The President of the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), Ambali Olatunji, has confirmed that by the end of October, the Federal Government of Nigeria will start paying allocations directly into the accounts of local governments. This move comes as part of the implementation of financial autonomy for local government administrations, following a Supreme Court ruling in July. The ruling declared it unconstitutional for state governors to control funds allocated to local governments and mandated that such allocations be disbursed directly from the federation account to the councils.
Justice Emmanuel Agim’s judgment also stated that state governments have no authority to appoint caretaker committees, emphasizing that local government councils must be democratically elected.
Governors who initially opposed the ruling were granted a three-month extension to conduct local council elections, which ended in September. The new system of direct payments, expected to take effect fully by October 11, is aimed at increasing the operational efficiency of local councils and improving service delivery to communities.
Olatunji added that NULGE had submitted recommendations on how local government councils should be managed to the technical committee responsible for implementing the financial autonomy. He also urged both federal and state governments to ensure that the funds are used appropriately and not mismanaged by local council administrators.
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