The highest court in the land has handed the Tinubu administration a major win and given a major boost to advocates of local government autonomy. In a ruling on Thursday, on a suit filed by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, on behalf of the Federal Government, against all 36 state governments, the supreme court ruled that henceforth, the FG should pay allocations belonging to local governments be paid directly to their accounts.
The seven-member panel of justices, who ruled on the case, also held that state governments have continued to abuse their powers by retaining and using the funds meant for LGAs, without transferring same to them as provided in Section 162(3) of the Constitution.
More details later…
