📄 Abstract
ABSTRACT The celebrated Supreme Court decision in AGF v AG (Abia) & 35 Ors occasioned a paradigm shift on the convoluted question of local government autonomy vis-à-vis fiscal federalism in Nigeria. However, notwithstanding the judicial directive for direct funds allocation to the local governments, the transition from the old to the new order has been met with resistance by the State Governors through chicaneries which are precipitating political and legal uncertainties across the polity. There is also the concomitant and vexed issue of local government tenure the instrumentality of which Governors have deployed to further constrict the system and control the functionaries at that level. This paper interrogates these issues, adumbrating the evolving legal landscape of the local government system in Nigeria. It deconstructs and resets the boundaries of state legislative and executive powers and the operational – especially fiscal – independence of local government. The paper accosts such issues as the locus standi of States and Federal Governments to sue on behalf of local governments and the surreptitious use of unelected bodies, outlawed by the Constitution, to run local governments. It revisited the functions of local governments, especially the collaborative functions of Sates and Local Governments, identifying some implementation schism and hiatus. It also found that the failure to protect the tenure of Councils constitutionally and incorporate traditional rulers in local governance are parts of the existing gaps. The paper concludes that beyond ad hoc judicial activism and legislative intervention, what is needed is a conscious introduction of categorical constitutional provisions that will permanently rescue the local governments from the States’ meddlesomeness and advance the frontiers of constitutionalism at that tier of government.
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📚 How to Cite:
Uchenna Eugene Okolocha , LOCAL GOVERNMENT AUTONOMY, FISCAL ALLOCATION AND THE FUTURE OF FEDERALISM IN NIGERIA:DECONSTRUCTING AND RESETTING THE BOUNDARIES , Volume 12 , Issue 7, July 2026, EPRA International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research (IJMR) , Pages: 206 - 213 ,