The federal government has filed a suit at the Supreme Court against the the 36 state governments, seeking the enforcement of full autonomy of the local governments in Nigeria.
There are 774 local government areas in the country. However, efficient governance at the the level of the third tier of government has been hampered by the overbearing influence of state governors.
Funds meant for local governments in the Federation Account are paid monthly to them through their respective state governments. But against expectations, the governors of the states retain the funds in joint accounts in the respective states and only release to the local governments what they wish. The local governments in each state have no say in the use of the funds in the joint accounts controlled by the respective state governors.
