SIR: The Supreme Court of Nigeria, had sometime last year granted financial autonomy to the 774 local government areas in the country. The judgment was predicated on a matter brought before it in form of Originating Summons between the attorney-general of the country who represented the federal government as a plaintiff and the 36 state governors as the defendants.

The judgment was widely applauded as a landmark one. However, it left many loopholes which have made it difficult to implement. By constitutional provisions, the various state Houses of Assembly still regulate the activities of the local government areas.

Most analysts have dissected the judgment of the apex court without taking cognizance of the peculiar situation in Lagos State because the state has a peculiar case different from those of other 35 states.

President Bola Tinubu, as governor of Lagos State, had created an additional 37 local governments from the present 20 local governments sometime in 2005 through the State House of Assembly.

The then President Olusengun Obasanjo had opposed the additional creation. When Tinubu insisted on the newly created councils, the federal government seized the council allocation of the state. Immediate past vice president, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, who was the then attorney-general of the state, instituted an action against the federal government again by way of Originating Summons since the matter was between a state and the federal government.

The apex court ruled in favour of the Lagos State government that the federal government had no constitutional right to seize the allocations of the entire 20 constitutionally recognised council areas as a result of the creation of the 37 local governments by the State House of Assembly. The apex court made it abundantly clear that creation of the local government is a constitutional issue which a state government or House of Assembly cannot do unilaterally.

As a rejection of the newly created 37 local governments, the state now nicknamed them as Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs). When President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua took over power, the allocations of the Lagos council areas which were seized for over a year by his predecessor, were released to the state government.

However, till date, Lagos State still has 20 constitutionally recognised council areas and 37 unconstitutionally recognised council areas. Nonetheless, it’s interesting that the 37 LCDAs don’t receive allocations from the federal government. What the state government does is that the state government distributes the monthly allocations accrued to the 20 constitutionally recognised council areas to the entire “57 LGAs” which include the 37 unconstitutionally recognised council areas.

Now, does Lagos State have the right to share the allocations of the 20 constitutionally recognised council areas to the entire 57? If the judgment of the Supreme Court must be obeyed, what happens to the other 37 LCDAs? Do they even have the constitutional rights to continue to exist since 2005 sharing the allocations of the 20 constitutionally recognised council areas? What if other 35 states follow the same path by creating additional council areas in order to circumvent the judgment of the apex court? Lagos State must not be given preferential treatment. All states are equal before the constitution and must be treated as such.
Ifeanyi Maduako can be reached via [email protected]