Nigeria | Recent Supreme Court Decision On LGA Autonomy: Area Councils Of FCT Not Exempted – H.A. Jimoh, Esq 

The Recent Supreme Court of Nigeria Decision on Local Government Autonomy: Area Councils of the Federal Capital Territory – Abuja Not Exempted From Being Beneficiaries 

By: Hameed Ajibola Jimoh Esq.

On the 11^th July, 2024, the Supreme Court of Nigeria delivered a nationally impactful judgment on Local Government Autonomy. This decision was made by a 7-Justices Panel with majority unanimously deciding and or resolving germane issues formulated to the Court as a Court of First Instance between the Federation (i.e. the Federal Government) and the State Governments which was a suit filed to the Court by Originating Summons by the Attorney-General of the Federation against all Attorney-Generals of all the 36 States of the Federation. However, in my observation, the Federal Capital Territory-Abuja- hereinafter referred to as the FCTAs- were not expressly mentioned in the Suit. That notwithstanding, it is my humble submission that the FCTAs are direct beneficiaries of the Judgment of the Supreme Court in that Suit because, of the reasons given by this paper. Hence, this paper aims to give reasons for this submission that the FCTAs are also beneficiaries of the Judgment and can rely on same as may be used or benefitted by the 36 Local Government Councils. Hence, this topic.

First of all, Section 1(2) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended)-herein after referred to as the Constitution- provides that ‘(2) The Federal Republic of Nigeria shall not be governed, nor shall any persons or group of persons take control of the Government of Nigeria or any part thereof, except in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution.’ Also, Section 3 provides for what makes up the Federal Republic of Nigeria and defines the number of Local Government Councils and that of the FCTAs thus ‘3. (1) There shall be 36 states in Nigeria, that is to say, Abia, Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, Ekiti, Enugu, Gombe, Imo, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Oyo, Plateau, Rivers, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe and Zamfara. (2) Each state of Nigeria, named in the first column of Part I of the First Schedule to this Constitution, shall consist of the area shown opposite thereto in the second column of that Schedule. (3) The headquarters of the Governor of each State shall be known as the Capital City of that State as shown in the third column of the said Part I of the First Schedule opposite the State named in the first column thereof. (4) The Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, shall be as defined in Part II of the First Scheduled to this Constitution. (5) The provisions of this Constitution in Part I of Chapter VIII hereof shall in relation to the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, have effect in the manner set out thereunder. (6) There shall be 768 Local Government Areas in Nigeria as shown in the second column of Part I of the First Schedule to this Constitution and six area councils as shown in Part II of that Schedule.’. Furthermore, section 7(1) of the Constitution provides for the functions of the Local Government Councils thus ‘7. (1) The system of local government by democratically elected local government councils is under this Constitution guaranteed; and accordingly, the Government of every State shall, subject to section 8 of this Constitution, ensure their existence under a Law which provides for the establishment, structure, composition, finance and functions of such councils.’. Whereas, section 318(1) of the Constitution defines ‘Local Government Councils’ to include ‘Area Councils’ thus ‘Local government area” or “local government council” includes an area council;’.

Furthermore, section 162(3), (5), (6), (7), (8), (10), and 163 of the Constitution, provides for the ‘public revenue’ of the Local Government Councils thus

(3) Any amount standing to the credit of the Federation Account shall be distributed among the Federal and State Governments and the Local Government Councils in each State on such terms and in such manner as may be prescribed by the National Assembly.

(5) The amount standing to the credit of Local Government Councils in the Federation Account shall also be allocated to the State for the benefit of their Local Government Councils on such terms and in such manner as may be prescribed by the National Assembly.

(6) Each State shall maintain a special account to be called “State Joint Local Government Account” into which shall be paid all allocations to the Local Government Councils of the State from the Federation Account and from the Government of the State.

(7) Each State shall pay to Local Government Councils in its area of jurisdiction such proportion of its total revenue on such terms and in such manner as may be prescribed by the National Assembly.

(8) The amount standing to the credit of Local Government Councils of a State shall be distributed among the Local Government Councils of that State on such terms and in such manner as may be prescribed by the House of Assembly of the State.

(10) For the purpose of subsection (1) of this section, “revenue” means any income or return accruing to or derived by the Government of the Federation from any source and includes –

(a) any receipt, however described, arising from the operation of any law; (b) any return, however described, arising from or in respect of any property held by the Government of the Federation;

(c) any return by way of interest on loans and dividends in respect of shares or interest held by the Government of the Federation in any company or statutory body.

163. Where under an Act of the National Assembly, tax or duty is imposed in respect of any of the matters specified in item D of Part II of the Second Schedule to this Constitution, the net proceeds of such tax or duty shall be distributed among the States on the basis of derivation and accordingly’.

the above provisions of the Constitution especially the provisions of section 162(5) of the Constitution were brought before the Supreme Court in the Suilt No.: SC/CV/343/2024, BETWEEN: ATTORNEY-GENERAL OF THE FEDERATION V ATTORNEY-GENERAL OF THE 36 STATES OF THE FEDERATION, while Honourable Justice Emmanuel Akomaye Agim, JSC, read the Lead Judgment. There were a number of declarative reliefs made by the Court which I shall not reproduce in this paper out of context of the topic. Most significantly, the Court declared that

1. A DECLARATION that the 36 States of Nigeria, or anyone of them, acting through their/its respective State Governors and or State House of Assembly, are/is under obligation to ensure democratic governance at the third tier of government in Nigeria, namely, at the Local Government level;
2. A DECLARATION that the 36 States of Nigeria, acting through their/its respective States Governors and or State House of Assembly, cannot, using state power derivable from laws enacted by the State Houses of Assembly (any how so called) or Executive Orders/other actions (any how so called) lawfully dissolve democratically elected Local Government Councils within the said States/State;

• A DECLARATION that the 36 States of Nigeria, acting through their respective State Governors and or State Houses of Assembly, using state powers derivable from Laws enacted by the State Houses of Assembly (anyhow so called) or executive Orders/other actions (anyhow so called), have no power to dissolve any of the democratically elected Local Government Councils within the said States/State and replace them/it with Caretaker Committees (anyhow so called);

1. A DECLARATION that, by virtue of section 162(3) and (5) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, the amount standing to the credit of Local Government Councils in the Federation account shall be distributed to them and be paid directly to them;
2. A DECLARATION, that the current practice of States keeping, controlling, managing and disbursing Local Government allocations from Federation Account is unconstitutional and illegal;
3. A DECLARATION, that a Local Government Council is entitled to a direct payment from the Federation account of the amount standing to its credit in the said Federation account;

• AN ORDER of injunction restraining the Defendants, by themselves, their privies, agents, officials or howsoever called from further collecting, receiving, spending or tampering with local government council funds from the Federation Account for the benefit of Local Government Councils;
• AN ORDER that the Federation or Federal Government of Nigeria through its relevant officials forthwith commence the direct payment to each Local Government Council of the amount standing to the credit of each of them in the Federation account;

1. AN ORDER OF IMMIEDIATE COMPLIANCE by the States, through their elected or appointed officials and public officers, with the terms of this judgment and orders made in this Suit, and successive compliance by successive Government officials and public officers.

I must state that the above decisions were far reaching and were upheld by majority of the Justices who presided over the Suit. By section 287(1) of the Constitution thus ‘287. (1) The decisions of the Supreme court shall be enforced in any part of the Federation by all authorities and persons, and by courts with subordinate jurisdiction to that of the supreme Court.’.

Now therefore, it is the humble submission of this paper that the entire decision of the Supreme Court in that suit covers the FCTAs and that the FCTAs shall by such virtue, be beneficiaries of such Judgment. The below (aside the above Constitutional provisions cited earlier in this paper, which I also rely upon herein and need not reproduce same to avoid verbosity) reasons and or Constitutional provisions are clear and used in aid by me.

Now therefore, by section 299 of the Constitution, ‘The provisions of this Constitution shall apply to the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja as if it were one of the States of the Federation; and accordingly – (a) all the legislative powers, the executive powers and the judicial powers vested in the House of Assembly, the Governor of a State and in the courts of a State shall, respectively, vest in the National Assembly, the President of the Federation and in the courts which by virtue of the foregoing provisions are courts established for the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja; (b) all the powers referred to in paragraph (a) of this section shall be exercised in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution; and (c) the provisions of this Constitution pertaining to the matters aforesaid shall be read with such modifications and adaptations as may be reasonably necessary to bring them into conformity with the provisions of this section’. Also, by section 300 of the Constitution ‘For the purposes of Chapter V of this Constitution, the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja shall constitute one Senatorial district and as many Federal constituencies as it is entitled to under section 49 of this Constitution. By section 301 of the Constitution ‘Without prejudice to the generality of the provisions of section 299 of this Constitution, in its application to the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, this Constitution shall be construed as if- (a) references to the Governor, Deputy Governor and the executive council of a State (howsoever called) were references to the President, Vice-President and the executive council of the Federation (howsoever called) respectively;’.

Also, by section 302 of the Constitution¸ ‘The President may, in exercise of the powers conferred upon him by section 147 of this Constitution, appoint for the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja a Minister who shall exercise such powers and perform such functions as may be delegated to him by the President, from time to time. 303. The Federal Capital Territory, Abuja shall comprise six area councils and the administrative and political structure thereof shall be as provided by an Act of the National Assembly.’.

Therefore, it is my humble submission that the reference to ‘Attorney-General of the Federation’ in the Suit is just a reference to the ‘Attorney-Generals’ of all the States in the Suit. Hence, it means the ‘Attorney-General of the Federation (Plaintiff in the Suit)’ representing the Federal Government, the President of the Federation and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, shall comply with each and every declaration and Orders made by the Supreme Court in regard to the FCTAs and or the entitlements, political offices, etc., of the FCTAs. Thus, in my humble submission, the FCTAs are direct beneficiaries of the Judgment of the Supreme Court in that Suit.

Finally, it is my humble belief that this paper would have been a guide to the FCTAs in holding the Federal Government and or the President of the Federation or the Minister of the FCT for their entitlements without any delay as may be enjoyed by any of the Local Government Councils.