By Damilare Adeleye
On the heel of the full financial autonomy granted for the existence of the local government in Nigeria, the Senate has introduced a bill to establish the Local Government Independent Electoral Commission.
The upper house kickstarted the process on Thursday through a Bill seeking to establish a federal agency that will conduct local government elections in the country.
The Bill scaled first reading in the Senate on Thursday.
The Bill titled, “Local Government Independent Electoral Commission (Establishment) Bill, 2024” was sponsored by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Finance, Senator Sani Musa, (APC – Niger East).
The proposed legislation was introduced about a week after the supreme court ordered the federal government to pay allocations directly to local government councils from the federation account.
The apex court held that state governments have continued to abuse their powers by retaining and using the funds meant for LGAs.
The apex court also ordered the federal government to withhold allocations of LGAs governed by unelected officials appointed by governors.
“An order that henceforth no state government should be paid monies standing to the credit of the local government councils,” the court said.
“An order for immediate enforcement and compliance with these orders by the state governments and successive governments henceforth.”
The verdict followed a suit filed by the federal government at the supreme court against governors of the 36 states.