1999 Constitution Failed To Provide Autonomy For LGs – AGF Fagbemi

The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, has blamed the 1999 Constitution for the abuse of local governments by governors.

The AGF stated this on Monday during a conference organized by the House of Representatives Committee on Constitution Review.

Speaking on the abuse of local governments, Fagbemi said the lack of constitutional clarity has made the local governments to be seen as appendages to state governments.

Speaking on the relationship between the local government and states, the AGF said “the 1999 Constitution did not provide adequately for the political autonomy of the local governments”, adding that “the resultant effects of these inadequacies are that the state governments have the discretion to determine the nature, content and direction of local government elections and political activities”.

“The failure of the Constitution to articulate a clear line of authorities to both the state and local authorities and the continuing debate over the involvement of state governments in distributing local government allocation from the Federation Account has affected the capacity of LGAs to provide essential services at the grassroots,” he said.

It would be recalled that the AGF had filed a suit against the 36 state governments of the federation at the Supreme Court over local government autonomy.