Financial Autonomy: ICPC to begin monitoring use of local government funds

As the federal government finalises plans to disburse funds directly to the 774 local governments in Nigeria, the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) announced on Thursday its plan to begin monitoring the utilisation of the funds.

The commission disclosed the plan during the launch of an initiative for the implementation of the tracking in Abuja on Thursday.

The project, Accountability and Corruption Prevention Programme (ACPP-LG), aims to track and stop the embezzlement of public funds, ensuring that resources are effectively distributed to attain financial transparency and equal development across the country.

The ICPC chairperson, Musa Aliyu, reiterated the critical position of local governments in providing essential services to the general public.

He explained that the initiative aims to detect and prevent the misuse of public funds, ensuring that resources allocated for national development are judiciously applied.

He said there was an urgent need for such an initiative, as over 60 per cent of corruption cases investigated by the commission at the local level are about the diversion of public funds meant for development projects.

“This decision ensures the direct disbursement of funds to local councils, removing undue state interference and creating a crucial opportunity for governance reform.

“As an anti-corruption agency, ICPC is committed to ensuring the success of this reform by enforcing compliance with anti-corruption laws and fostering a culture of transparency, accountability, and efficiency,” he said.

He said that the initiative has the potential to enhance financial management, governance standards, and proactive disclosure in local government systems of administration.

Also speaking at the event, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Lateef Fagbemi, represented by the Director of Public Prosecution, M.B. Abubakar, said the recent landmark judgement of the Supreme Court affirming the financial autonomy of local governments is a historic stride towards liberating the third tier of government from excessive state interference, thereby enhancing their effective capacity to deliver essential services to the grassroots.

He added that the significance of the judgement cannot be overstated, as it serves not only as a legal affirmation of constitutional principles but also as a moral directive towards fostering inclusive and sustainable development across the nation.

He stressed that the federal government remains resolute in its commitment to promoting transparency, accountability, and good governance at all levels, as encapsulated in the National Anti-Corruption Strategy.

Commending the initiative, Kayode Akiolu, the chairperson of the House of Representatives Committee on Anti-Corruption, said he believes it will contribute significantly to the efforts to tackle corruption across the country, the local government being very close to the Nigerian people.

“Regrettably, in spite of years of reforms, the local government system continues to struggle to deliver on its mandate of taking good governance to the people in mostly rural areas and relieving other tiers of government of avoidable pressure.

“The only major foreseeable obstacle to local governments becoming hubs of development is corruption. This is why the ICPC’s rollout of the Accountability and Corruption Prevention Programme for local governments is a crucial step in instilling a culture of accountability and corruption prevention.”

Similarly, the chairperson of the Senate Committee on Anti-Corruption, Emmanuel Udende, said lawmakers are fully committed to enacting and strengthening legislations that promote accountability, transparency, and good governance at all levels.

He added that the Senate Committee will work tirelessly to support policies that guarantee the responsible management of public funds, ensuring that allocations meant for local governments translate into real development for the people.

Financial autonomy

The local government is Nigeria’s third tier of government, the level of government closest to the grassroots.

But for decades, local governments have almost been crippled many states, where the governors seized their federal allocations and only released funds to them in piecemeal to barely keep them going.

In July 2024, in a landmark decision, the Supreme Court affirmed the financial autonomy of Nigeria’s 774 local governments.

In the unanimous judgement of its seven-member panel, the Supreme Court upheld the suit brought by the federal government to strengthen the independence of local governments in the country.

A member of the panel, Emmanuel Agim, who delivered the court’s lead judgement, held that the local governments across the country should, from the day of the judgement, receive their allocations directly from the Accountant-General of the Federation.

He ruled that it is illegal and unconstitutional for governors to receive and withhold funds allocated to local government areas (LGAs) in their states.

But the implementation of the judgements has been put on hold in many states, with the governors of such states saying it was not realistic to execute.

An Inter-Ministerial Committee set up by the federal government to enforce the verdict met in Abuja in January vowing to soon begin the implementation of the judgement.