Babatunde Fashola, a former Minister of Works and Housing, says the idea of local government autonomy is not supported by the Nigerian constitution.
Speaking on Channels TV, Fashola said his position is based on a thorough reading of constitutional provisions. “That is my view after a very, very close reading of certain provisions of the constitution,” he said.
He pointed to clauses in the constitution that allow state assemblies to make laws regulating local government operations, especially in economic matters.
“If you look at the legal and ordinary meaning of the word ‘autonomy’, it suggests that you are acting independently without any outside authority and to that extent, a state house of assembly making laws for what and how a local government can function is in itself an external influence that contradicts the idea of autonomy,” Fashola said.
He also argued that key responsibilities assigned to local governments—such as running abattoirs, cemeteries, primary healthcare centres, and schools—are all tied to land, which is under the control of state governments.
“The next thing, of course, is to look in the fourth schedule of the constitution and look at all of the responsibilities that are assigned to local governments such as the operation of slaughterhouses (abattoirs for animals), cemeteries, building of roads, advertising… primary schools, primary healthcare centres, all of those responsibilities are dependent on one item — land,” he said.
“And to the extent that the state government controls land, which affects how the local governments will carry out these functions, I didn’t think that autonomy was intended. Now, if we now decide that we want autonomous local governments, those are some of the things we have to free up, if that is our decision.”
Fashola also recalled that before 1999, local governments received direct allocations from the federation account but many failed to deliver on basic responsibilities, such as paying salaries.
“Because up to 1999, local governments used to collect their monies directly from the federation account under a process that I think was known as JAC joint accounts allocation something,” he said.
“But in the advent of the democratic era, it was found out that there were so many of them, or not a few of them, who had defaulted in the very basic obligation of paying staff salaries, primary health care workers, primary school teachers, salaries and pensions, and there was a backlog of debt and I met some of that debt when I became governor.”
Fashola, who governed Lagos from 2007 to 2015, said he doesn’t believe the constitution intended full autonomy for local governments.
“What I think was intended was some sort of collaboration, some sort of supervision, some sort of oversight on the state over the local government, and that is inherent in what you will find in section 162, which deals with the state’s joint local government account, and there is history behind the enactment of that section,” he added.
His comments follow the July 11, 2024, Supreme Court ruling that directed the federal government to pay local governments directly from the federation account, ending the long-standing control state governors had over local council finances.