Akwa Ibom State Government has declared that it is not against the autonomy of Local Government Councils but that the power to legislate local government affairs according to the constitution was vested on the State House of Assembly not a mere establishment like the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU).
Reacting to the ruling of a Federal High Court which gave judgement in favour of NFIU in a matter pertaining to the control of Local Government Funds from the federation account,Barrister Uwemedimo Nwoko who is representing the 31 local government area and the State government in a suit (suit number FHC/UY/CS/88/2019) said the state government will always respect constitutional provisions.
Nwoke who is the immediate past Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, noted that the power to legislate local government affairs according to the constitution was vested on the State House of Assembly not the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU).
According to him, “the decision of his clients to challenge NFIU guidelines which is seeking to take over the control of Local government area was out of constitutional concerns and its implication.
“What we are pursuing has nothing to do with the financial autonomy of Local government, it’s an issue that will be resolved in a totally different perspective, all we are saying is that the NFIU lack the power, be it in statute, constitutional or conventional in a Federal structure to come to seek by mere guidelines to take over control and regulate the affairs of the LGA, particularly in terms of finance.”
He disclosed that local government was created for the lowest echelon of people in the society. And the attempt by the NFIU to place a limit on amount withdrawn by local government in a day was tantamount to impeding the growth of the local government area.
“Local government was created for the lowest echelon of people in the society. Of the 31 local government in Akwa Ibom State only 7 Local government has banks in their territory, even of the 7, only 5 has interconnectivity in terms of network.
