RipplesMetrics: FG released N3.05 trillion to 774 local governments in one year

In a groundbreaking ruling, the Supreme Court handed down a landmark judgement, granting financial autonomy to the 774 local government councils in the country. The court decreed that it is unconstitutional for state governors to withhold funds allocated to local governments, paving the way for the councils to manage their finances and make independent decisions about their expenditures.
This significant decision is expected to have far-reaching implications for grassroots governance and development.
For almost a decade, conversations about local government autonomy have circulated the Nigerian governance space as most state governments have extreme control over the appointment and expenditure of this last tier of government.
The core functions of local government include the management of pre-school, primary and adult education; public health; town planning; roads and transport; and waste disposal, for which allocations are released.
However, the control of state governments stalls these functions. In 2020, former President Muhammadu Buhari, signed an Executive Order to grant financial autonomy to the judiciary, legislature, and local government councils. But this did not suffice.
This development, under the current administration of President Bola Tinubu, made the Attorney General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), file a lawsuit on behalf of the Federal Government, seeking to grant full autonomy and direct funding to all 774 local government councils in the country; in which the state governments counterclaimed.
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With this new ruling, Ripples Metrics looks into the allocation that has been made to the local government under Tinubu between June 2023 and May 2024.
Local government allocation
Allocations to the local government are always disbursed through the Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) monthly. FAAC is responsible for reviewing and adopting the allocation of funds to states of the Federal government of Nigeria.
The revenue obtained from crude oil, taxes and other statutory revenues are disturbed with a sharing formula that allocates 52.68 per cent to the federal government, 26.72 per cent to states, and 20.60 per cent to local governments.
Within the first year in office of Tinubu, a total of N3.05 trillion was disbursed to the 774 local governments. This means that the average allocation the local government got for every month was N254.51 billion for the period under review.
From the data compared by RipplesMetrics from the National Bureau of Statistics website, more allocations were disbursed to the local government since the removal of the fuel subsidy in May 2023.
Meanwhile, for just the first five months of 2024, the LGAs have been allocated a total of N1.42 trillion which is almost 50 per cent of the allocation in Tinubu’s one year. The highest allocation was received in May 2024 with N293.82 billion shared.
Furthermore, RipplesMetrics learned that between January and May 2024, the federal government allocated a total of N1.88 trillion to itself, based on the sharing formula, while the state governments received N2.04 trillion.
While experts and civic organisations have commended the Supreme Court ruling, there are concerns over the implementation of this ruling. In recent developments, most states have begun to conduct local government elections as part of an effort to adhere to the ruling.
By: James Odunayo
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