From Verdict To Void: The Politics Strangling Local Government Autonomy
By NJORIGE LYNUS
A Democratic Reform Meets a Political Fortress
THE Supreme Court’s 2024 autonomy ruling was designed to deliver Nigeria’s 774 councils from governors’ political dominance. The verdict offered councils direct federal funding, administrative independence, and legal protection from dissolution by state executives.
But the governors responded not by obeying the verdict, but by engineering new legal conditions that replicate control without violating the text — while defeating the intent. In state after state, assemblies drafted laws that convert autonomy into supervised autonomy — a contradiction in terms.
A Structural Identity Crisis in Governance
Local governments now occupy a strange constitutional limbo: legally autonomous, administratively monitored; federally funded, state-filtered; democratically elected in some states, caretaker-run in others. The resulting documentary inconsistency is triggering institutional distrust: development partners, banks, and grant bodies increasingly verify council compliance status before engaging — and councils cannot prove autonomy they cannot exercise.
Tinubu’s Warning: Power, Proverb, and Possibility
President Tinubu’s warning at the APC NEC meeting was historic not for its tone, but for its implication: the presidency may enforce autonomy through executive action if state actors continue resistance. Yet, analysts say executive orders alone cannot sustain autonomy without a constitutional review that hardens compliance sanctions, protects council financial independence in implementation, and shields enforcement agencies from state political friction.
The Real Cost: Communities Paying for Power Struggles
The autonomy delay is inflicting real harm — not on governors, but on communities. Markets in Mile 12 or Mushin are not burning, but council project pipelines are. Schools, rural roads, security financing, health access, and agribusiness support are not collapsing, but stagnating.
Governors were warned. Councils are waiting. Communities are suffering.
