Recently, the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) officially made it known to Nigerian governors to implement financial autonomy for the Judiciary.
He said they could take advantage of the amendments to the Constitution to also develop their economies.
Fagbemi who spoke in Abuja at the Body of Attorneys General (BOSAG) conference and meeting of the General Council of the Bar was quoted widely by the media as saying that “the amendments were effected through the Fifth Alteration Numbers 15, 16 and 17 Acts of 2023.”
He went ahead to vividly describe how the move can be meticulously achieved.
It may be noteworthy to draw the attention of the Honourable Minister to the fact that Nigerians would rather clamor for local government administrations to be allowed to ‘breathe’ by respective governors who have ensured their ‘financial bondage’ over the years.
The regimes of hegemony established by governors over local governments cannot be really understood until one pays a visit to their headquarters. Most of the qualified professionals in the employs of this third tier of government have joined the ‘japa train’ after being rendered redundant at work.
Governors have cornered all the functions of the LGAs. In addition, they ensure that elections are not held and manipulation is the order of the day. And those of them that actually organize what looks like elections ensure that they record ‘landslide victory’. All the major political parties are involved in this shenanigan.
In addition, the ongoing move by the National Assembly to set free LGAs in Nigeria is not likely to be fruitful for very obvious reasons. The governors are not interested and they wield enough powers collectively and even individually to kill the move.
They have deviously put in place bottlenecks that are making it difficult for the expected majority needed to effect changes at the States’ Assemblies’ levels.
It is therefore, more desirable if the Honourable AGF and Minister of Justice can lift more than a finger to weave together moves and lobbying machinery that will encourage the National Assembly to re-examine the earlier resolutions and motions it made on this same issue.
Local government administrations are dying gradually, there is need for concerted efforts to be made to change the narrative before it is too late.
Long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria!
