The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has expressed concern over the continued disregard by some state governors for the Supreme Court’s judgment affirming local government autonomy.
Speaking in Ibadan at the 7th edition of the Justice Aderemi Annual Lecture Series (JAALS), held at the Afe Babalola Law Hub, Iyaganku, NBA President Mazi Afam Osigwe lamented that one year after the apex court’s ruling, many governors are yet to comply.
Osigwe noted that the judgment appears to be “incapable of enforcement” due to minimal levels of compliance across the country. He cited ongoing issues in states such as Edo and Osun, where local government administration remains under tight state control despite the court’s clear pronouncement.
He emphasized the need for full respect for judicial decisions and the constitutional independence of local governments.
He said, “Despite judgement of Supreme Court, many local government in states across Nigeria is still being run by caretaker appointed by governors, tje governors are not allowing the local government to conduct elections.
“The money that is said should be paid directly to the local government is not being paid. Though federal government has good intentions but the reality on ground is that the enforcement is not being viable and is very weak.
“Many state government don’t even care that there is such a judgement because they don’t want democracy to thrive at the local government.”
He maintained that all Nigerians must be committed and have political will to allow the judgement to be enforce without political interference, so that democracy can thrive at the local government
He said one of the reason why the judgement is yet to be in enforcement is willingness of the governors who are the political actors to allow democracy to thrive at the local government.
“Another one is the condition given to the local government by CBN for the local government to produce audited account before an account could be open for them, all the local government should do is for them to prove that they are democratically elected government, before an account could be open for them at CBN.
“Local government is the only government that is closest to the people and brings government closer to the people at grassroots out of the three tiers of government, but it has been emasculated and weaken like a tiny led carrying big body and a very massive head.
“Federal government is the big head, the state government is the big body, while the local government is the tiny leg, it will fail if a big body and big head is standing on a tiny leg. This explains why we have high level of insecurity in our remote villages and the local government were unequipped to tackle such.
“That is why local government can’t construct roads, they can’t maintained health centers, they can’t maintain schools because their constitutional responsibilities has a problem.”
In his remarks, the secretary of the Foundation who is also a son to Justice Aderemi, Dr. Tolu Aderemi, while speaking on the theme of the event, “The Politics of Federalism, Power Dynamics among the Tiers of Government”, said the foundation has been focusing on topics that are not just topical, but rather topic that triggers conversation on national discuss.
He said, “One of the current ongoing national discuss is constitutional review, there are different part of the review that we think must come to the front, before the national assembly invite for public and stakeholders meeting on it, we want to sharpen areas of focus in that constitutional review.
“While we are discussing constitutional amendment, we want to distill the critical issues before going into its real engagement.”
Credit: thenationonlineng.net
