President Tinubu To Convene Council Of State Meeting Today.
President Bola Tinubu is set to convene a Council of State meeting today.
The meeting is set to be held at the Council Chambers of the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
The National Council of State is an organ of the Nigerian government whose functions include advising the executive on policy making. Its membership includes past Presidents, State Governors, the Senate President, the House of Representatives Speaker, and others.
The meeting would be the first Council Of State meeting to be presided by Tinubu since he was sworn in as the President of Nigeria in May 2023.
The agenda for Tuesday’s meeting, which would be held at noon, is expected to revolve around pressing national issues like food security, national security, and economic policies.
Meanwhile, the Federal Government and state governors have agreed to a three-month moratorium on the implementation of Local Government financial autonomy, following concerns about its potential impact on salary payments and operational viability.
This development means that Local Governments across the country may have to wait until October before the law mandating direct payments into their respective accounts is fully implemented.
This decision comes after the Supreme Court’s landmark judgment on July 11, 2024, affirming the financial autonomy of Nigeria’s 774 Local Government Areas (LGAs).
The Supreme Court ruling, which declared that governors could no longer control funds meant for the councils, directed the Accountant-General of the Federation to disburse Local Government allocations directly to their accounts.
The court also ruled that the non-remittance of funds by the 36 states was unconstitutional.
Under former President Muhammadu Buhari, the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) had issued a regulation, effective from June 1, 2019, which banned transactions on State and Local Governments Joint Accounts.
This regulation required that funds be sent directly to Local Government accounts and limited cash withdrawals from these accounts to a maximum of N500,000 per day.
However, the regulation faced opposition from the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, leading to its eventual suspension.
The status quo remained until May 2024 when the Attorney-General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), filed a suit at the Supreme Court seeking to reinforce the autonomy of the Local Government Areas as guaranteed by the constitution.
The suit aimed to prevent state governors from dissolving democratically elected Local Government councils and replacing them with caretaker committees, actions that the AGF argued violated constitutional provisions.
The case also sought to ensure that funds from the Federation Account were channelled directly to Local Governments, bypassing the joint accounts managed by state governors.
The Federal Government argued that the failure of governors to establish a democratically elected Local Government system constituted a deliberate subversion of the 1999 Constitution.
In its unanimous judgment, the Supreme Court upheld the Federal Government’s suit, declaring that Local Governments should henceforth receive their allocations directly from the Accountant-General of the Federation.
The court ruled that it was illegal and unconstitutional for governors to receive and withhold funds allocated to Local Government Areas in their states.
The judgment has been widely praised by many Nigerians, including Local Government chairmen, as a significant step towards restructuring the country and enhancing grassroots governance.
However, some state governors have expressed concerns about the immediate implementation of the ruling.
The Nigeria Governors’ Forum, led by its chairman and Kwara State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, acknowledged the Supreme Court’s decision but highlighted the financial challenges that state governments face in supporting Local Governments.
Speaking after a meeting with President Bola Tinubu on July 12, a day after the judgment, Governor AbdulRazaq said, “The governors are happy with the devolution of power regarding Local Government autonomy. The public really doesn’t know how much states spend on bailing out Local Governments.”
The three-month moratorium on the implementation of Local Government autonomy is expected to provide time for all stakeholders to address these concerns and ensure a smooth transition to the new system