The Governor of Anambra State, Chukwuma Soludo is facing backlash and criticisms as he signed the Anambra Local Government Administration Law 2024 into law.
The new law overrides the Supreme Court’s ruling granting Local Government Areas in Nigeria autonomy over their funds, according to the governor.
The Governor who signed and approved the law at the Governor’s Lodge in Awka maintained that the Supreme Court ruling did not invalidate Section 7 of the 1999 constitution which grants state governments the right to make laws that govern local government areas nationwide.
According to Soludo, the bill was required because giving the 774 local government areas complete sovereignty would only result in “humongous chaos” and not healthy development.
He highlighted that uniformity, more transparency, and cooperation between the levels of government were the goals of the two laws that the state Assembly passed.
Members of civil society organisations and other opposition groups expressed disapproval of the Local Government Administration Bill’s passage, following the signing.
The governor was perceived by the opposition as an attempt to pressure local government chairmen into returning their federal allocation to the state.
According to the Labour Party, the action of the governor is against the Supreme Court’s ruling.
The chairman of the state chapter of the party, Chief Damian Ugoh said, “The bill seeks to arm-twist the chairmen to send back the local government allocation received directly from the Federal Government to the state coffers.
“Consequently, we, as a political party, stand by the decision of the Supreme Court, the highest court in the land, on the autonomy of Local Government and the management of their funds.
“That going by the extant order of the Supreme Court, the state House of Assembly cannot make laws seeking to compel the local governments to pay in their federal allocation to the state government under whatever guise,” Chief Damian said.
In total disagreement with the signing of the bill, the Executive Director of the Civil Rights and Liberty Organisation, Dr Ralph Uche, called the law’s signing “anti-people” and said it was intended to deny local government councils funding for grassroots development.
“The bill seeks to compel local government areas to remit a portion of their federal allocations into a consolidated account controlled by the state, which is a wrong development,” Uche argued.
While speaking, the Governor stated that the two new laws were necessary to give the Supreme Court’s ruling more practical life rather than undermine it as people think it would.
“The debate as to whether local governments should be part of the federal constitution or left to each federating unit (state) to determine its own appropriate local government system is still an unsettled matter.
“The APC committee on restructuring Nigeria proposed scrapping the local government from the Constitution of Nigeria.
“In the context of our evolving federalism, I see the recent Supreme Court judgment regarding the direct transfer of funds belonging to the local governments as an important contribution to our search for effective and transparent administration of resources at the regional level.
“This is where Section 7 of the Constitution comes in handy, and the Anambra State House of Assembly has risen to the occasion. Happily, the Supreme Court did not nullify Section 7 of the Constitution.
“The new laws by the Anambra House of Assembly are, therefore, consequential to give operational life to the Supreme Court judgment and not to undermine it.
“If the state House of Assembly abdicates this constitutional duty, the Local Government will then have no law on the use and management of its finances which the Constitution has given the state House of Assembly (and only the House of Assembly) the mandate to legislate on.
“Indeed, in many states, the Houses of Assembly retain the power to suspend or remove chairpersons of local governments.
“By the way, isn’t the legislative authority exercised by the State Assemblies under Section 7 of the Constitution similar to the powers granted by the Constitution to the National Assembly over the Federal Capital Territory and its Area Councils?”
The governor stated that organised cooperation across the levels of government is a vital tool for grassroots sustainable development, but that no level of government has complete autonomy.
He also added that many LGs would be in serious financial trouble and need state government bailouts if state and local governments did not actively coordinate and collaborate.
“The Federal Government has exclusive right over resources, but the state has exclusive right over the land. At the state level, each state is spending a fortune on its revenue.
“No tier of government can function without the collaboration of others. The three tiers have the objective of the people. The FG is not completely autonomous of the state. It’s a collaborative arrangement to achieve the same objective.
“The new laws of Anambra are designed to protect the LG against collapse, to protect our workers and prevent our primary health care from collapsing. In Anambra, we do not want to wake up and hear that one local government pays a salary while others do not.
“With these laws, workers and retirees from the LG system in Anambra can sleep with their two eyes closed. All tiers must collaborate, coordinate and work with one another. In summary, the laws ensure that the state can function cohesively.
“The essence of putting the money together is not for governors to put it in their pocket. If LG wakes up one day and can’t pay salaries or gratuities, who will intervene for them?
“That is the beautiful thing that these laws would avoid. It is designed to unleash the creative powers of the LG as well as novel accountability and ingenuity. The constitution mandates that both the state and the LGs must jointly plan the state together.
“We agreed to send the money directly to the LG, it will encourage greater participation. But then, if the money gets there, who exercises oversight function on it? How are you going to spend it so that the system doesn’t collapse and we don’t get into a chaotic situation as it were? The essence of the law is to have the state planned in a coherent, systematic and sustainable way,” the governor added.
However, Soludo refuted that the rumours that governors had forced LG chairmen to take a secret oath enabling them to transfer LG cash to the state were not true and should be considered baseless.
“Governors are often accused of seeking to ‘control’ LG funds with insinuations that LG funds are mismanaged.
“Of course, in a society where public office is seen as a ‘dining table’ and public trust is low, people judge others by their standards: by what they would do if they were in the position. I often ask: control for what?” the Governor queried.