The Supreme Court has granted autonomy to all the 774 local governments across the 36 states in Nigeria.
The court also ruled that the federal government should henceforth pay allocations directly to local government councils from the federation account.
Delivering judgment in the suit on Thursday, a seven-member panel of justices held that state governments have continued to abuse their powers by retaining and using the funds meant for LGAs.
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In May, the federal government filed a suit at the Supreme Court against governors of the 36 states.
In the suit marked SC/CV/343/2024, the federal government asked for full autonomy for the country’s 774 local governments.
All the states opposed the suit and prayed the Supreme Court to dismiss it.
It will be recalled that a seven-man panel of the court, led by Justice Garba Lawal, had on June 13, reserved judgment on the matter, after all the parties adopted their final briefs of argument.
The states, in separate preliminary objections they filed before the apex court, sought the dismissal of the suit with substantial cost.
They contended that the AGF, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, who initiated the action on behalf of the LGAs, lacked the locus standi (legal right) to do so.
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