Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State , has disclosed that the federal government (FG) was yet to comply with the Supreme Court’s order on local government autonomy.
During a media chat programme monitored by The New Daily Prime today, Makinde expressed concern that the FG was yet to comply with the court order mandating direct payment of allocations to local governments.
“The implementation of this order was bound to face challenges, and we are seeing that play out. It still hasn’t been done,” Makinde stated.
He further explained that local government allocations are determined by various factors such as population and landmass.
However, he noted that some local governments might struggle to meet basic obligations like salary payments under the current allocation structure.
“The people creating a dichotomy are those who will benefit from it. Our federation has three federating units instead of two. Our people are mainly interested in government working not this dichotomy.
“As of now, nothing has changed. The FG has not paid directly to the LGs. We are waiting for that to happen and then we can look at how they fare for three months and then we know what next. The LG issue is not as straightforward as mischief makers want to make it”, the governor said.
On July 11, the Supreme Court, in a unanimous judgment by its seven-member panel, reaffirmed the financial autonomy of Nigeria’s 774 local governments.
The court upheld a suit filed by the federal government seeking to enhance the independence of local governments.
The judgment annulled the longstanding practice where state governments received federal allocations on behalf of local government areas and withheld the funds.
It also barred the release of federal allocations to local governments without elected executives in place.
