REPOSITIONING THE LOCAL GOVERNMENTS FOR EFFECTIVE GRASSROOT PARTICIPATION IN DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT AND DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA: ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE FEDERATION v ATTORNEY GENERAL OF ABIA STATE & 35 ORS (2024) AND TH

Abstract

Despite the Constitutional framework guaranteeing the existence of democratically elected Local Government Councils, and the Local Governments as an independent and autonomous third-tier government of the Nigerian federalism, the independence and autonomy of the Local Government Councils have remained an issue. It is to resolve this issue and guarantee the independence and autonomy of the Local Government Councils that the Attorney General of the Federation filed the suit, AG Federation v AG Abia State & 35 Ors. In this case, the Supreme Court in its majority judgements made some far-reaching declarations and granted some reliefs reaffirming the democratic status and financial autonomy of the Local Government Councils. This work examined the extent to which the Supreme Court judgement restores the independence and autonomy of the Local Governments for effective grassroots participation in democratic governance and development. The research design is purely descriptive. The information from these sources is analysed, adopting a content analysis approach where necessary. The work, while commending the Supreme Court’s efforts to erk a constitutional status and autonomy for the local governments, found that the judgment has not fully resolved the constitutional issues about the independence and financial autonomy of the Local Government Councils.  The need for clear constitutional alterations remains inevitable. The work, therefore, advocated for constitutional alterations to enshrine in unambiguous terms democratic decentralisation of sovereign powers, establishing the Local Governments as an independent and autonomous thirdtier of the government of the federation.