Govs to review Supreme Court verdict on LG autonomy – Soludo

Soludo remarked yesterday after meeting with President Bola Tinubu at the State House in Abuja, describing the Supreme Court’s judgement as “great.”

“That’s great. I mean, the Supreme Court is the final authority and I am a democrat. I believe in the rule of law. And once the Supreme Court has spoken, it has spoken. Tonight, I think the Governors Forum is meeting to review this,” he said.

According to him, the move will free up funds for local government areas and promote accountability.

“We need to promote accountability. We need to promote transparency in the utilisation of public resources at all levels, to be able to lift the burden of the common man,” the Anambra State governor said.

Soludo re-echoed his resolve to conduct local government elections in the South-East state after years.

“When I was elected into office, that’s one of the things I promised our people [to conduct local government election] because in Anambra, I think the first local government election we had was in 1998.”

He said, “I promised the people of Anambra that we’re going to have local government election, and I stated that in my inaugural speech. We’ve just passed the Independent Electoral Commission Law of Anambra State and we’re putting together the institutions to be able to organize that. It is a promise I made and when I make a promise, I am serious about keeping it.”

Meanwhile, in its lead ruling read by Justice Emmanuel Agim, the Supreme Court ordered the Federal Government to make prompt and direct transfer of local government money to the latter’s exclusive accounts.

The Supreme Court criticised the state government’s decades-long resistance to grant financial autonomy to local governments.

Following the verdict, President Bola Tinubu stated that it will lead to greater accountability.

“By virtue of this judgement, our people – especially the poor – will be able to hold their local leaders to account for their actions and inactions,” presidential spokesman, Ajuri Ngelale, quoted Tinubu as saying in a statement.

“What is sent to local government accounts will be known, and services must now be provided without excuses.

“My administration instituted this suit because of our unwavering belief that our people must have relief and today’s judgement will ensure that it will be only those local officials elected by the people that will control the resources of the people.

“This judgement stands as a resounding affirmation that we can use legitimate means of redress to restructure our country and restructure our economy to make Nigeria a better place to live in and a fairer society for all of our people.”

A former vice president Atiku Abubakar and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) have equally lauded the landmark verdict.

“The Supreme Court through this landmark judgment has not only restored our democracy but possibly hope in democracy,” the NLC president Joe Ajaero said.

For Atiku, “The court’s ruling is a step in the right direction and a major corrective action in greasing the wheels of national development across the country. The decision by the Federal Government to consolidate disbursements of local councils’ revenues into the state government accounts was a decision that was borne out of politics of hasty compromise.

“I align with the decision of the Supreme Court that the structure of the Nigerian government is portioned in three layers, and of these, the local governments should be centres of development.”