By Ekuson Nw’Ogbunka
Abuja
A constitutional lawyer and principal partner of Friends Chambers, Prince Orji Nwafor – Orizu has hailed the Minister of Justice and Attorney – General of the Federal (AGF), Lateef Fagbemi SAN and the Tinubu – led Federal Government (FG) for taking 36 state governments to court to demand for local government autonomy.
Addressing journalists on Tuesday in his Abuja the Federal Capital (FCT) Chamber, he described the action as taking the right step toward ensuring that funds accrued to the local governments are in the custody and control of the local governments.
He stated that the question of governors, sacking duly elected local government chairmen, and where they exist, according to him is surely not contemplated in Nigeria’s laws, he therefore sited S.7 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federation, by boldly saying that it is unambiguous. While disclosing that it provides for local government’s existence, he was quick to add that the same section makes states to control over the finance of the local governments.
On the liberal interpretations of the section, according to him, the local governments should be allowed to take their money, but the states would know what local governments wanted to use the money for. The supervisory power of the state, he went, was what the state wrongly assumed to mean that the local government’s finance should be in the state’s custody. Faulting the practice in its entirety, he added that a situation whereby, the states appropriate money meant for the local governments, as if it were a part of states’ money, shouldn’t be encouraged.
Giving more reasons why he was in support of the FG and AGF in the suit, he added: “The effect of not allowing local governments to use their money, is that the rural dwellers don’t have a feeling of government patronage. There is no doubt that local governments will identify village roads and bridges, better than the state governments. It is also true that security will be better controlled in the villages by the local governments, than the states.
He continued: “The local councils are always brought out as if they are incapable of running the affairs of the local governments, when in effect, the truth is that they have no money to run the local governments. Their money is under the control of the states. The view of some of the governors, is that the states created a joint management committee of the states and the local governments funds and it is fraud. The so called committees and the local government chairmen are forced to append their signatures to the state governments use of the local governments’ funds.”
Congratulating the FG and the AGF for wading into the anomalies, Orji Nwafor – Orizu reminded Nigerians that during the era of military government, that Babangida’s government at a time was giving money direct to the local governments and the local governments were performing wonderfully well.
