Mike Ozekhome, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), has stated that the Supreme Court’s affirmation of LGA fiscal autonomy implies that FAAC allocations will not be released to local governments with Caretaker Committee Chairmen at the helm.
The Senior Advocate disclosed this in an ‘Morning Brief’, an interview with Channels Television on Friday, monitored by News About Nigeria.
Recall that the supreme court on Thursday ruled that the federal government should henceforth pay allocations directly to local government councils from the federation account.
On Thursday while delivering judgment in the suit, a seven-member panel of justices held that state governments have continued to abuse their powers by retaining and using the funds meant for LGAs.
The apex court also ordered the federal government to withhold allocations of LGs governed by unelected officials appointed by the governor.
Ozekhome said “The judgement of the government is clear. If you want to receive funds from the federation account, then conduct an election.
“If what you have in place is a caretaker committee as local government chairman, be sure that it will not have money from the federation account.
“If you want money from the federation account, such councils must be democratically elected.”
It was gathered that some states in Nigeria currently have CTCs including Rivers, Benue, Anambra, Imo, Kwara, Abia, Enugu, Plateau, Zamfara, Katsina, Kano, Sokoto, Yobe, Ondo, Osun, Akwa-Ibom Cross River, Bauchi and Delta.
The other states with Caretaker Committee LGA chairmen will be withheld.
President Bola Tinubu has also lauded the decision of the apex court.
