In a landmark judgment on Thursday, the Supreme Court endorsed full autonomy for the 774 local governments in the country, putting an end to the abuse of their affairs by some state governors.
The apex court ordered that funds from the Federation Account in the credit of the councils must be paid directly to their respective bank accounts.
In the same vein, the court barred the governors, and privies from directly or indirectly receiving, tampering or withholding funds meant for the local governments henceforth.
In the lead judgment delivered by Justice Emmanuel Akomaye Agim, the Federation Account was specifically ordered to ensure that henceforth all monies including shares from taxes and other sources are channelled directly into the purses of councils with democratically elected officials in place.
The governors were also barred from henceforth dissolving democratically elected officials for local governments and that doing so would amount to a breach of the 1999 Constitution.
In the unanimous judgment of the seven-man panel of Justices, the Supreme Court agreed with the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, that the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria recognized local governments as the third-tier of government.