Legal practitioner, Mike Ozekhome (SAN), on Friday, advocated for the creation of separate bank accounts for Nigeria’s 774 local government areas to facilitate the direct disbursement of their Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) allocations.
Ozekhome’s call comes in the wake of a recent Supreme Court ruling granting financial autonomy to local governments.
The apex court’s decision outlawed the appointment of caretaker committees by state governors and declared the joint state and local government account illegal.
The senior advocate, in a press statement, argued that establishing individual accounts for each local government would ensure compliance with the Supreme Court’s judgment and prevent the misappropriation of funds often associated with the current system.
He emphasized that the direct payment of FAAC allocations to the local governments would enhance their financial independence and capacity to deliver essential services to their constituents.
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Ozekhome said, ““The answer is equally simple. The FG, states, and LGCs should now meet (and I am told they have been meeting) at FAAC and decide on modalities and procedures for opening accounts for LGCs so that their allocation under section 162 of the 1999 Constitution is paid directly to them and not to the joint state LG account that is oftentimes waylaid by state governors and fleeced without the helpless LGCs being able to raise a finger.
“The apex court had declared emphatically that, ‘by virtue of section 162(3) and (5) of the Constitution of Nigeria, 1999, the amount standing to the credit of LGCs in the Federation Account shall be distributed to them and be paid directly to them’; that a state, either by itself or governor or other agencies, has no power to keep, control, manage, or disburse in any manner, allocations from the Federation Account to LGCs.”
Ozekhome’s proposition aligns with the aspirations of the Nigeria Association of Local Government Chairmen (ALGON), which has consistently called for financial autonomy for local governments.
The association has accused state finance commissioners of colluding with governors to obstruct the direct payment of FAAC funds.
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