development, employment generation, basic social services and grassroot democracy.

According to him, “the centre of this Nigeria governance structural problem is the State – Local Government joint account provided for, under section 162(6) of the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria 1999. While section 7 of the constitution guarantees the existence of local government. 

He said that the joint account structure has enabled the State government to control, deduct, and in many cases appropriate funds meant for local government.

“Many State governors continue to insist on routing local government allocations through this joint account despite the supreme court ruling on 11 July 2024. . 

The ruling which affirms the financial autonomy of local governments, and also rules that allocations meant for the LGAs should be paid directly from the federation account to the council, rather than through the state government”. 

The group therefore call on president Tinubu to use  this historic opportunity to dismantle the State – local government Joint account system, emphasizing that the president working with the national assembly of Nigeria has the political influence and institutional support required to ensure the effective implementation of local government autonomy.

“History will remember whether this administration seized the opportunity to transform grassroots governance or allowed the moment to pass in the name of political expediency. For Nigeria local government autonomy is not merely a governance reform. It is a national economic survival strategy,” the group said.

In highlighting the way forward, the Nigeria CSO’s Situation Room and CCIDESOR call for the following urgent action which includes full implementation of the supreme court judgement on local government autonomy, direct payment of LG allocations from the federal account to LGAs. Constitutional amendment to remove ambiguities around the Joint account system.

Strengthening local government accountability mechanism, including transparency in budgeting, procurement and citizens oversight.