A civil society group, Human Rights and Public Advocacy, has called on governors to stay clear of local government finances in compliance with the Supreme Court judgement on the matter delivered last year.
Chairman of the group, Barrister Alfa Mohammed, stated this at a press conference in Minna on Friday.
“It is disheartening to note that one year after the Supreme Court judgement, the state governments are still in custody of local government allocation in the country, a fragrant disregard to the rule of law,” he said.
He advised governors to start full implementation of the Supreme Court judgement on the local government autonomy in the country or face mass protests.
“If by July 30, the state governments fail to implement the autonomy granted to local governments in the country by the Supreme Court, we would have no other option than to declare a nationwide protest,” he warned.
Barrister Alfa argued that despite the massive fund standing in the credit of local government councils from the federation account, since the inception of the present administration, poverty and insecurity still persist at the grassroots.
“The consensus of opinion among economic experts is that the situation is largely due to the governor’s control over the local government finances and administration,” he said.
He regretted that for the past 25 years, governors had stifled local government councils’ capacities to function effectively by misappropriating funds meant for them.
“Verifiable data indicates that despite substantial monthly allocation from the federation account, only 30 per cent of these funds are released to the local government by the governors who withhold a significant portion and therefore making it impossible for local government councils to record any impactful achievement throughout their tenures.”